Guide/Archive
Welcome to my blog! This page is an archive of the ultimate-related content on the blog. I'll do my best to keep it updated as I post more.
If you have requests for an article on a specific topic or other feedback, feel free to leave a comment, email me at some flow blog at outlook dot com (without the spaces), or message me on Reddit: u/someflow_ . And if you receive my blog posts in your inbox, you can contact me by simply replying to the email.
Posts are sorted by subject below. To see all posts in the order they were posted, click here.
Some most viewed/personal favorite posts are:
1. Technique:
1.A: Cutting:
Great cutters fake and do other things well too — More or less a summary of the rest of my posts on cutting.
Walking before cutting — Set up your cut using walking/jogging to get to the perfect starting position
Feign boredom to keep the defense unprepared — If you pretend you're not about to do something awesome the defense will often let their guard down
Accelerate as fast as you possibly can — Getting away from a defender means running fast when they're running slow. Accelerate fast and the defender is at a disadvantage purely due to reaction time.
The "fake clear" cut — Explaining the "fake clear" cut, using the example of Levke Walczak in the 2022 WUCC.
Be ready for the pass at all times — Pretty much exactly what the title says.
Notice when your defender isn't noticing you — Make a move when the defense is distracted and you'll create even more separation.
Walking before cutting II: Make it hard for your defender to see you and the disc — Walk into your defender's blind spot and their job becomes much harder.
Take the free yards — Gain as many yards on each reception as the defense is allowing you to. Have a mindset dedicated to moving the disc down the field.
Notice when you're open — Sometimes players just go through the motions and don't realize that they're currently wide open. Elite players are really good at noticing when they're open.
The box-out dump cut — Good dump cutting benefits from knowing how to use your body to box the defender out from the space where you want to catch the pass.
Stop-and-go — A look into why the stop-and-go move is so useful.
Pretending to call for the disc — A useful technique to pull out every once in a while. It can be tricky to confuse our defender without confusing the thrower.
First run. Then catch — People will often put their hands up to catch while running, slowing themselves down. First use your arms to run—only at the end reach up to catch the disc.
Cut before the thrower catches it — Figure out where you’d like to be when the next thrower looks upfield. Cut early to get there.
You can only fake at your defender’s speed — Good fakes require knowing your defender. A tiny fake won’t work against a defender with slow reaction time.
The go-to give-go resource — I didn’t write my own give-and-go post because there’s already so much out there. Here’s a collection of articles & videos created by others.
Getting open by stopping — Stopping quickly from a full sprint can be an effective way to get open.
1.B: Throwing:
How to throw forehands using your elbow: A detailed discussion of why you should "lead with your elbow" to throw a flick, and how it relates to the motion of a whip.
The no-windup backhand: Having the quick-release backhand in your arsenal (no windup & no pivot) expands your throwing opportunities on the field.
Throw a whole lot: Pro athletes in other sports practice their throwing/shooting a lot. If it's the right path for you, you could do that too.
An introduction to the science of learning, for frisbee throwers — Learn what learning science has to say about how to practice throwing.
Forehand: wrist, grip, and wobble — A source of wobble is misalignment between the wrist’s rotation axis and the disc’s symmetry axis. Changing the grip is underappreciated as a way to fix this.
Don't 'turn the palm up' on forehands — A close look at some elite throwers shows that, contrary to popular belief, it's common to turn the palm down as a huck is being released.
Why the palm appears up on flick hucks — In slow motion videos we can see that the palm is "up" during the throwing motion, but (in my opinion) this mostly happens for reasons that have nothing to do with the thrower trying to have their palm up.
How to practice throwing — How to structure your throwing sessions for maximum efficiency, based on "an introduction to the science of learning" (see above)
You, too, can look off defenders — Looking off the defense is a very useful skill that’s underutilized in ultimate.
Pitch and roll on curvy throws — Many introductory guides to throwing IO and OI throws suggest the disc only has one angle (the outside edge). But the angle of the nose of the disc also determines how it curves.
The disc doesn’t need to stay flat — A friendly reminder that the disc isn’t flat throughout the throwing motion.
If we don’t teach ‘palm up’, then what? — A discussion of alternate techniques to teach players to throw flat flicks without ever telling them to keep their ‘palm up’.
Keep the disc forward as you bring your elbow back? — An explanation of how keeping the disc forward (i.e. keeping your forearm horizontal/pointing forward) as you wind up a throw may help generate more power.
Great throwers don’t pump fake — Don’t take the title too literally! Pump fakes can be effective, but are often overused. Many players throw ineffective pump fakes that don’t actually generate any change in the defense.
How accurately can you possibly throw a frisbee? — Some thoughts on viral accuracy videos in other sports and the limits of frisbee throwing accuracy.
More "Forehand Mechanics That Aren't Taught" — A few tips and tricks (mostly grip-related) for throwers looking to refine their forehand.
2. Analysis/Strategy:
PUL's Pulls — Discussion of how to handle pulling (on both offense and defense), using the 2022 PUL championship game.
Mildly against sideline communication — I’m not a big fan of players on the sideline yelling advice to their teammates. Read on to find out why.
Putting your whole offense in the endzone is bad, actually — Having players behind the disc is good strategy because there’s more space for the players on the downfield side. With some nuance discussed in the full article.
The ‘post-huck’ fast break — An un-caught huck is often a great time to fast break after the turnover — there are open spaces and cutters-turned-defenders out of position.
Turnover analysis has its limits — It’s important to think about why our turnovers happen but also important to understand the limits of this type of analysis.
Brute Squad’s fast break ferocity — 2023 national champion Boston Brute Squad highlights the power of starting fast.
Defender on the ground? Get rid of the disc! — When your defender hits the ground, don’t squander the opportunity—take advantage by looking to quickly give-and-go.
Don’t lose more yards than necessary on dump throws — Throwing the disc backwards is important but there are better and worse ways to do it, given that our ultimate goal is to move forwards in order to score.
How valuable is one ultimate frisbee player? — Using data and comparisons to basketball to estimate the maximum impact (in terms of net point differential) that one player can have.
More on “usage rates” — Adding some nuance to the discussion about “usage rates” from How valuable is one ultimate frisbee player?.
Start considering your options as early as possible — Great players minimize the time between when they catch and when they start finding someone to throw to. One way to do that is turning while you jump.
Why I like fast breaks — All the reasons I think fast breaks are a superior strategy.
Cultural insanities in frisbee — A list of the things I think “mainstream frisbee culture” gets wrong (including links to many of my other blog posts).
3. Mindset:
Balancing Individual Growth and Winning — A follow-up to Ultiworld's "push and perfect" article.
Being competitive includes your emotions — If being competitive means trying to win, then "being competitive" isn't an excuse for poor behavior that lowers your team's chances of winning.
Oodles of OODAs — The start of a guide to using your brain on the field. Notice things and keep track mentally of what you've noticed.
Practice — Zima Blue style — Having an uncomplicated mindset can be one key to staying sane when you Throw a whole lot.
Reasons to consider being passionate about frisbee — A look into the benefits of being passionate about your hobby instead of just having a casual interest.
Reframing frustration — Avoid burnout by seeing the positive side of frustration.
Don't overreact when it's all the same bell curve — Performance is a spectrum and everyone will “underperform” sometimes.
Think about what your opponent is thinking — Your opponents have brains too. What will you do when they come up with good plans to stop you? Which tactics will still work?
Be good at frisbee, not just frisbee-like things — There are many skills that make a good frisbee player, and they aren’t all easily quantifiable or easily trained. Don’t just train the easy stuff and think it’s enough. A hard-to-summarize article that speaks to a big theme of my blog overall.
Playing pickup with intention — One of the best ways to develop as a player is to be intentional about using your new skills in real games.
“How do I improve my field sense?” — Something of a how-to guide for players looking to improve ther field sense/awareness.
Mental games to build your field sense — A follow-up on the article above. A list of challenges you can set yourself to develop more field sense. Doubles as a list of “subtle things smart frisbee players do”.
How will you play against someone better than you? — Encouraging you to adopt strategies that will still be effective against players that are taller, faster, or otherwise better than you.
4. Defense:
Defense is for stopping the other *team* — The only ultimate goal that matters on defense is stopping the other team, not “winning” an individual matchup.
How to get handblocks like John McDonnell — Analyzing his highlight reel to learn how to get more handblocks.
My summer league zone defense — I argue that your best defender should play on the weakside wing, to wreak havoc as a ‘free safety’.
Defending the dribble — Tips on defending give-and-go moves.
All the cool kids want to bracket with you — A sort of “comedic motivational speech” encouraging you to try to bracket more.
5. Training:
Sports science finding you should know — A few tips and tricks I’ve learned reading books over the years, to optimize your training and recovery.
Cool it with the cool downs — Another “sports science finding”: cool downs are unnecessary.
Trying (and failing) to become more athletic — My personal story of struggling to become more athletic.
Update on ‘My Projects’ — Includes a section that discusses my progress as an ultimate player between 2021 and 2023.
Get better at frisbee without leaving your room — A number of suggestions on things you can do at home to (maybe) get better at ultimate.
How to avoid injury: my best guesses — My thoughts on avoiding injury. Partly my personal logic/opinions, partly a review of some relevant research.
6. Book reviews:
If you're looking for more, some of my book reviews discuss subjects of interest to an athlete/coach/leader. For example: The Culture Code vs. The Captain Class, The Language of Coaching, How We Learn to Move, Breath, Exercised, Endure, Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, Peak Performance Trilogy, Punished by Rewards, The Sports Gene, Count Down, Range, and Year of the Dunk.
7. Miscellaneous:
Steal my (frisbee) ideas! — A list of questions/ideas that I’m thinking about but may never write a post about.
The ultimate frisbee Substack community — A list of all the ultimate-related Substacks I’ve found.
A list of ultimate frisbee podcasts — A list of all the ultimate-related podcasts I’ve found.
100 Subscribers! And some comments on the blog — Not exactly a frisbee post, but contains a few semi-related thoughts on the blog.
Ultimate and basketball — A discussion of all the basketball skills and concepts that transfer to ultimate frisbee.
Some Flow articles that have been updated — A list of articles that have been updated (mostly to add more example video clips)
My ultimate frisbee journey — My frisbee story. How I got into ultimate, why I decided to try to get good, etc.
The goaltimate rules badly need to be updated — The official rules of goaltimate are poorly written and in sore need of an update.
The All-'ultimate frisbee name' team — A list of the best ultimate-frisbee-related-names.