A bit of knowledge

So, it's tryouts, and a bunch of new people are trying out with you. The captains gather everyone around, and explain the offense. Two handlers, and a line of people called a stack who take turns 'cutting'. When the returners demonstrate, it's neat, and there's only one person cutting at a time. But, when it comes to scrimmaging, everyone is everywhere it seems. You know it's not right, and don't know how to stand out, in a good way. Staying in the stack won't prove anything, and probably not too many people will notice you. What do you do? Now, it took a while to set up this hypothetical situation, but it will happen. Almost guaranteed. In such a case, do not go running around with everyone else, shouting that you're open. Instead, look around, and look for open space. Often times, there's open space in front of the handler with the disc. If you wait until stall 4, maybe 6, you are essentially acting as a dump for the handler. This is considered to be at least an intermediate kind of move, and should impress captains. It shows that you have field awareness, a very valuable skill. When the stack is working well, listen to the sideline, often times people will be saying "Someone cut in!", or "Under! Under! Cut under!". In which case, cut in. Captains also like to see people who actually listen to them. When you're on the sideline, watch the game carefully. Give up calls (saying up when the disk is thrown, specifically when it is hucked), and study the players. Look for matchups that favor you, so that you might be able to go deep and catch the point. You need to prove to the captains that you are either athletic, or really know your stuff.

The beginning

Hello readers, my name is Tim, I'm currently 18, and a freshman at the College of William and Mary. I have played ultimate frisbee since my sophomore year in high school, and have thrown a frisbee for a lot longer than that. My sophomore year, I played for the B-team, as a handler. I was pretty upset, considering that I thought that I could make the A-team. However, it turned out to be a really valuable experience. Because I was one of the better players on that team, I got to play a lot. I played as a handler, and began to learn, and love the game. The playing time I got on the B-team was so much more valuable than if I had been on the A-team, and got no playing time. My junior year was exactly as I had worried my sophomore year had been. I got on the A-team, but didn't get to play that much. But, I did learn to play as a sideline player, giving callouts and such, and staying engaged. By the time senior year came around, I was named captain. I was a pretty bad leader, I mean, I was nice, but I didn't know how to teach anything, or how to enforce people to go to practice. But I understood the difficulties of being a captain, and found out what it was that I looked for, and probably what other captains look for. So, continuing to the present, I just recently had my first day of tryouts. I was incredibly out of shape, gasping for air after just a little sprint. However, the captains were (or at least seemed to be) impressed with me.

So, that tryout was really what inspired me to start this blog. The captains said in the email, that they were looking specifically for athleticism. I am a 5'8" freshmen who sat at a desk all summer, and somehow, it seemed like all of them were going to remember my name. I'm not being cocky (hell, I haven't even made the team yet), but during the tryout there were stations, and at every station, people were asking me if I had played before, because it was evident that I had. So, you're a beginner. You're an intermediate player. You're an advanced player. You'll find my advice useful. You'll find my advice to be worthless. Whatever it may be, the tips that I give here are what I have observed during the past couple of years. I have a perspective from both the player, and the captain, and so can tell you what you can do to make yourself stand out, or how to become a better player in general. So yeah.