To be Coached or not to be Coached... that is my poll question!

Nation,

First it was captains. Someone needed to organize rides and collect money
Then it was player coaches. You can't expect them to sit on the sidelines all weekend
Then it was youth and college coaches. So much to teach.
Now..

Coaches for club teams.

It's a trend that's growing. First it was the injured player, the boyfriend of the female star captain, or the retired star. These people were really managers in leaders clothing. Now we're actually seeing strategic people being brought in with a background in player development and/or real world leadership experience.

"Flanders"! (Source: Wikipedia)

I've played for a good coach for several years, and although I have never been a favorite (probably for good reason) I think my team and myself are much better for it. Having a coach has many advantages and perhaps disadvantages:

Pros

• One voice
  
• Knowledge from a good coach can make a greater difference on ultimate teams (given the sport and the level of play/expertise) than more mature sports. For example, the expertise of a great mlb baseball manager can affect his team by +- 5-10 games. I hypothesize ultimate teams can get much more improvement.
  
• Organized practices
• Sober second though during games from someone not in the state of physical exhaustion
• Someone who has no bias to play time
• Coaches can last longer than players.. so it adds continuity to a team/program
  

Cons

• Good coaches are hard to find
• Good leaders are even more scarce in every walk of life
  
• Athletes have a very tough time figuring out what kind of coach they need, as opposed to what they want
• Coaches are rarely appreciated or safe in volunteer positions from politics and conventional wisdom
  

What's your preference? For club teams, should the leadership structure be

• Coach?
• Player Coach?
• Player Captain(s)?
• Captain(s)?
• Other?
  

We're talking bout Tryouts..

Nation,

I've been really sick with the flu since my birthday on the 15th. If anyone has some remedies, send them my way.

Really sorry for the lack of posts, and sorry to my teammates for missing workouts.
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Tryouts are a very important part of the season. It's a chance to bring new talent into a team or system, and it is a time of commitment for all wafflers. I used to dread these things, but now all I want to do is pass the Andy Stewart fitness component of tryouts which threatens to consume us all in Ottawa. :)

A lot of people can't stop talking about tryouts at this time of year. This is the only time in my life I'll paraphrase Allen Iverson:

I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about tryouts, not a game, not a tournament, not a final, but we're talking about tryouts. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game as if it's my last but we're talking about tryouts man. How silly is that?

Scotty Westwell Helps Mephisto Player get into the Endzone
Photo Source: Ultypics.com and Carl Sharpe

Iverson and I differ greatly on the value of practice. However, we might be able to agree on the overhype of tryouts in ultimate.

To all of you who live in big ultimate cities and go through the big tryout process, I offer these words: Relax! It seems like such a big deal when you are with your ultimate friends, but it's really not.

You'll also get tons of advice for tryouts. "Keep it simple" or "You have to make big plays on defense/offense." The only consistent theme will be the inconsistency. Do I try to make big plays, or do I try to do the little things?

You'll either fit into a role or a need, or you won't.

And to those of you who can play for any team and have your spots locked up, well done. But I'd like to challenge those players to be better than what they currently are. It's so easy for the best player on a team to stop setting benchmarks and pushing further. You can get away with it because you're better than your team, and they don't want to lose you. I don't care what your entourage of hype says, there isn't a player in Ultimate who couldn't be better at the game or as an athlete. Don't wait until a major injury to find out how vulnerable your "untouchable" status is.

Clothing in Ultimate- Part Two

Nation,

Mr Haig brought up a very valid point regarding my last post. I created a poll asking for the best clothing company in ultimate, and I made a few errors. I didn't articulate exactly what I meant by "best" and I failed to mention a lot of ultimate specific companies (Breakmark, Fiveultimate, Daredevil, etc).

What I was really getting at was: Who will/do you want to do business with this year?

I fear that although the consumer wants to reward our ultimate businesses, we're finding it increasingly hard. The sport is getting bigger, and it is becoming increasingly more attractive to the larger non ultimate companies. More importantly, we're experiencing/hearing about many ultimate businesses which are not doing good business:

• Poor choice and style (Anyone tired of seeing the same mesh hats??)
  
• High prices and price gouging
• Poor quality
• Lack of communication
• Slow delivery times, Not honoring coupons, subscriptions or orders
  
• Lack of exposure and sincerity to help ultimate
  

With that list, how can the consumer be expected to "support the community"?

I've pointed out the bad. Hopefully other readers will be able to share some good stories about good service. Or start vocalizing what's wrong with our ultimate business.

____________________________________________________________________

Daredevil Discs and Apparel
Photo: http://www.daredevildiscs.com/index.html

Who's the Best Clothing Company in Ultimate Right Now?

Nation,

Think back to 2002.

Used to be that GAIA was king in ultimate gear. The company, based in Vancouver, seemed to have it all. Great logo, brand equity in the sport enjoyed by none other, key sales staff/agreements throughout the continent, and deals with the best teams in the land. Most notably, Furious George wore the cleats. uniforms and paraphernalia of Gaia.

Back to 2008.

The marketplace has changed, and so too has the place of GAIA. The current state of GAIA will be covered in a future post. All we need to say at this point is that their position in the sport has taken a hit. Competing companies like VC, Patagonia, Adidas, and other brands have taken serious junks of the competitive and recreational ultimate team market. The GAIA cleat, once the hottest item in the sport, remains the only ultimate specific cleat available. However, none of the best players seem to use it, adopting football cleats from Nike and the big boys of footwear. When someone pays for their cleats when they could get free cleats/discounted cleats meant for their sport, that's a bad sign.

So the poll question is:

• Who's the Best Clothing Company in Ultimate Right Now?

and building on that, why is that the case?

Zips Tips- We need a better "Bible"

Nation,

As college teams on both side of the border gear up for the spring series, and as the rest of us prepare for summer/fall team tryouts, we're all looking to prepare as best we can. This includes but is not limited to:

• Training harder
• Eating Better
• Sleeping properly
• Learning from the best

Josh Zipperstein
Photo Source: Brown Ultimate

As far as learning from the best goes, we typically tend to seek out the online writings of the best players and teams in our respective divisions. College players, young and idealistic, are the most likely to engage in such benchmarking. They watch "I Bleed Black" and UPA videos before the big tourney. They read Art of War. It makes them feel ready, and to each his own.

I also see another "document" that gets circulated from team to team, year to year. Zips Tips
was an online blog/diary put together by then Brown superstar Josh Zipperstein (now of Chain Lightning fame). People have gone out of their way to discuss this page as a "bible" that "must be followed".

What?

Now the sport management professional in me takes a look at zips tips and the hype it has and wants to dissect it/ rip it. If the game is going to advance, we're going to need a better "bible".

Here's a brief rundown of Zips Tips

Good
-143 entries
-8 outside sources referenced
-Every topic covered that a player could face prepping for the college spring series
-Some very valid points

Bad
-I can't help but think this person knew a lot of the right things, but didn't understand why their ideas were right. This is all too common in successful athletes.
-A lot of useless posts about what shirt so and so is wearing, shoe laces, etc.
-I worry impressionable players will accept a lot of opinions as truths.

Final thoughts

Upon full review, I recognize zips tips as one of the better ultimate specific reads available online. That doesn't say a lot about online material.

However, Zips Tips is a lot more helpful than my initial diagnosis. I tried to contact Josh about the tips but was unable to get ahold of him. Given the five years that has followed the posting, I assume Josh might not have expected his tips to spread/ last as a "bible", nor might he want it to.

I look forward to better "bibles" that build on this work. I actually look forward to well educated and well research guides on playing and preparing for ultimate, and getting away from any religious references.

League Profile: Mile Zero Ultimate/ St John's Newfoundland

Nation,

If you live in a large city, and you're lucky, you still have a few league members who were around during the inception of your respective league. Using Ottawa as an example, these individuals have overseen OCUA go from being started in someone's basement to being a 4500 member league that plays all year.

As leagues in maritime cities are started, we have the chance to watch and help the growing of the game. I heard through friends about a league in St John's called Mile Zero Ultimate and made efforts to chat with them about their league and their game.

Johnny Byrne, president of the league, was more than willing to provide feedback. His entertaining and infomative comments are listed below...

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What was your First year of existence?

(2004)

Mile Zero Ultimate began officially in 2004 with a 12 week, summer league involving 10 teams and approximately 150 players. All ultimate play in Newfoundland and Labrador thus far has been co-ed in nature.

What is the size of the league (teams and total players)?

Since that first summer, the numbers have jumped substantially. The 2007 season saw 18 teams and over 300 players take part. In addition to the summer league, MZU now also includes both fall and winter leagues. The Fall league, started in 2004, is played on field turf at King George V and can accommodate approximately 180 players. Our indoor, winter league with approximately 60 players registered began in 2007.

What makes Newfoudland ultimate unique?

Newfoundland ultimate is like nothing you’ve played in before. Because Newfoundland is anchored in the North Atlantic weather is very unpredictable on a daily basis and as such, players must be prepared for just about anything. Because of the lack of a spring season our summer league must wait until June to begin to ensure proper field management, but even then you won’t be guaranteed good weather. Perhaps the biggest constant though is wind. There is rarely a day in the summer that you will not have to deal with some wind. When wind is not a factor you must be prepared for RDF…otherwise known as rain, drizzle and fog. Another reality of North Atlantic living. The ability to adapt to the changing weather conditions is what separates Newfoundland ultimate

What cities are covered/represented by league and league design?

The league is based in St. John’s, NL, however, it’s range covers the entire Northeastern Avalon Peninsula with players coming St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South and most surrounding communities.

Do you hold/host any tournaments?

Thus far, tournaments have been restricted to several hat tournaments. Two summer staples are the “Toilet Bowl” (pictured) in which teams play for the chance to drink from our coveted Toilet Bowl Trophy and the Gender Split tournament which sees separate male and female tournaments take place side-by-side. Our largest tournament of the year is our summer league playoff tournament “The Flaherty Cup Playoffs”. Coincidentally like the toilet bowl the Flaherty Cup was designed to drink out of. As the premiere trophy of the MZU league its drinking function is more refined than the TB and it operates as a funnel. It is hoped that in the future a bigger tournament can be planned that will see teams from outside of the greater St. John’s area venture to our fine city to take part in an annual tournament.

Do you have any Youth Programs?

There are no organized youth programs at the present time. However, the appetite for youth appetite is growing as many adults introduce the sport at the schools they teach, within other sport teams they coach and parents look for inexpensive, recreational opportunities for their children.

Are there any competitive/touring teams?

In 2006, the first touring team from Newfoundland and Labrador took off from The Rock in hopes of greener pastures taking part in the Solstice tournament in Markham, ON. That team, Granite, finished with three wins in six games and brought a new enthusiasm back to Mile Zero. The next year another team, Mutiny, traveled to Huntsville, ON for the Ultimate Long Weekend. There are currently talks about organizing other teams for tournament travel in 2008.

Flaherty Cup
Courtesy: Mile Zero Ultimate

Plans/Thoughts on sending teams to Canadian Nationals in the future?

There has been talk in the past of sending teams to the Canadian Nationals, however, logistical problems thus far have been the biggest barrier. Newfoundland’s eventual entry into the fray at the National level will undoubtedly send shock waves across the Nation. The addition of the “right” coast will start a chain reaction that will see the power shift the east.

Can you compare players in different eras?

Nation,

I posted a link to our inital off season training video, and your feedback was appreciated.

One of the best posts was a link to a 1989 documentary of Ken Dobyns and the New York team of 1989. Sadly, it's probably a better documentary than anything we have in this era. But... I don't want to talk about ultimate broadcast journalism right now.

Ken Dobyns at Potlach 2002
Source: Potlach

What I want to talk about is the aura of great players from the past. You see the link Gavin posted and it is true that Kenny Dobyns was a great player in his time. However, the debate remains

• Would he be great in today's era?

DJ was quick to point out how great Ken D was, and what an athlete he was. But was it relative to his competition? Could a small man dominate now that the 6'5 athletes are creeping into the game. Would Ken Dobyns even get picked for a top team?

Economist J.C. Bradbury tackles the issue as it pertains to baseball. There are a myriad of reasons why you can't compare:

• Human evolution (we're getting bigger people)
  
• Training methods
• Number of teams and level of competition
• Equipment and medical factors

Due to these reasons, the relative newness of the sport, and the lack of footage/data of the sport, it's very hard to compare. I don't think it would do justice to make a comparison.

Above all else, it seems that Dobyns had intangibles that would still play well today. He seemed like a pitbull with great fitness. He was super passionate about a game that had less respect from the outside world that it does today (imagine that!).

And the craziest thing? All those athletes we have now will be replaced with guys as tall or taller, as muscular or more, more skilled and faster. The George Mikans of Ultimate will be eliminated.

What do you think?

• Can we make comparisons of players past and present?
• If so, do you think the stars of the past would be as successful? Who?