The habit of losing
Personally I think there is no such thing. But, Ltd Release have got into a rut of losing. We should be building and getting better for Worlds, which is only 30 odd days away. I believe that we are getting better, and everyone idividually in the team cares. We are all trying hard (I was trying too hard so I was doing very well at throwing the disc far, out of the pitch), but we were not working together. We played one of the local teams yesterday whom are also on their way to Australia, and there was a lack of communication on the field. People were running all over the place but not in the pre-planned structure. There was a nice article about strategy that Si pointed out to me. The idea is that a winning team structure is a fun one. Or is it the other way around, is a winning structure fun?
Fun ultimate in Arkansas.
I am in the belief that the fun comes first. While I was out in Texas I played with a bunch of friends in a quite disorganized team. We went there as it was a awesome fancy dress tourney. We dressed as Southern hicks as you can see above. We had one strategy: play horizontal offence in lanes. We trusted each other and despite the varying ability took the eventual tournament winners to a point of winning. That was as good as it got, we lost many games. But the ultimate was fun. Equally at Texas sectionals we lost every game but the ultimate was fun. We believed in our strategy and despite losing countless games stuck it out.
A question to all the Worlds players coming with me to Australia to play with me: Are you on the same page? We have a team plan, we have a set way of playing. Disregard thoughts of the type: I don't like how we use the isolation, I would not play it like this, and other splitter thoughts. If we work together and play hard, then we will come away feeling good despite losing. If we are all over the place, don't hold it together and I end up calling you all a bunch of fucking retards again then we will come away sad.
I know I have things to work on, my play this weekend was suspect. So please join me in taking this game seriously, be quiet when Will asks for it, listen during time outs, read the plays. The time is not for adjustments, but going out to Australia and doing the best we can. You never know we may make a quarter final again, even the semis. Who though we would last year at Europeans.
Fun ultimate in Arkansas.
I am in the belief that the fun comes first. While I was out in Texas I played with a bunch of friends in a quite disorganized team. We went there as it was a awesome fancy dress tourney. We dressed as Southern hicks as you can see above. We had one strategy: play horizontal offence in lanes. We trusted each other and despite the varying ability took the eventual tournament winners to a point of winning. That was as good as it got, we lost many games. But the ultimate was fun. Equally at Texas sectionals we lost every game but the ultimate was fun. We believed in our strategy and despite losing countless games stuck it out.
A question to all the Worlds players coming with me to Australia to play with me: Are you on the same page? We have a team plan, we have a set way of playing. Disregard thoughts of the type: I don't like how we use the isolation, I would not play it like this, and other splitter thoughts. If we work together and play hard, then we will come away feeling good despite losing. If we are all over the place, don't hold it together and I end up calling you all a bunch of fucking retards again then we will come away sad.
I know I have things to work on, my play this weekend was suspect. So please join me in taking this game seriously, be quiet when Will asks for it, listen during time outs, read the plays. The time is not for adjustments, but going out to Australia and doing the best we can. You never know we may make a quarter final again, even the semis. Who though we would last year at Europeans.
posted by John at 9:44 AM
5 Comments:
Still have not started to work yet... have just read this post on hating to lose. The comments pick up some interesting points such as bitching at each other... read it if you are bored at work and care about Ultimate.
Do you feel that the team are playing in the same style, or do you still feel as though different styles of playing are still present, effectivly pulling the team in different directions during play.
Not something you can answer at present, but a thought for the future: Rather than picking a team based on the strongest players, should a team look to base itself on people, who are willing to play to a system without any preconceived ideas of how they personally like to play effectivly overriding the team's chosen style?
I think you have hit the nail on the head. Last year we had some succesful plays based around the horixontal offense. This year we have lost these and are using a horizontal offense in a slightly altered way. The idea this year is to get the movement of the disc through the isololated player in the middle of the field. Such a play involves the rest of the team to control their anxiety to go get the disc and wait for the iso to get it. This is not happening, so we end up with a mess...
This is not the only situation where we are not behaving as a team though. I feel there is a bad attitude off pitch: too much joking, bitching and comments made about how "I would do it". There is not a collective belief in the structure, the plan.
These are just my thoughts though, perhaps everyone else feels everything is great and some how it will all come together for Australia.
If I were picking a team I would look for the strongest players, but make sure they understood that I were boss. BAM.
You know, i have felt the same way about the team for a while. There doesn't seem to be enough love in the team. people are always ribbing each each other, and not in a fun jokey way. We need to be more encouraging! No more heckling i say.
Heckling can be good in building a team spirit, but it has to be done in the correct way. The trouble comes when you have groups within a team, such that the heckles are not all inclusive. It breaks the "team" mentality, and can create them and us.
Interestingly, now I think about it, the bad state of heckling may have a direct correlation with the isolation of styles of play within a team, as friends within a large group will base themselves on personality, which can be linked to the amount of time they have been playing together, and as such, the heckling that occurs between groups may be representative of the fracture in playing styles.
I'd never really thought of that before.
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