Pre-Summer League Thoughts

Summer League starts tomorrow. I'm on Powder, baggaged with Ed (also playing with Ashley and Rose on my team). Needless to say, I'm super pumped. This year's league style is draft, so the teams are supposed to be a little more even. I don't think we have the strongest team on paper, but we should be pretty competitive - we might surprise some people.

But, as with everything regarding this blog, one of our goals is to make Summer League count towards Regionals. Yes, there are some chumps in SL, but there are also some legit players out there. It's going to be important to step our individual games up to stay competitive, even though the rest of the competition might be a step below us. This is our time to really work on things that we are uncomfortable with. As with my philosophy on a lot of things, I have set a few goals for myself in SL; here they are.

1) Limit turnovers, improve decision making - This may prove to be very challenging in SL when there is a constant urge to huck or make irresponsible plays. Also, if I handle, the disc will move a lot through me, so it is important to make sure I make the right play - not the low percentage play.

2) Cut more - Trying to become a more well rounded player. That means playing other positions, and getting used to the position more so that I am more versitile on the field. I'm a strong proponent of players being able to do lots of things, so that handlers feel comfortable upfield, and cutters are comfortable handling for a few throws. This can translate really well to our college team.

3) Step up the individual defense - On the marks, on the handlers, and on the in/out-cuts. I've decided I'm not going to look for lots of handblocks this summer (unless it's like...right there), and instead really committ to trusting the rest of the defense and play solid marks. On handler D, I'm going to be working on not poaching my defender. I think that really kills us in a lot of defensive sets. In regards to the in/out cuts, really challenging myself to not allow my guy to touch the disc all point. Beyond that, I'm going to aim at going out and getting D's, not waiting for them to turnover a disc on a bad throw, as many teams do in SL.

4) Work on the intangibles. I really want to gain a solid cohesivness with Ed, be able to know what cuts/throws we like, and develop a little on field synergy. Also want to step up as a team leader more, leading by example, and picking my teaching opportunities. A lot of times in SL people want to say 493 things in a huddle during a time out. Little do they know, most players can only focus on 1-2 things. We have to learn to filter out the important things, and focus on the task at hand. Really, it actually ticks me off when people try and teach too much in SL ("try this on the mark, lets change this, i found it effective when..., let's run this special defense"). Really, SL defense is more about playing hard as a team, and doing small things individually. Anyway, basically my goal is to only say really important things, and not step over other leadership on the team. I look forward to hearing Ed get some coaching reps in maybe, other captain permitting.

Hopefully, I'm also bringing in a new player on the team. He's looking to join the Case team in fall. He has only played recreationally, so I want to weave him in slowly, and hopefully he will like it, and stick with it. My goal is to kind of take him under my wing and develop him into a real contributer for the fall. It should be exciting.

So to sum it up I think I am going to play a little game with myself. +1 for a regular D, +2 for a layout D, -1 for each turnover. Try to get as much in the positive as possible. Only -1 for the turnovers because I feel like I might be handling a lot this summer. My goal is to average 2 layout D's a game. I'm pretty confident in getting a D on a lot of in cuts when I'm really able to time it right (and have good positioning), but I want to work on quickly getting off my feet in a short burst, without having time to fully gather myself mentally - like on high stall count handler dump defense - when I KNOW its coming to me.

We'll see how it goes.

- Q