Colin McIntyre
When I played in college especially, my team made a concerted effort to
maintain an active sideline and to communicate efficiently from the sideline
rather than simply being loud. That carried over in Club, where I played with
many of those same players.
When I am on the sideline helping teammates on the field, I like to select one
player to communicate with and focus on two things: 1) conveying information
and 2) being specific. Anyone on the sideline can be your cheerleader. As your
sideline teammate, my goal is to help you play better Ultimate by providing
you with an extra set of eyes and ears and a constant flow of information. In
general, I talk more to teammates on D than O, and though my comments below
focus on man defense, the basic theme applies to zone also.
First, I concentrate especially on conveying information that you cannot
easily obtain yourself. Generally, this means watching the thrower (and the
whole field) and anticipating how the play will develop.
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When your man cuts deep, I will tell you if the throw is coming up or not.
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When your man begins setting up his cut, I will tell you how to adjust your position to shut him down (“get closer/tighter,” “stay under,” “go with,” etc.)
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If you are guarding the dump, I will let you know when he becomes a threat (“he’s looking,” “Colin, it’s you!” etc.)
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If you are marking, I will tell you what’s a threat (“inside/around/dump/swing”)
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If your positioning is perfect, then I will let you know, “yes” or “that’s good.”
Second, I try to convey information in a way that is specific, but concise. A
little extra information can go a long way. For example, while “UP!” is a
common call, adding one word onto that makes the call significantly more
helpful, yet still quick to say, e.g., “Up –
short/low/left/right/break/fast/floaty/hammer!” Similarly, “No Break” is less
helpful than a more specific cue like “No swing.”
Finally, I have three rules to help make my contribution 100% positive:
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I never yell calls by name. “He’s dragging!” is ok to yell, while “Travel!” is not.
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I almost never yell “strike.” I leave that to the dump defender, who generally knows if he’s in trouble. Also, as a thrower, hearing “strike” is my cue to throw a gigantic break.
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I try to look forward to help stay positive. Obviously, “No Continue” is a much more helpful thing to yell than “No more breaks!”
Tyler Kinley
Most offenders will tell you that yelling instructions to them on the sideline
when they’re on offense is annoying, if not worse. When you’re on offense,
sideline chatter is best saved for positive encouragement and celebrating a
goal scored.
However, on D, the sideline is an incredibly powerful tool, able to create
momentum on your side, stop momentum for the other team, and create blocks
that otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Now, a good sideline voice has a few characteristics.
First, the voice has to be heard. Duh, right? But if you’ve got five teammates
on the sidelines all yelling at you on the mark, you hear them all and none of
them at the same time, and any usefulness is lost. Having individual players
talking and listening is crucial.
Second, the talk itself must be clear and concise. One syllable is best–
“Up!” is quick and immediately recognizable. ““Heytakeawaythebreakside!” is
not.
Finally, you must create a team language and practice it. If you say “Looking
break!” to a mark, do you mean an inside-out or an around break throw? Which
should he take away? You must decide upon, teach, and then practice sideline
voice for it to be effective, but if you do, it can do wonders for a defense.
Next, what situations are best aided by help from the sidelines?
The major help comes when your field of vision is limited, and the sideline
can inform you of what is happening in areas you can’t see.
The mark is the easiest example. You are facing the thrower, and cannot see
what he is looking at. The sideline can tell you what his options are, or
instruct you what to take away, ie “No inside! No around! No huck!” I’ve toyed
with the idea of practicing an active sideline voice helping the mark to the
point that there is no force, simply a sideline instructing the mark what to
take away and making every throw a “break” throw. Certainly not a go-to D, but
maybe a good stunt to mix things up and create some chaos.
Downfield defenders’ field of vision can also be limited in a hard man
defense. Often if a cutter is being face-guarded (defender staring only at
cutter, never checking to see where the disc is), a savvy cutter can move this
defender into a place far out of position once the disc has moved, and create
an easy opportunity to get open. While the defender should check to see the
disc’s position, this is an opportunity for sideline voice to be incredibly
effective, informing him when, and where, the disc has moved and letting him
reposition without taking his eyes off the cutter. Of course, this information
must still meet the criteria above (heard, clear, concise, and practiced), but
it can be done.
One caveat– don’t tell the defender where to go, tell him what to know.
Yelling “move left” is nearly worthless, but yelling “not looking” as his man
cuts deep to tell him that the thrower is staring backwards at the dump and
the huck is not a threat is very useful.
Finally, how do you encourage sideline involvement?
After creating, teaching, and practicing your sideline voice, you still gotta
have guys do it, and after your offense grinds out a long grueling point with
multiple turnovers and are absolutely gassed and your motivation is lacking
because you’re down 3, how do you bolster the energy?
First and foremost, the effect of sidelines needs to be made clear and
important by the captains. A good captain knows how strong a vocal sideline
voice can be, and by encouraging it positively (it will helps us) rather than
negatively (come on guys what the hell we need to be louder!) you will see the
best results.
Second, good sub-calling that involves the whole or most of the team early on
goes a long way in engaging the entire team. If a guy hasn’t played in the
game, it’s tough for him to engage as much as he could. If he is subbed in
early on, not only does he know he’s getting crucial PT, but he is excited for
the rest of the game on the sideline.
To conclude:
A strong sideline voice can be the difference between a near-block and a
block. It must be heard, concise, and understood quickly through practice.
There are many defensive opportunities for sideline voice to help, often by
seeing what the on-field defender can’t, and communicating only the most
useful information. Remember, don’t tell him where to go, tell him what to
know. Finally, instill an appreciation for the importance of sideline voice
early and often, and involve people early in games to help create energy from
everyone.
Taylor Pope
The impact of the sideline is most important when the team is on defense. In
ultimate, as in most possession style games, the offense has a distinct
advantage. The offense is in control of where the future will take place on
the field and therefore offensive players are ABLE to be a step ahead of the
defense at all times. It is the job of the defenders to constantly anticipate
where the thrower would like to throw and when those spaces will be available,
while at the same time making decisions to force blocks. The defender has a
lot of responsibility. So how can you help this multitasker out?
Tell your defender things that they can’t see.
Tell the marker if the cutter is coming force or break side. Tell the mark
when they should strike*. Tell the mark to deny a certain throw if a cutter is
wide open. Look at the field and tell the mark about cuts that are coming from
far away. Tell everybody the disc is up. Tell the defender chasing a deep
cutter that the throw is not coming or that the disc was just swung to the
break side. Tell that same defender that he “is up” when the next pass is
logically coming to his guy. Tell a defender in the back of the stack, or
deepest, to “poach off” or “look to help” if one of your teammates is getting
beat deep. Tell a crafty defender to “poach off” when he is chasing deep but
will run right by the next for sure in cut.
Much of this takes practice on both ends. The voice needs to practice
efficiently getting your point across, anticipating the next logical offensive
move, and knowing who on the field is willing and ready to listen and quickly
react to their information. (Not sure how to assist the hearing impaired) And
practice this at practice because it is a skill to speak and to listen. Both
necessitate reactive timing only achieved through repetition.
I personally play better when I know my teammates got my back, are watching
me, and are using their precious energy reserves to help me help the team.
It’s a powerful thing.
*Strike- A code word often used to inform the marker that the next open side
throwing motion of the thrower will be for real and BITE heavy for the
handblock.
Moses Rifkin
Like any team, Death or Glory had its own mythology. As a green twenty-year
old, very few tales of the past loomed as large for me as Paul Greff’s block
against the Condors in 1998. It seemed told and told again: as the deep in the
zone at a critical point, Paul hears someone on the sideline telling him to
drop and he does, without looking, just in time to get a game saving block.
The message was clear - sideline voice won DoG a national championship - and I
was hooked.
Effective communication from the players on the sideline can be a crucial
advantage for a team. Sideline communication can improve your team’s level of
play by allowing defenders to respond to more than they can see. The sidelines
can remind players of strategic goals that get lost in the shuffle and can
bring a team together in a new way. I think sideline voice is something I’m
very good at. It’s something I’m as proud of, and work as much at, as any more
visible part of my game.
However, I think it’s very hard to do effectively. Playing Ultimate is
physically demanding, and having a second job to do when you come off the
field is often overwhelming. Most teams are unsuccessful when it comes to
sideline communication – you’re reading this, aren’t you? Becoming successful
requires a shift in team mentality, hard work, and practice time just like any
team concept.
I would argue that the majority of team’s difficulties comes from players not
knowing what to say, or not being compelled to put in the work. On DoG,
participation from the sideline was a given. It was woven into what it meant
to be on the team. On Sockeye, we spend practice time talking about our goals
and strategy for communication. I know that the prompt for this article has to
do with how I talk on the sideline, and I’ll get to that. But I think it’s
most important to focus on how to lay a team-wide foundation.
We’ve changed things over the years on Sockeye, but have recently found that
it’s effective for each player on the sideline to have just one or two people
that they are always responsible for. When Skip or Reid are on the field, I
know that I need to talk to them, and they can expect to hear my voice.
Everyone has a small group like this. This is a little less daunting, I think,
than the amorphous sense that I should be talking to ‘someone’, and allows me
to learn what sorts of things these two players need to hear and how to best
communicate with them.
Once we have our posse, each year we spend about fifteen minutes talking about
the “why and how” of our sideline communication. By talking about why we do
this, why it’s important, we are helping everyone to buy in – nobody likes
working hard on the mark, but we do it because we all understand why it’s
important. The difference with sideline voice is that it’s not as visibly
clear why you need it…but you do.
I mentioned before that not knowing what to say can be the biggest impediment
to talking from the sideline, and so we work hard to define as a team what
sorts of things need to be relayed from the sideline and how to do so. We keep
our vocabulary simple – ‘in’, ‘out’, ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘no break’, etc. – in
the hopes that it becomes easy for everyone to open their mouth and easy to
respond to what is heard. The goal here is to take the thinking out of yelling
and listening.
From there, we walk through what each point will look like from the sideline’s
perspective. The vast majority of our sideline talk happens when we’re on
defense, either pulling or after an offensive turnover. We expect everyone to
know the defense we’re playing. We use a simple code for relaying this
information, believing that it’s more important for us to know the defense
than it is for us to hide it from the other team. In practice we emphasize the
importance of everyone understanding each defense as we work on it, even
players who will never play it. I can’t remember the last time I was on the
field for a zone defense, but by understanding the role of a wing in our 4-man
cup, I can help communicate in the way that he needs.
From there it’s up to me, as an individual, to follow through. Before the
point starts, I make an effort to verbally connect with the person I’m talking
to (“Skip, I’m your voice”). Much of my success on the sideline depends on
being heard amidst the other yelling, and I want him to hear my voice and know
that that’s what to listen for. Throughout the point, I try to make sure that
he won’t lose that thread, and that means continually saying something – “Skip
in, Skip in, Skip you’re fine, Skip you’re good, Skip left, Skip left, Skip
mark, Skip mark!” – while staying as close to him as I can. It means following
him up and down the field on the sideline, and means resisting the urge to
watch the play to see what happens.
If this sounds like hard work, it is. It takes practice, just like anything
else. Just like the timing of my cutting, I find that I feel bad about my
sideline voice until around Regionals where I start to really hit my stride –
but it’s worth it. When Skip or Reid get a block, I crow to my teammates
“That’s my block!”. False puffery, sure, but it’s also a reflection of the
fact that I do believe that I contribute to their successes (and they tell me
as much), and it feels great in the moments that the work pays off. It’s worth
it.
One last thought: we’ve all felt the ebb and flow of a game, and we talk on
Sockeye as one way of having some control over the game’s momentum. Staying
active from the sideline can feel easy when your team is cruising, but
maintaining that same energy when you’re down a few breaks is when it really
matters most. Turning the tide doesn’t just happen, and I think rising to meet
that challenge from the sideline is one of the things that most teams ignore.
I encourage you to treat the development of a culture of sideline voice just
as you would any other part of your team. Set team expectations for sideline
voice just like you do for practice attendance and hold your teammates
accountable in the same way. Practice your sideline strategy and
implementation. Set goals for tournaments and revisit those goals after each
game. Try talking from the sideline (and responding to what you hear, which is
another skill unto itself) at practice just as you hope to in a game.
These aren’t revolutionary suggestions for any on-field skill, and I think
they pay dividends just as much for sideline communication. Being good at this
as a team WILL help you win games, and it WILL make the experience more fun.
It’s not easy, but when you have twenty teammates yelling and high-fiving on
the sideline of a sweltering tournament game while your opponents cringe in
the shade tent, when you come home from tournaments hoarse and happy, when you
respond to a voice to get the block that wins a national championship, you’ll
see that it feels worth it.
Jody Avirgan
Assuming there are other essays that discuss the importance of having one
sideline voice using simple language, I’ll take a slightly contrarian approach
to the topic: there’s not much you can really accomplish from the sideline
during a game. Put more accurately, the best you can hope for from your
sideline is to help remind the players on the field of what they already know.
Defensive blocks are created by players executing the strategy they decided on
before the point. Sideline information rarely generates a block and, much more
often than not, can actually serve to undermine the preexisting strategy.
There is little hope that someone on the sideline can “joystick” a player on
the field into a block; but he/she can certainly joystick a teammate out of
position.
Take, for example, the mark, which is where communication from off the field
is standard. As far as I could tell, 2010 was the year of the rotated mark. On
Team USA we employed it all the time, shifting the sideline trap mark at stall
5 or so to take away the dump, then having the dump defender play the upline
cut. On PoNY we saw this defense all season, and really only figured out how
to beat it on Sunday at Regionals. It’s a very effective strategy when
everyone’s on the same page.
And when was it less effective? More often than not, when the mark would jump
back out of position because someone on the sideline was giving them too much
information.
So, what did successful sideline communication look like in this case?
Stall 1-5: “No break…No inside…No around”
Stall 5: “Rotate!” or “90!” or whatever term you have for the mark taking
away the dump
Stall 6-10: (Calmly) “Hold it…steady…take a step back…no foul”
The unsuccessful version?
Stall 1-5: “No break…No inside…No around”
Stall 5: “Rotate!” or “90!” or whatever term you have for the mark taking
away the dump
Stall 6-10: (Frantic) “NO LINE!!! NO INSIDE!!! EVERYONE FREAK OUT!!!!”
If the sideline starts to flood the player on the field with too much
information, and information that’s out of sync with the overall strategy, the
mark gets jumpy, gives us a cheap foul, and all of a sudden the thrower or the
cutter can find a bail-out for him or herself at the last second.
The point is, trust your preexisting game plan, the one you developed when
everyone was calmer and more reasoned. Don’t expect a player to be able to
process your information, stray from the strategy, and make a play all in
real-time. If the wing in the zone’s number one priority is to take away the
line as it swings, just make sure that you’re reminding them to do so. If
you’ve decided to front a particular player on the other team, spend the point
telling his defender “front…front…front”. Keep it simple, and keep it
consistent. It may not be the most enticing way to communicate from the
sideline, but it’ll pay dividends over the course of a long game.
Miranda Roth
I think that sideline contributions are underrated in their worth by most
teams and particularly by most great players. People who are great at team
sports are not necessarily motivated to play well for themselves – especially
in our sport, they are motivated to play well by their love of team, teammates
and something bigger than themselves.
In this way, I will stand by something I accidentally said in a huddle last
year: “Loud information is good information.” Now, of course this is a
generalization, but particularly when you are teaching people who are shy or
new to sideline talk what to do, first things first you must be loud! You must
make an impact on your teammate’s game and if you are speaking quietly, your
impact will be lost. No matter what you say, make it loud – cup your hands
around your mouth, deepen your voice and yell.
As someone who is mostly involved with women’s and youth ultimate, I can say
that from the sideline, you should be darn close to 100% positive and
informational. Especially on offense, cheering is the best way to help – it is
difficult to react to direction from the sideline when you are doing your best
to read the defense, thrower, and other cutters. On defense, “up” calls and
talking to the mark are the most important but still you must be LOUD!
Negativity will motivate only about 1% of the ultimate players out there so
unless you know your player very well, stick to the positive and maybe provide
constructive observations after the point.
Effective sideline talk is a part of every great team’s success. If you talk
well from the sideline you will feel more bought in, you will be engaged in
every point (no loss of focus), and you will make a bigger positive impact on
every game. Just a taste of what it’s like trying to be a good coach.
Jim Parinella
Basic principles of sideline talk are fairly simple: make it targeted (say the
player’s name first), make it specific (not just “c’mon, go, go”), and give
information (not instruction). You may not know what the player already knows
and is planning, so this lets him decide what to do and how to handle the
info. (Sometimes, if the level of trust is high, off-field players can give
instructions rather than information.)
On each point, especially in zone D, establish a one-to-one relationship, so
Tom and only Tom is talking to Joe (although occasionally Joe needs to hear
from Fred on the other side of the field). On some occasions, a simple
exhortation to try harder can be good enough, but don’t forget to throw an
occasional compliment for a good defensive effort that results in nothing more
than taking away an option.
On offense, less is generally more. Telling a receiver “No one” (is making an
effort to block the pass) or (beware of the) “man on” is about the only thing
I like to hear on the field from the sideline. Please don’t call my name
unless I really need to know something immediately. Another possibility is to
stand behind the thrower in a trap situation to give the thrower an extra
second sometimes to find the open guy.
By now, though, I think the above might qualify as conventional wisdom, and
there are some dominant personalities on each team that are going to control
the sideline talk. As a quiet guy (despite the volumes of writing), I find
that there are things that I can do, that the majority do not, that fit my
style and can help the team.
When we’re on defense, I will position myself farther downfield than any of
the players. This way, I can see the hucks coming even before they are thrown,
and yell at the defender to get him on his horse to catch up and then direct
him once the pass is up (and even to be in position in an unobserved game to
call in/out or offer advice on a foul call). One downside is that this
isolates you from the rest of the team, but take heart in knowing that you can
add a turnover or two per tournament.
Shane Rubenfeld
Sideline talk should make the players on the field more effective in two ways:
it should help them make different decisions than they might make otherwise,
and it should help them (re)act more quickly to game situations. In other
words, the primary functions of sideline talk are to provide new information,
and to provide reinforcement that cuts down processing time.
‘Provide new information’: tell the player on the field anything they
can’t see that might- or should- change the way they play for the next few
seconds or passes. Generally, this type of sideline call will mostly come on
the defensive end, when your players are primarily focused on their
assignment. The ‘UP!’ call is perhaps the most basic of these, and the absence
of this call as a team habit is a hallmark of inexperience. Does your team use
any of these calls from the sideline: “Broken!” “You’ve got time!” “Who’s
poached?!” ?
‘Reinforcement’: In my experience, it’s more difficult to provide helpful
sideline talk to the players on offense. Most of the time, cutters know their
job and cutting can be incredibly subjective, down to abstractions such as the
number of steps you need to make your move, or the feeling of how close on you
your defender is. Reinforcing talk that helps make decisions faster can cut
down on offensive miscues and the awkward waffling that often happens at the
transition between cutting and clearing. “Clear out” calls can help a cutter
instinctively peel out of a lane instead of taking an extra three steps
wondering if the disc will come. “Look dump”, “swing it!”, “move the ball!” et
cetera can remind a handler of his obligations. Overdone, these can quickly
become overkill, but used judiciously these reinforcing calls can facilitate
your cutting system and keep the disc moving.
On defense, reinforcing calls will largely bolster the willpower of the
defensive player, and thus production. The player knows very well that he
should play the open side of his man, but often he is tired, sore and
unfocused. Staying in his ear when he’s out of position will remind him that
his job is important and appreciated and often provide the needed energy to
finish out the point.
The most effective sidelines will specialize sideline players. Instead of just
watching the game and calling out things that you notice happening, assign
sideline players to different onfield players or to different roles. Here are
two sideline roles that I take most frequently:
*Talk to Deep– Have someone always talking to the deepest player; in
addition to making sure no one sneaks out on him, you can also keep an eye on
whether the thrower is taking notice of a deep cut. If I always know who’s
deepest at a given moment, or which tall fast guy can lend support, I can
scream his name out the instant I see a big thrower start his windup or get
the disc upline. The second that will give before everyone else yells ‘UP!’
can often mean two steps, a full commitment, and the D.
*Behind the Marker– My favorite sideline role is to take a position
directly behind the thrower when the disc is coming in on my sideline. Talking
to the mark, I can see everything the thrower can see. Its generally obvious
from that position who the cutting options are and when the thrower’s faking,
and I can help the mark only shift the force in reaction to real threats. I
use the calls ’left hand’ and ‘right hand’ to cut down processing time, as
opposed to ’no I/O’ etc. A good pair of marker and caller can often take
risks– such as jumping the dump look on a higher count– that would be
foolish without a caller confirming that no one dropped an assignment on an
open side cutter.
Does your team emphasize sideline talk? Do you acknowledge this each point?
How much of your talk provides information or confirmation?
Logan Pendragon
Standing on the sidelines is, for many players, the hardest or most
frustrating part of being on a team. Ultimate is special in the larger world
of sports in that the sideline is a great place to help your team out. Where
in other sports the sideline is not allowed to actively participate by
communicating with their fellow players on the field, in Ultimate the sideline
can work as an eighth player, one with position and focus dedicated to
improving the outcome of strategies and plays being made my fielded players.
Yet, being a sideline voice isn’t a simple thing to master.
A good rule of thumb to start with is to keep your help simple. Start off with
clear and attentive “Up” calls and keep your teammates motivated on the field
when they are tired. If possible, find positions with good perspectives on
plays to help with in/out and up/down calls.
The next step for me is pairing-off a sideline player with an on-field player.
Pairing up is something that takes work and requires trust between players,
but gives an added edge if done properly. It’s much easier for any player if
they are allowed to focus on guarding or marking on defense, and having an
extra pair of eyes to help reposition one’s defense only adds to that. A clear
example is when maintaining a mark, your buddy on the sideline who can see the
field and immediate threats behind you can help you reposition to take away a
pass to an oncoming threat. Calls to “strike”, “no break”, and “no huck” can
build up your defense immensely. These players also help keep their partners
balanced as well as focused on the team’s own strategy by calling out
reminders.
The key to getting this right is to know the player you are assisting and have
his trust. If you make a call that ends up going badly, it’s rough. So keep
calls to what’s simple, what you know, and to what you’ve practiced. Keep your
teammates pumped; motivate them whenever you are not instructing.
An added benefit of sideline pairings, especially on less developed teams with
players at different levels of gameplay, is that it creates an organized way
to help each other. Avoid cross-shouting instructions from different players
on the sideline. If you have one voice to lock on to, then no one gets
confused.
Developing trust between players is key for this partnering to work, so know
the player with whom you are working. Newer players to the team deserve some
attention, but players with tough jobs during a point take precedence. Take
time to develop the use of the sideline during practices.
Greg Husak
Different teams have a very different approach to the role of individuals when
they’re on the sideline. Some teams like to give the players on the sideline a
chance to rest and have them sit in the shade to recover for their next time
in the game. Others, especially in the college ranks, can have countless
players making tons of useless noise from the sidelines. I think the best
teams find a way to keep players involved in the success of the team when they
are not one of the seven guys on the field. There are countless ways to do
this.
Offensively, teams usually have a set of phrases that may define their
offensive objective. Things like “swing” (the disc), “keep cutting” or (move
the disc to the) “middle” are keywords that remind players to look for
specific throws or cuts within the context of the offense. These cues can
serve as helpful ways to influence the play on the field, while not over-
coaching or distracting the players from doing their things. In zone offense,
there is a possibility for even more talk from the sideline to help position
players or point out something that a thrower might be missing. However, I’ve
generally thought that offenses are better left to work without the
distraction of a lot of sideline input.
Defensively there is a much greater opportunity for the sidelines to
contribute to the onfield performance. The most basic is to give players “up”
calls when the disc is in the air. Putting a name on the end of that up call,
is the next step for helping the individual who the disc is going to. The next
step is for the sideline to be aware of the defense for that point, as well as
the general defensive philosophy. Does the dump defender overplay the
backwards pass, or protect against the dump going upfield? Is the marker
pressuring a backwards pass, possibly at the cost of giving up an inside-out
break throw? If the sideline knows the defensive priorities they can instruct
both the dump and the marker about a subtle shift in positioning to work
within the defensive concept. Telling the marker where that dump cutter is
with predetermined words (“left”, “right”, “45”, “flat”, “strike”) can make
the marker much more effective with simple phrases.
In the zone there is an even greater chance for the sideline to help. Because
of the nature of zone defense, it is possible for a sideline player to talk to
a single onfield player for the entire point. Effective sideline communicators
will keep a continuous stream of talk to help the player stay with that voice.
I’ve also found that a name, followed by an instruction is a much better way
to communicate than just yelling instructions. For example, “Greg drop, Greg
right, Greg you’re good” tells Greg to drop, move right, and then stay where
he is. There are a number of phrases that can speak to specific actions, but
each team may have different terms for those. However, the continuous flow of
information from the sidelines to the field will help players be their most
responsive to sideline communication.
Finally, sidelines can do a lot to pump up players on the field, or similarly,
contribute to the mood of an ugly game. Condors had a simple rule that you
don’t talk to the other team’s onfield players from the sideline. If an
opponent made a bad call, telling your teammate that he made a great play gets
the same message across as telling the opponent he is a cheater. However, by
doing the former you are pumping up your team while possibly creating doubt in
the opponent, while the latter overlooks your teammate’s play and may inspire
the opponent. Sidelines can also do well in creating an intimidating presence
with strong communication and forceful encouragement. Just the act of knowing
that a teammate is watching me is usually enough to make me give maximum
effort and do my best. With seven onfield players channeling that energy, a
team can be lifted to a higher level of play.
Brett Matzuka
As cliché as it may be, it is true that the sideline can equate to the eighth
man (woman) for a team. However, I would say the sideline can mean much more
than just an eighth man. The sideline can be a symbolic representation of the
morale and demeanor of the game.
Most speak of the sideline and the tangible benefits of using your voices to
motivate and push your teammates in the heat of battle on the field. Everyone
that has run track or cross country, or even a conditioning practice with your
team, knows how much harder you work when you are being encouraged by your
brethren. The benefit of taking your mind off the pain, struggle, and fatigue
you are facing and being granted a mental distraction to refocus all of that
defeat into a positive- that you are doing it for your teammates. This has
immediate benefits and is the very least a sideline can do to influence the
success of their team without stepping on the field.
The next most advantageous aspect is still more constructive. Unlike many
other sports, we are blessed to be able to give active coaching throughout the
entire point of play. We are not limited to coaching areas during the point as
in basketball, punished for helping as in golf, or limited by time as in
football. We are able to have players along the whole perimeter giving advice
to players throughout the entire point. I find the best way to optimize this
benefit is to allocate one sideline player to each on-field player so they
have one voice to listen for. This is especially important in zone as a player
can often get contradictory, or at least conflicting, advice during a point.
Next, it isn’t about giving them trivial advice, information they already
know, such as the force or who they are marking, but about invaluable info
they are not able to obtain. For instance, on the mark, if they are correctly
forcing forehand but the only real threat is a backhand, informing them to
switch the mark for 1-2 seconds to the ‘technically’ wrong force. Because you
are able to see the entire field much like the thrower, you are aware of the
likely option the thrower wants to take and can inform your mark of this
information to give them a level playing field. The ability to have a
knowledgeable enough sideline to do this is usually worth a few Ds a game.
However, though the previous was tangibly effective, the most advantageous
aspect of the sideline is attitude. Although it is the least tangible, the
best thing a sideline can do is be positive, optimistic and supportive of
their players and each other. Most good teams are waiting for the opportunity
to step on the opposition’s throat, which is keyed in on when they seem down
and discouraged. If you never give them this opportunity, not only do you keep
your team’s environment a positive and unified one, you can potentially leach
the opposition’s confidence, giving your team an edge late in the game when it
matters. A good example of this is Seattle’s Sockeye. They keep their mental
state on the sideline positive and encouraging, keeping their players focused
on the points ahead instead of mistakes that might have occurred that could
lead to future mistakes.
Ben van Heuvelen
In the moment of competition, I like my brain to be functioning on
approximately the level of a caveman chasing a woolly mammoth. The biggest
motivation to help from the sideline is that the louder I yell, the more
primordial I feel, and the better I play. It’s the best way for me to get in
and stay in “the zone.”
Here is a great description of the zone, which I recently read in a novel:
“She felt a special private connection with the basket, always knowing exactly
where it was and always trusting that she was its favorite player on the
floor, the best at feeding its circular mouth. Even off the court she existed
in the zone, which felt like a kind of preoccupied pressure behind her
eyebrows, an alert drowsiness or focused dumbness that persisted no matter
what she was doing.”
This “focused dumbness” is the goal of my training. My hours spent throwing,
running drills, and scrimmaging are all designed to teach my brain and muscles
to respond instantly without thought. When I’m competing, my conscious mind
can only get in the way and slow me down. This is what we mean when we tell
our teammates, “Get out of your head,” or, “Get into the game”: Stop thinking;
just do it.
The most vulnerable time for players, psychologically speaking, is when we’re
not playing. That’s when we have time to think. Joe Montana said, “As soon as
you know you’re in the zone, you’re not in the zone.” Why is that? Because the
part of your brain that can make that kind of realization is not the caveman
part of your brain. (Sure, it’s possible to be both a great player and a great
thinker – but not simultaneously.)
My goal on the sideline is to leave no room for reflective thought by focusing
totally on the game. I talk with teammates about what they’ve been doing well
or what we’re going to do next point to respond to our opponent’s tactics. I
yell team cheers. I pick a teammate on the line and shout specific information
throughout the point. (“Big thrower”; “not a thrower”; “disc is swinging”; “no
huck”; “all underneath”; “left hand low”; “last back”; etc.) Halfway through
the point, I usually get distracted by another teammate who needs a good bout
of yelling and I get in his ear.
I yell the most specific and concrete information possible. General
encouragement is great (“keep working hard”), but my teammate is less likely
to have his mark broken if I’m yelling “stay on your toes” or “rotate no
around”. Also, the more specific the information I yell, the more focused I
have to be on the game.
I try to yell only positive things. Any time I say something negative, even
under my breath, I allow the thought to enter my mind that “things aren’t
going well.” It’s not long before that thought ruins the useful illusion –
which is a big part of “the zone” – that my team and I are unstoppable.
If I’m successful on the sidelines, when I step back on the line to play, it
feels like I never left the game. In other words, I’m still “in my rhythm.”
I’m sure the sideline talk has also helped my teammates but the biggest
benefit is my own. I get another shot at playing in the zone.
Jeff Eastham-Anderson
When you find yourself on the sideline, there are two obvious things to do
during a point. You should serve as an extra brain and pair of eyes to help
them execute the team’s strategy, and you need to encourage them to keep
putting in effort. I’ll skip over these two aspects of sideline help (which I
hope others will cover in more detail), and focus on one aspect which takes
place after a point is over, and one aspect which is believed to be helpful,
but is frequently not, and should be discouraged.
A mistake/learning opportunity during the middle of a point is hard for a
player on the field to capitalize on their own because they were thinking
about the 50 other things which happened during that point. However, a
teammate on the sideline is in a much better situation to recognize, remember,
offer perspective, and therefore help teammates improve. If you have trouble
remembering, write it down. If you’re not sure how a mistake might be
corrected, or if a mistake was made at all, talk to a more experienced
teammate. In my opinion it is better to watch one person the entire point, as
opposed to many people. Not only can you help that person in real-time, but
you can also get a feel for what that person was trying to do, instead of
taking one mistake out of context.
Finally, just because the point is over doesn’t mean you need to stop
encouraging the teammate you’ve been watching. If you didn’t notice any
mistakes, praise their effort. In fact, even if you did notice something they
could improve upon, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the rest of the point
where they were playing well. Give praise where praise is due.
The one thing I’ve never been a fan of is a sideline voice that tells me to do
something which is the right play in a vacuum, but is contradictory to the
team’s strategy. Practically speaking, the chain of events which must take
place is often way too slow to be helpful. A person on the sideline needs to
recognize what’s going to happen, figure out the appropriate response,
communicate it to someone on the field, who then needs to recognize and react
in a way they weren’t anticipating. Furthermore, the principle of playing on a
team and having a cohesive strategy is undermined every time someone
freelances, and is made worse when your own teammate is encouraging you to do
so.
Every time a player does something unexpected, there is almost always a trade-
off which weakens the approach a team is taking. A prime example of this is a
strike call on a sideline
trap.
You hear this call quite a bit, but acting on a strike call does two things.
First, the marker is giving up the portion of the field the rest of the team
is expecting them to take away. Second, it helps out a defender who was beat
to a position of the field that was their responsibility to take away, not the
marker’s. So, not only is the marker rewarding that one defender who was beat
by trying to cover for their mistake, but by changing the mark they are
screwing the other five defenders by letting off an easy break mark throw.
This isn’t to say strike calls are bad. But your team needs to decide that
occasionally stopping that throw is worth the mark abandoning the portion of
the field for which they are responsible.