We had our last practice of the semester yesterday, and overall I felt like it was a very productive first half of the year. Our captains, Jess and Langdon, did a great job of handling the difficult task of coping with our large numbers this year. In addition, they showed great leadership and focus.
I think our primary goal of focusing on fundamentals was successful overall. It is a challenge to give enough individual attention, and, as such, it was great to have our assistant coach, Pete Zuraw, as he showed a remarkable willingness to spend individual time on the details of the forehand....or backhand...or whatever else was needed. Clearly we would not be as far along if not for his involvement.
There was a ton of improvement on the part of the girls over the course of the semester. Many girls went from no throws at all to a good command of the forehand and backhand. I think a number of the girls really "bought in" to Ultimate as well. Many of them attended practice diligently and showed a desire for working hard.
Of course there is lots of work to do. We are still too easy on ourselves ("I think you were in", "Sorry about that foul"), so we need work on holding each other to high standards. We also still feel like the dump pass is done as an emergency as opposed to trying to gain an advantage. We will continue with trying to keep the disc moving and gaining confidence in our ability to possess the disc.
In general, we get much more done in the fall than we did several years ago. I think our indoor practices are much more effective and this contributes greatly to being better prepared for the spring. Our ability to focus and concentrate over the course of a practice is improving and we will continue to develop this come January.
So, we have a long break until the beginning of February. I think it will be a good time to recharge the batteries.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Whiptails: End of Semester
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3 comments:
G,
Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your coaching posts. It's cool to hear what you're doing/thinking as a coach because it helps me clarify my thinking about the team I work with. So keep 'em coming!
Thanks,
j
If you don't mind, I'm curious about something. For a couple reasons, my team did very little conditioning during the fall, and it seems that most of the onus is on the individual for winter conditioning. I've heard that spring is more intense, but it strikes me that teams who work harder for longer will eventually perform better. Recharging the batteries, though, is a necessary part of conditioning. So my question is, are your girls supposed to run consistently between now and February? Did you do a lot of conditioning during the fall to justify the break? It seems like a lot of teams struggle with the question of how much practice time should be devoted to running, so how do you deal with it?
-Glenn
I thought I had answered these.
J,
Thanks for your comments. I am glad you find the coaching posts helpful.
Glenn,
I do give the girls a workout plan for the winter and we do focus on conditioning in Feb-March. We don't spend much time on conditioning in the fall (other than standard sprints at the end of practice) as there is too much time needed for fundamentals.
-G
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