Taking knocks…

In Ultimate we all take knocks from time to time. More often than not the knocks are physical, a dodgy ankle, a gamee knee or god forbid a shitty shoulder injury. But that’s not the type of knock that I’m talking about. Every now and then someone (usually someone important) will make a comment about your game that really hits a nerve. For some uber-confident players I’m sure this never happens but for those like me, acutely aware of their weaknesses and probably a little too eager for praise, a single, well-placed comment can make you feel like your whole game is being undermined.

In Ultimate, like in all sports confidence is paramount. When you step out onto the pitch you need the confidence to know that you can dominate your match-up, the confidence to know you can break the mark. If in sport you don’t believe you can do something, then you’re probably not going to be able to do it when it counts. And I suppose this is why it feels so rubbish when someone you admire tells you that you can’t really do something that you yourself feel is fundamental. That confidence can evaporate like a drop of ethanol in the Sahara.

The sort of comment I’m talking about is not constructive criticism in the traditional sense. Of course it is essential that every player can take criticism. As I’ve found out coaching ‘Thrown’ over the last year some people can take it better than others. What I’ve found works well is to make criticisms one at a time, providing advice in an attempt to fix the problems as you go along. The sort of criticism I’m talking about stings, it makes you question yourself over and over – it makes you think about giving it all up because, basically, ‘I’m shit’.

I suppose what is important in these situations is to take a step back and really think about the criticism, and also to think about the good things about your game. Take stock and think about the changes you are going to make. Seek good advice, and work hard to improve. Then when the time comes, at a try-out or in big match, you can show that actually, your not that shit after all.

Ultimate Blogging and Tour 3

Okay, so I'm in the middle of my exams and thought I'd waste a bit of time setting up a blog. There are some really great ultimate blogs out there, and with ultimate being one of my primary focuses in life I thought it might be fun to have a go myself.

Being based in the UK, I suppose I'll mainly be blogging on topics relating to UK ultimate. Although I may explore my ignorance of ultimate scenes further afield, ie North America.

Right now tour 3 is taking place in Mansfield, and believe it or not the weather is fine! Unfortunately I'm unable to partake in this rare event, being stuck at home with a gamee shoulder and a Protein Structure and Function text book.
Once again this year the UK Open tour is quite tight at the top. But once again Clapham, the European champs do seem to have a fairly good edge over the competition. After an exciting clapham-less final at T1 the status-quo was resumed at T2 where a full strength Clapham 1 side pretty much rolled over Chevron in the final. Clapham have also done a pretty good job of securing future talent this season, hoovering up a host of young players from London, former BUF (Oxford Brooks uni) star Justin is a prime example. With a decent development program and consistent results, how long this dominance will continue I don't know, but I have a feeling that a changing of the guard would usher in a new chapter in UK ultimate. From a competitive ultimate fans point of view I'd like to see it all get mixed up, with more strength and depth overall!

My predictions for this weekend: Iceni will dominate Womens tour again, I doubt their blip at T1 will be repeated this year. Fire 2 will probably win B tour and complete their bouncy castle tour season. And Clapham 1 will wrap up a dominant T3 with a win over Fire 1 in the final (although I would great to see Fusion make resurgence).

Not groundbreaking stuff, but its a start. Hopefully I'll have some better insights when I next decide to ramble.