Laying out: domination or danger?

November 7, 2012
Ultimate
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On Monday Ultiworld tweeted this layout catch, calling it the ‘Play Of The Game’. I totally agree that Riot player Calise Cardenas’s up-into-the-air endzone layout catch was amazing. What makes me cringe is seeing, in slow motion, Calise’s head and neck getting wrenched when she lands: her head actually bangs into the ground.

Calise’s layout catch seems to have been completed without injury, but that isn’t always the case. Earlier this summer, teammates on the sideline watched as the layout of a player at Ottawa’s No Borders tournament ended badly.

Courtesy of Gavin Thompson, Photgrapher

Steve Chow, playing for Big Fish, Ottawa’s mixed B team, layed out up into the air for a d, knocked the disc, then came down on his left shoulder, dislocating it. He has only started playing ultimate again more than three months later. Possibly the worst part was, though Steve managed to hit the disc, it wasn’t knocked out of play and a player from the other team was still able to make the catch.

Summer 2011 was the first season I threw myself over the threshold into the world of laying out. I was sometimes making catches and sometimes not. I was sometimes making beautiful layouts and sometimes landing hard on the ground. Soon I developed neck and back pain. I didn’t have to stop playing, but I saw a chiropractor for months to help. One time, arriving for an appointment, I found two other ultimate players in the waiting room.

Laying out is dangerous. A 2007 study, looking at injuries during the 2007 UPA College Championships, found that 29% of men’s and 22% of women’s injury time out calls were made directly after a layout.

Players are getting hurt when they layout. One of the scariest of the array of possible injuries is a concussion. A 2006 survey of ultimate injuries found that 30% of respondents reported having experienced a head injury at some time during their ultimate careers.

Players don’t even need to strike the ground with their heads to become concussed: it can be enough to jar a noggin when a players’ body takes a hit. Concussions can take a long time to heal and affect more than just physical abilities. For example, see the healing testimonial of Milkshake, a Portland Rhinos player, in the documentary film Chasing Sarasota.

Risk of injury accounted for, maybe it’s worth it. High level ultimate players seem to think so: they are willing to take the risk. They know that layout catches like that of Calise Cardenas are the best way to get that pumped up feeling, to make teammates proud, and to dominate at ultimate.

Spirit Game #2753: Nutella Lick-Off

October 23, 2012
Spirit Games, Ultimate
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Courtesy of Gavin Thompson, Photographer

Courtesy of Gavin Thompson, Photographer

How it works:

Pick four players from the other team and get them to each pick a player from your team.  Roll out a long piece of Saran Wrap and use the spoon to smear Nutella on both sides of the wrap in two places.  Get two players hold the Saran Wrap taught.  Line the teams of competitors up across from one another, with the Nutella-smeared Saran Wrap between them.  Yell ‘go’ to start the first pair of players competing to be the first to completely remove the Nutella from their side of the wrap, using only their tongue (and possibly the rest of their face).  It’s like a boat race: once the first person on one side finishes, then next person on the same side can start, and so on.  The first team to finish wins.

What you need:

  1. Jar of Nutella
  2. Spoon for spreading
  3. Lots of Saran Wrap
  4. Ultimate players

Time it takes:

5 minutes

Pros:

  • Potential to test out the tongue of someone who will be at the party later

Cons:

  • Sending your tongue too fast toward the Nutella can result in smashing your teeth against your opponent’s

What do you think of Nutella lick-off?

Answer to the fury of my lady hammer!

October 18, 2012
Ultimate
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Courtesy of Gavin Thompson, Photographer

The women’s ultimate team I’m practicing with worked on hammers and scoobers at our last practice.  We practiced them with a mark and with up-field defense and offense, as well as in a zone.  Women don’t throw enough of these in games, so it was great to have a special focus on them in practice.

Hammers and scoobers are considered less practical than other throws (backhands and forehands), but there are times when they are the right choice. That is, they are the right choice if the thrower has the throw and the confidence to go for it under game pressure.

Often women won’t even bite on a hammer fake in a game because the chance of the woman they’re marking actually throwing it tends to be pretty low.

Why is this aversion to hammers and scoobers non-existent in men’s games?  As illustration, my partner even has this sticker on his waterbottle:

Men throw hammers.  They throw away the disc sometimes, but they throw them anyway.  The women’s game tends to be more finesse, more shorts passes, and less brute force, whereas the men’s (open) game tends to be more about strength and big throws.  It’s alright to have different styles of play, but that doesn’t mean women should leave fun and useful skills out altogether.

My challenge to women ultimate players is to go out and practice their hammers and scoobers.  Start thinking of them as an option in a game and finally, go for the throw.  The worst that will happen is you’ll end up with a new sticker on your water bottle.

More hammers and scoobers from the ladies!

The Ultimate yes man

October 4, 2012
Ultimate
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photo courtesy of Ed Kung

As I prepared to move from Ontario to the east coast, an ultimate Frisbee friend gave me his parting advice: try to say yes. By saying yes whenever possible, his idea was that you open yourself up to new and fantastic experiences.  We don’t always have to create our own opportunities, we often only need to recognize them when they are offered, and say yes.  This kind of advice is why I love ultimate Frisbee players.

All sports have stereo-types associated with their players, and for ultimate, it’s got to be that they are willing to say yes.

Last summer someone said ‘Hey, I heard there’s this great beach tournament on the tip of the
Gaspé Peninsula.  We’ll drive 12 hours through the night after work on Friday, play ultimate and swim Saturday, party most of the night outdoors at the community centre where we’ll be camping and eating locally-made food, play ultimate all day Sunday, then drive all night again, and finally, we’ll all wake up on Monday morning and go to work.  Are you in?’  Yes.  Of course.  Why not?

photo courtesy of Ed Kung

Last weekend about 180 people gathered at Sunnybrook Park in Toronto for the annual Zodiac ultimate tournament.  At Zodiac, teams are chosen based on players’ astrological signs, and this year it was Chinese signs.  At the end of the first day the pigs and rabbits were tied for eight.  The two teams had a boat race drinking competition at the tournament party on Saturday night to settle the tie.  (My team lost to Tim’s.)

My latest example of yes-frisbee-ers happened on Tuesday night after our league game.  I wanted to go for ice cream after wings, so six of us headed to a local shop.  I wanted to order a giant ice cream cake made for 12 to 16 people, put it in the middle of the table and ask for 6 spoons.  Does that make sense?  Is everyone else on board?  Yes!  We were a little delirious by the end, and some of us were sick, but as the cake dwindled, we only accelerated our ice cream-eating pace and our laughter.

Saying yes is about the best piece of advice to give and to get.  You don’t have to be an ultimate player to be a ‘yes person’, but if you want to open your life up to new possibilities and amazing fun, the sure-fire route is to become an Ultimate yes man.