This past weekend was the first tournament of NUT's season. It was an absolute blast! I can't believe how much fun I had even though I wasn't playing. Some of the fun was probably because we were doing well, but in general I think I just really like coaching.
Micky mentioned that it was killing him not to be playing, and while I absolutely had those feelings last year, I didn't have them this weekend. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm another year removed from playing college, or because this year I'm contributing in other ways. There were a few moments when I wanted to be on the field, but for the most part, I was happy to be helping from the sideline.
I feel like I am much more effective as a coach at tournaments than at practice. Not sure why on this yet, but I definitely feel like I bring the most to the table as a coach when I'm talking to someone about something that just happened that they can improve on. I think Yngve is better at motivating people and thinking about the big picture. My brain is seemingly very detail-oriented and it focuses on lots of little things.
NUT went 8-2 and finished 3rd overall. Guys make plays when things are going well. The energy dependence in Ultimate is crazy, and like no other sport I've seen. If things aren't going well, guys don't make the same plays. Gonna do some more thinking on this to try to avoid the lulls in play when there are lulls in energy.
After the coaching clinic in December, I felt like I didn't absorb as much as I could've/should've, but coming out of this weekend, it turns out more sunk in that I initially thought. I think I was able to frame things very well for the defense. I think I was able to express the idea of lenses very well in order to keep them from getting down on themselves every time they got scored on.
A defense isn't going to get a block every point, and they certainly aren't going to score every time. So if you tie your mentality to those metrics, the only option is failure.
Instead, you must look through a specific lens and grade yourself on whether or not you executed your game plan. I really love the idea of looking through lenses. It really is just setting proper expectations for a situation. Did you make the other team do what you wanted? Did you generate pressure? Did you force them into tough situations? These questions, as opposed to 'Did you score?', enable a defensive line to stay upbeat after a long frustrating point.
Another great idea I think I implemented well this weekend is the reaction to imperfection as Matty put it. Let's say perfection is scoring every point. So each point you don't score is imperfection. How then do you respond to that imperfection? Do you just let them stew in their own frustration after a missed bid, or a blown assignment? Or do you run onto the field and tell them what they did right? Do you gather them after every point to tell them they failed? Or do you tell them that that point was a win for reason x?
I wish I had some of these messages when I played in college. I often tied my performance to impossible expectations - scoring every time - and was often frustrated as one might expect.
ARC
PS Raul is gonna be a monster. All the young guys will be good if they stick around. They have the work ethic and desire.
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