PrettyFly had a great weekend playing on their home turf/Stevinson. Stanford Qualifier also happened over Parents' weekend, so we had an even bigger sideline than usual! It was a pleasure to watch you guys work BYU's Zone, shut down Sonoma playing hard man D, and cheer each other on throughout the weekend.
PrettyFly has come so far as a team! Let's keep working hard so that we peak at sectionals and regionals.
Some highlights:
1) Handlers -- Our handlers were cool, collected, and patient all weekend. It was awesome to see you guys put up long, gorgeous hucks, run the dish play, go up the line, and shred D's. Offensive intensity isn't as easy to see as defensive intensity but our handlers were it -- they were focused, saw the whole field, saw the D, saw the cutters, and then put up great throws. I remember Firebelly throwing over, around, throgh BYU's cup and throwing scores on pull-play after pull-play against Davis B; Constance's breakmark backhand huck! and steady handling in the ho-stack; Scout not at all flustered by humbolt's poach D and putting up great throws to open people all day; Izzy being, well, Izzy -- solid with sick easy-to-catch throws in the endzone (I'm thinking in particular of our Whitman game and a visionary throw to a cross-field cut from tank); Annika and Becky stepping up in our zone O with solid catches, and good decisions; Marisa for being there, despite illness, to cheer on her teammates. I liked the mental endurance -- at the end of a long point, it's hard to be patient, and think about your throws. Round of applause for the handling this weekend!
2) Endzone. Our endzone play got significantly better over the weekend, and by our Sonoma game, everyone was anticipating the play, sprinting to the back of the endzone. Isos were setting up their cuts so that they had an inside option, an open side, option, and a break option. Handlers were calm, started to break the mark inside and around. Most importantly, we had such confidence in our play. It was great to see you set up the endzone play EXPECTING to score. There was no hesitation. And if our iso didn't get the score, our dump-and-swing did. Lauren Bell was our go-to iso, Nicole had sick toe-the-line grabs, and Em just cut tirelessly in the endzone on Sunday.
3) Zone D. By now, this shouldn't be surprising. It won us many games this weekend, with our ever solid Galen (new nickname = Tetris, because she gets blocks) and Tank at the mark, and our super mids Lucy and Leslie R. Jolene and Luna were getting run-through D's on pretty much everything through the cup, and Firebelly and Lauren B came down with all the hucks. Let's throw this D more at practices so we get used to scrimmaging the best Zone D in the section!
4) Man D. I have to recognize Dex for shutting down the best players on every team, Roo for her unrelenting stick-to-her-woman-like-a-burr defense, R. Kelly for going-to so hard for everything thrown in her general direction, Sarah Chan for just getting there first a lot, and Luna and Wushu for skying everyone, everywhere, all the time.
5) Crazy sick catches. Wow we had so many improbable, and hence exciting, catches this weekend. In particular there were two points during the humbolt game that were EPIC. But there were also so many moments when I was preparing to yell at you to play D only to find that Emily, or Annika, or Wushu, or Constance, or Lucy had miraculously kept the disc from hitting the ground.
You should all think about the amazing things you did this weekend and smile. I know I saw everyone on this team step up on the field and on the sidelines.
Some things to work on:
1) Matching up smart on Man D: If we choose to play Man D, let's give ourselves every advantage and match up smart. What does this mean? Instead of just agreeing to mark-up on the woman across from you, scan the line across the field and pick the woman you know you can shut down, either by height, speed, or role (handler? deep cutter? in cutter?). Play D on a person that you believe your skills and talents can be the most effective against; Play D the way you enjoy most, whether that's keeping a handler from touching the disc, getting run-through D's etc. The team should discuss breifly who everyone is on and can then re-line-up appropriately. Why is this better than random? A) This way we are dictating how we want to play D as individual players B) We are minimizing the chances of a mismatch and C) We pay more attention to the other team's Offense as a result. It's okay to walk away from covering a player that you are not confident or comfortable shutting down. It's responsible, even. Remember, the goal of D is to not let the other team score. If you can picture your woman easily scoring on you, then think about switching.
2) Anticipating not reacting: we should work on thinking ahead and anticipating the play on O, and anticipating our opponents actions when we play D. On offense our continue cuts, and swing cuts are often late, even when we have a PLAN for our offense. For example, on a dish play, we know we want to huck it while our handler is unmarked, but often as the handler is catching the disc no one is running deep. Rather, cutters are often not paying attention to the play, or watching the handler catch and then at that point trying to get open deep. Often, the D has anticipated our play better and is backing our cutters. Let's cut as the play is developing, and not in reaction to the play.
Likewise, on D, we often have a plan and therefore can anticipate what the Offense's options are. If we decide to force backhand, we should anticipate the cuts going to the backhand side -- as a result we often line up on the open side of downfield players, but let's take that one step further and not get beaten to the open side. One way this happens is a cutter will fake to the breakside and then run past our D (frantically trying to beat the O to the break side) for an easy open look. Let's trust our marks and really STAY to the open side of the other team downfield. Another time we can work on anticipating rather than reacting to the O is in our zone. Think about the throws that we are trying to take away with our Zone D and cover those, not the ones that the O is actually thowing that are not really gaining them any yards.
3) First games. Let's get more fired up about the first game of the day! First game does not eqaul warm up, warm up equals warm up.
4) Throwing. Our catching was awesome. Our throwing needs to catch up to our catching! We need to be throwing every day, in the wind, in the rain, in the snow etc. If you are uncomfortable throwing up field, work on your dump throws. If you are nervous about hucking it, work on your break throws. Give yourself a goal, and have one, no-fail throw that you can put up with confidence by the end of the season.
Please let Yelena and Jen know if you guys have any questions or issues from this weekend. We want to work with you to get you guys playing the best ulitmate possible.
Excellent weekend, PrettyFly.
See you at practice.
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