Tips
Check out the following website for flash animations and tips on how to improve your game http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/index.html
The Basics section covers the core aspects of Ultimate that all players should know. Currently, there are six flash animations available to view which demonstrate the general idea behind basic principles. They can be accessed directly below.
http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/basics.html
The strategy section is your resource for learning offensive and defensive strategies to add to your team's bag of tricks:
http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/basics.html
INSPIRATIONAL TIPS FROM THE PROS
End Zone
The closer you get to the end zone the better a player you should become. The difference between good teams and great teams is how well they convert in the end-zone and the same goes for individual players. If you would not throw to a man when he is open by one step in the field then you should not do it when he is in the end zone. Three things to remember about end zone offense:
- we know where we are going and they do not
- there is not shot clock in ultimate, thus no rush to score
- the gut cut scores as often as the cone cut...do it
Cuts
Make all your cuts viable ones. For example — all too often when a player is trying to make an in cut they will only ostensibly drive their man out, although they never actually intend to cut deep. A great cut is when you turn your shoulders and run deep for 5 steps and then turn on a dime and beat your man back in. If he does not respect your deep cut then just keep going. Good defenders will know when your fakes are just that and won’t even respond to them. A side note — this may or may not be why some of the best cutters in the game often look like they don’t really know what they are doing until the last minute but are consistently open by 5 yards.
More cuts...
Make your cuts run parallel to the sidelines as opposed to parallel to the goal lines. You will make your throwers job much easier and with one juke you can go from an out cut to an in or vice versa. Players that do this well are unarguably the hardest to guard.
After a score
Especially in an important/close/highly spectated game, jog back to your own endline after each time the other team scores, even if you know you probably wont be in the next point. This accomplishes two very important things: 1) when a team scores on you they think they have gained the upper hand and now you can jam it down your throats." teams see when you do this and it scares them. 2) Have you ever had the feeling of never being tired while playing, feeling like you could play ten more games and then at the days end you take off your cleats and sit down and you are instantaneously exhausted? This is kind of like that; if after a point of hard running you just stop and walk back in, your muscles along with your mind feel defeated. aside from these two, its never fun to make your way through a cheering crowd of opposing players.
Faster than you think
You can always run faster than you think. a couple interesting anecdotes/thoughts on this 1) i was watching a sportscentury classic on jerry rice and one of his ex-coaches was talking about him: "jerry had the most unbelievable functional speed ive ever seen. When I looked over the 40 times of the cornerbacks across the league, most of them were faster than jerry — never seemed to be able to catch him though." 2) if you are chasing down a disc that you don’t think you can get and pull up early, you are selling yourself short. run absolutely as fast as you can until the disc has almost hit the ground and then layout for it if you have half a chance at getting it. if you walk away from a disc knowing you did everything you could have possibly done, you leave no room for what ifs. if you do this every point of every game of every tournament, you will have a regret-free ultimate career
Weather
When its a little windy players have the tendency to reel their throws in a bit, and conversely, when conditions are perfect they will often let their throws hang out. The latter is a much worse habit; in perfect conditions there is no excuse for turnovers. Decisions about making throws should be based on a "perfect condition" scenario and as conditions worsen, decisions should become tighter. on a side note, in great conditions people often try to "baby" their throws — putting a lot of touch on the disc and trying to hit a receiver perfectly in stride. Although this often looks very pretty, it is a much harder disc for the receiver to read, so shoot 'em in there.
Complacency
Do not remain content with being a good thrower, challenge yourself to be a great thrower. Often times a thrower will have the attitude "i got the disc around my mark, I put it into the space where my cutter is — I did my job." the best throwers (and the best teams) have committed to making every throw perfect. Another level of focus or a half second more of thought turns "catch-able" throws into great throws and good cutters into unstoppable receivers.
Swinging for the fences
When things are clicking on offense it is one of the most unbelievable feelings in the game; difficult catches are being made that are usually dropped, cutters have a spring to their steps, throws are cutting a path through the sky that you only see in your dreams and eye contact is being made on cuts where his back is facing you. Conversely, when the o is not flowing there is nothing more frustrating and the opposite effect of the above occurs; cuts you can usually count on are not showing up and throws that are the staple of your offense seem to be finding the ground. When this happens, many will try to get back to the "good o" in one fell swoop — a very bad idea. When you have fallen into a rut, a foundation must be built before you can stand up again. Dump and swing, only take 100% throws and slowly your squad will reel it back in. not trying to get it all back in one throw is mentally one of the toughest things in the game.
Capitalize on breaks
A good cutter (one who is dangerous on both in and out cuts) will likely "break" their defender at least once or twice during a game. This occurs when the defender bites big for a fake and either falls over because he is trying to move faster than he can or gets tangled up. if your defender is in this situation it makes sense for you to immediately cut deep, since you are open wherever you want. This tip may seem intuitively obvious, i suppose, but it is something I do not do well and is an easy way to score a lot more easy goals, since you’ve already done all the hard work.
Keep your head down
If you are running deep (either to defend or to cut) put your head down and run. Trust that you will hear an up call and then turn briefly to check where the disc is. As you get better and better at reading the disc, this quick check will allow you to know how fast and where the disc is going and you can put your head back down and run some more. It is extremely hard to run (and even harder to run fast) with your head looking back over your shoulder.
One solid fake
When you have the disc and are trying to fake your marker so you can get a break throw off, it is much more effective to do one, solid fake than five little jukes, none of which are really faking the marker out. A good marker will not simply respond to movement, they will only respond to movement that could lead to a throw. Practice your fakes in front of a mirror if you want to see whether or not they are believable. a truly good fake is one in which you do everything but throw the disc, forcing the marker to cut off that throw and then you beat them back to the place you actually want to throw it from.
Throwing to open space
As a thrower, if you have a good cutter then they will create space for themselves. If they have already gotten open, a good throw is to lay the disc out into space and let them run onto it; assume they will maintain the separation they have established.
Eye contact
A good cutter will often make eye contact with their thrower when cutting. This will sometimes help to know where a thrower wants the cutter to go, but i think more importantly is the opposite. If a cutters man is seriously overplaying him to the force side, then he can signal to the thrower that he wants to go for a break mark cut. This will allow the thrower to set up a break mark throw by faking and/or moving the mark.
Throwing deep
All too often, beginning players completely change their form when they begin to try to throw deep, thinking they have to "kill" the disc or "jack" it. A good thrower’s deep throws and short throws vary very slightly in form; more so in revolution speed and snap at the end of the motion. To practice throwing deep, try to throw hard short throws with a lot of disc revolution (disc revolution is directly related to torque applied on the disc). Once you have mastered short throws where the disc does not wobble at all and stays parallel to the ground throughout its entire flight, then you can move onto deep throws, doing the same things you were doing while throwing short, but increasing your arm speed and the torque you put on the disc.
Long gains
If you catch a deep pass and are not in the end zone, the best thing you can do is turn around and dump the disc (if you are following the play, the best thing you can do is give the man a dump). If you run by the man with the disc you are setting up disaster; either you will have to get to the back of the endzone and cut back towards him (a long time) or he will be tricked into throwing to you as you run away from him (looks very promising and wide open, but is the hardest throw in the game). Get the dump and then he can cut and score the goal.
Catch both ways
When throwing on the green or when warming up make sure to catch "both ways." alternate catching with your right hand versus your left hand on top of the pancake. For good throws, this doesn’t make much of a difference, but if an errant throw is to the right of your body, it will be easier to catch left on top, and the same goes for the other side, but switched. The more comfortable you are catching both ways, the more natural it will be for you to catch with the correct orientation. I guarantee your drops will go down if you work on this.
