Last example for now. Give Go.
Handler’s at the brick with the disc. Ho-stack setup with 2 dumps and 4 across. A few cuts get looked off, open side dump’s defender sags into the lane. Handler swings to the poached dump and immediately runs up line for the give go.
Give go handlers in this scenario tend to watch the thrower expecting the disc back. Good handlers will still take off immediately after throwing the swing, but will take a quick look over their shoulder at the lane while they’re in motion. Check your shoulder! Why?
Ok, another example. Check your shoulder on buttonhook cuts.
When cutting away, look back at the thrower (aka “check your shoulder) before you plant to come back or even start to slow down. You see it all the time when you set up a drill that involves a buttonhook cut that cutters run toward a cone facing away, then plant and whip their head around all at once. Perhaps the thinking is that by running deep and facing deep that looking back will tip off the defender that you plan to cut back… or maybe this comes from timing routes in football.
Psychology,Training
19 May 2011
About a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to see something from a different perspective. Having done several degrees in Psychology, I understood the concept of positive reinforcement and all of B.F. Skinner’s work. In a very simple way I understood it as such (feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to relive intro psych):
Positive reinforcement is about increasing the likelihood of a behaviour by providing a rewarding stimulus. So for example, if I want my dog Jett to sit in the future, I will reward her sitting now with a treat. That should reinforce sitting and increase the likelihood that she will sit in the future.
I’m teaching a group of teachers how to teach ultimate to kids at the 2011 Health and Physical Education Conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
As part of the program, I have prepared handouts for the 2 sessions. You can download and use them for your own reference:
Ultimate 101 HPEC 2011 (pdf)
Advanced Ultimate HPEC 2011 (pdf)
It’s always exciting introducing the sport to a few group – especially teachers!
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Featured,Practice,Psychology,Spirit of the Game,Tournaments,Training
12 April 2011
I’m often asked by players who have just started playing ultimate if I have any tips for how they can get better. I have answered this question enough that I felt it was worth posting it as an article. Leave a comment and let me know what your best tip is for a newbie!
1. THROW
Throw, throw, throw. Either on your own or with a friend. The best way to improve your throw (and the muscles used for throwing) is to simply go out and throw. Be aware of your body and don’t push it so you get hurt. Figure out what technique works best for you for certain throws and work to improve your throw – if there’s something going weird with it, ask for advice. Keep working on it…never stop 
