Mike Whitaker
Sub-calling is one of the most difficult parts of being a team leader, be it
as a coach or a player. As coach of Kali (the University of Colorado Women’s
team), I have employed several different strategies throughout the years
depending on the team. In this article, I’ll try to give young players some
insight into one coach’s perspective of sub-calling.
My sub-calling strategy begins in the organization of my sub sheet. I split
players into pods, generally four or five.
Pod 1—Veteran Handlers: As a coach, I realize that our chances of scoring
increase significantly if there are at least two confident throwers on the
line.
Pod 2—Veteran Cutters & Defenders: These are my athletes who I trust in
their knowledge of the game and defensive ability but may not be as
comfortable with the disc.
Pod 3—Young Handlers: These are the next generation handlers who may not
have all the skills or confidence yet to touch the disc all the time, but are
likely to develop into good handlers given enough touches.
Pod 4—Young Cutters & Athletes: These are my first or second year players
who seem to “get it” and have an idea of where to go on the field and when to
go there, but aren’t consistent yet with their skills.
Pod 5—Rawest rookies: This pod contains the players who are very new to
the sport and may tend to get a little lost or confused on the field at times
due to the game being so new.
My use of the pods changes based on the opponent. In games against inferior
opponents where the score is unlikely to be close, I tend to sub liberally and
pull 3-4 players per line from Pods 1-2 and 3-4 players from Pods 3-5.
In games that are more competitive, I try to not have more than one player
from Pod 5 on the field at one time. I tend to give more points to Pods 1-2
with 5-7 of them on the line at a time for offensive points. Occasionally I’ll
mix in pod 3-4 players with veteran throwers or cutters to give some rest.
More frequently, I would put in an entire line of young players to give rest
to all of Pods 1-2 at the same time. They play defense and are given chances
to work together as a unit at practice prior to the tourney. Their job is to
make life difficult for the opposing O and hopefully score, but making the
other O work hard was the primary goal. If we can steal points with this line,
all the better. Basically, I “go for” some D points by loading up with Pods
1-2 and then hope to get a couple of points out of the younger D line
throughout the game.
By using this pod system, I attempt to keep my veterans fresh for late in the
tourney when they may have to play multiple points in a row while keeping
young players involved in the action and giving them an opportunity to take
ownership of making a difference in the game. The best way for a young player
to increase playing time in this system and move from say Pod 4 to Pod 2 is
for her to exert effort on D, catch the disc, and complete the next pass
consistently.
Mike Whitaker
Catching technique and practice are often overlooked components of player
development. Catching instructions generally begin and end with a
demonstration of the pancake catch and calls to “use two hands,” with players
left to their own devices to improve their catching through repetitions. As a
coach of Kali (the University of Colorado Women’s team), I have developed a
more proactive approach to teaching catching.
The reason for this is that drops are unforced turnovers that are preventable.
Defenses are good enough at the highest levels of the game that they will
consistently take the disc away from your offense. The difference between good
and elite teams often comes down to who makes the fewest unforced turnovers.
The corollary to that is saving turnovers, not through making the spectacular
layout catch, but by increasing the margin of error for your throwers by
consistently catching the discs that aren’t quite thrown perfectly. The
combination of eliminating easy drops and making the slightly difficult catch
more often can have a huge impact on the success of your team against
similarly talented competition.
Here are some drills that I use to work specifically on catching.
1. First, I talk to my team about when to catch with the thumb up versus
thumb down when catching one handed, with the hand position switching at
approximately shoulder height.
2. Then, I have them do a set of tens, with ten throws each of inside out
forehands, inside out backhands, outside in forehands, and outside in
backhands. Each throw must be caught one-handed with the hand on the side of
the body where the disc arrives so that receivers get used to catching one-
handed lefty and righty with discs arriving at different angles.
3. The next step is working on catching while moving. I begin by having
the player run straight at me and I throw the disc at them with some zip to
get them used to catching a disc that has some speed on it. They can catch
with either one or two hands in this drill. Five catches each.
4. Then they run from left to right at a 45 degree angle toward the disc
and I put the disc out in front so they have to catch it left handed. Five
catches then switch to a right to left cut with right handed catches.
5. Finally, I have the players make a 45 degree cut from left to right
going away from the disc. I throw the disc out in front and high so they have
to make high left handed grabs. Five catches each then switch the cutting
direction to use the right hand.
Try these drills with your team and note the numbers of drops (any time the
disc touches a hand and isn’t caught) and then see if you can improve
throughout the course of your season.
Mike Whitaker
The best strategy for containing good deep throwers depends in part on the
type of handler position they are playing. If the thrower is frequently in a
dump reset position, the number one priority must be that he does not get the
disc moving up field. A good thrower with momentum and a trailing mark is
deadly. You will often find a defender guard this player well for the first
two or three resets and then the defender will get impatient. They’ll start to
overplay the dump in an effort to get the block and will get beat upline or
they’ll get lazy with body position and fail to take away the upline cut with
their body. The number one priority for defending a dangerous deep thrower
lined up near or behind the disc is that they must catch the disc with their
momentum moving away from the attacking endzone.
If the thrower is playing upfield, I would try to have our defender play more
honest D if they were beaten consistently in the first half. To make the
thrower’s life more difficult, I would instruct our dump defenders to “sponge”
or poach the dumps when the dangerous thrower has the disc. Basically, for the
first two seconds the thrower has the disc, the dump defenders should jump
into the throwing lane. Again, this strategy is designed to disrupt the rhythm
of the thrower and prevent the easy momentum huck. It is also designed to get
the disc out of the most dangerous player’s hands and to see if the team’s
other throwers can beat us in a pressure situation.
As for they type of defender, I would first try putting my team’s best marker
on the thrower. By best marker, I mean the player who is always active on the
mark and best understands what the hucker wants to throw. The best way for a
marker to limit the damage from a hucker is to make the hucker uncomfortable
at release. This can mean making the hucker take an extra pivot, causing him
to extend an extra couple inches beyond the normal release point, causing the
release to be rushed, or the follow through to be shortened. Good huckers have
favorite release points and normal rhythms of throwing where they are most
dangerous. Disrupt these by taking huckers out of their comfort zones and you
greatly increase the odds of your defender having a shot at blocking the huck.
In the end, with a good thrower, all you can really ask your defense to do is
to increase the odds of a throw that isn’t perfect and can be D’ed.
I would try the revised strategy for the first three to four D points of the
second half and make their thrower adjust to the different defensive look. If
it doesn’t work, I’d likely go back to the force the thrower deep strategy at
that point and shift one of my top receiver defenders to covering him.