ANCS Ultimate
If students attended the first practice/try outs and/or registered with Mr. Boardman they can will be able (coming soon) sign-up for registration at Blue Sombrero (for 2019); the team code for the ANCS Middle Campus team is 295B0B28. If players are not on the roster with Mr. Boardman, please contact him directly to confirm registration.
Players will need to have parent/guardian complete registration in order to legally complete the waivers. They’ll do everything essential at this registration portal: get registered with USAU (USA Ultimate) if they are not already, sign medical waivers, etc. It is also a place 
for parents to sign up for helping roles. If you need financial assistance, please contact Mr. Boardman.
Teams – We are will have a Division 2 co-ed open team and a girls’ only team.
Practice Schedule is Mondays and Thursdays, starting on Monday August 26th 2019 and run from 4:00 – around 5:15. We need parent Volunteers to help drive students to the Grant Park Rec fields. Please contact Mr. Boardman if you are able to help.It looks like we will need a team carpool mostly to Grant Park on Mondays and Thursdays and traveling to Piedmont Park and Decatur for some away games. Here is a link to sign up for Carpooling: http://tinyurl.com/ancsultimatecarpool
We are scheduling our non tournament Games with other Schools and we will update this page with the schedule when it becomes available. In addition, there are 2 Round Robin events on September 21st and October 19th and the End of Season Tournament is GIRLS’ October 26th and OPEN November 3rd at the Georgia Soccer Park. These events will run for most of the day, with more details forthcoming.
Looking forward to a great season and continuing a new sport for ANCS. Please contact Mr. Boardman directly with any questions. (M Boardman at AtlNCS dot ORG)
There is an Ultimate (frisbee) Learn To Play Clinic as a kick-off to the middle school season, we’re hosting a free Learn to Play day for all middle schoolers on August 17th from 1-3pm at Jackson High School.
About Ultimate
Our sport is named “ultimate” because it not only challenges an athlete’s physical and mental strength, but also their emotional strength. Probably the first stop when learning more about Ultimate is the USAU (The United States Governing Body for the Sport of Ultimate). There is a great intro to the most important rule of Ultimate; the Spirit of the Game.
Spirit of the Game™
“The integrity of ultimate depends on each player’s responsibility to uphold the Spirit of the Game, and this responsibility should remain paramount.”
“Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other ‘win-at-all-costs’ behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players.” From Section 1. Introduction, item B.
Spirit of the Game sets Ultimate apart from other competitive team sports. As well as the official 11th Edition Rules of Ultimate. Spirit circles are incorporated after each game to help promote spirit evaluated in these 5 areas:
- Rules : read and know the rules, and apply them.
- Fouls and Contact : no contact and play safely.
- Fair : necessary and correct calls, no matter the team.
- Positive Self-Control : polite, good effort and attitude no matter the score.
- Communicate : respectful, listening and concise.
Players will participate in the spirit circle; encouraged to recognize spirited play from the other team as well as resolve outstanding issues and communicate respectfully. Often teams will exchange “spirit prizes” to acknowledge the most spirited and competitive player.
Once the rules of the Game are established, the next most important part is Throwing and Catching. Practice is the only way to become more skilled. Get a 175gram disc and identify it with a sharpie, or ask Mr. Boardman for one.
Learning how to throw and play offense and defense are covered a bit in the Introductory Skills Manual; however some of the techniques differ from ANCS Coaching techniques.
Ultimate 101
The basic skills of ultimate can probably be best understood from these included videos, mainly from Ultimate 101 and The Ultimate HQ :
Offense
When our team is in possession of the disc the objective is to move the disc downfield to score without allowing the defense to take it away or force a turnover. If a turnover does occur and the defense converts to a score, this is known as a “break point”. The team that is “broken” will quickly fall behind in points and have to work twice as hard to come back to “break point” their opponent.
Catching – to continue downfield, a catch must be made by the offense.
Throwing – Once the disc it caught, to get it to the next player, it must be thrown.
Cutting – To make a catch, the offense must be MOVING AWAY from the defense. If the offense can’t get AWAY from the defense, they will only be able to catch the disc through sheer luck, which is a very low chance that they will remain on offense. They will then have to work much harder to get the disc back and make a RUNNING cut anyway, just do it the first time. Best to just learn how to cut hard and fast and constantly use this skill instead of standing still.
The Stack – The basic offense formation to enable all players to have room to make a cut and if the disc is not thrown, CLEAR BACK TO THE MIDDLE, to allow the next cut into open space. This is a basic offense that must be learned before other offensive formations can effectively be learned.
Example of Vertical Stack in motion with optional “Break Mark” Side cuts from the front of the stack. This give the handler 3 throws as the stack and dump move; “Break Mark” around the defender, “Strike” upfield into the lane and, “Dump” back to quick reset the count.
Another example of Vertical Stack in motion with a throw to “Break Mark” side from the back of the stack.
Vertical Stack continuing the play after the first throw
Patience – The biggest reason for an unforced error is when the offense throws the disc too soon or inaccurately in a hurried manner. It is always better to make a good throw that is caught than to make a bad throw that results in a turnover. A caught throw continues the offense, even if yardage is lost. The offense has until a stall count of 10 to throw the disc, so considering a couple options before throwing is ALWAYS the right call, count to 2 or 3 before throwing. Even on a fast break, taking time to make a good throw that is caught will provide another opportunity to continue the offense instead of a hurried throw that misses the receiver and results in a turnover.
High Level Play – The stack is bread and butter for offense and is even used by some of the top teams in the sport. This is a great game with Denver’s Johnny Bravo team in black using a classic Stack offense to great affect.
Defense
When the offense scores (good) or if the defense forces a turnover (bad), they are now the offense and our team is on defense. On a turn, the hardest thing to do is adjust to the turn and cover the other team effectively to get the disc back. Usually, this switch of possession can result in the other team running quickly downfield and our team having to run hard to catch up. Help your team by calling “turn’ or dropping off your person to cover a person that is streaking deep to prevent an easy open score.
This covers Marking, Stalling (with a good example of on field self-refereeing) and the Force. Typically, we will always Force Forehand (for a RIGHT HANDED PLAYER), which is usually the weakest throw for beginning Ultimate in the hopes of making a bad throw that results in a turnover.
Marking and Holding Force – A much more in-depth explanation on the reasons why this defense works when the team works together on Defense.
The most common defensive tactic in Ultimate Frisbee is to mark person. Simply put, you are assigned one person on the other team. It is up to you to guard that player at all costs, never leave them or let them out of your reach. The goal is to stay between them and the disc no matter how much they try to get open. If your assigned player catches the disc it is up to you to stall them. Your team must discuss before hand which way to force, it is important everybody is on the same page. Defending against the stack will fail if there is a single weak link.
However, you have to get a sense for the person you are marking and also pay attention to the rest of the offense. If an opponent is streaking deep uncovered, following and marking them guards the house. If the person you left catches the disk under for less yardage, it is a still a smarter play, one that could be thwarted by “switching” marks with your teammates.
There is much more Strategy involved in successful Ultimate, however these fundamentals are crucial to good teamwork and moving up to more advanced Offense and Defense.
Violations
Any breach of the rules can stop play. It is important for ONLY the players ON THE FIELD to call a violation. Sometimes, a more experienced player may help a newer player realize when a Violation has occurred, but it is important that only that player actually call out the Violation. Any Violation should be called out LOUDLY enough for all players on the field to hear so play can stop to resolve the call. Typically, only the players involved in the call will resolve the situation, with sometimes a more experienced player (or possibly the coach) to clarify the rules.
ANY stoppage of play can only continue when the disk is checked in or acknowledged by a defender. It is good spirit to offer the disk for a check to the defender whenever possible.
Picks – If a Defensive player is blocked from running, a Pick can and should be called. It is important for the Offensive to continue to cut to and catch the disc if it is thrown, as even though a Pick will stop play if caught, if the disc hits the ground, it is a turnover and play continues.
Fouls – Ultimate is a NON-CONTACT SPORT, sometimes there is incidental contact that will not result in a foul. However, ANY CONTACT that affects the outcome of a particular play is a foul and must be resolved before play continues. If play continues with an unheeded foul, this play is not valid and the disc and field positions must be reset to the positions where the foul occurred based on the resolved outcome of a foul.
Intermediate Ultimate Strategy
Handling the Disc
The Handler position is similar to a “quarterback” position in American Football, however there will typically be two or three Handlers in an offensive strategy.
Dump-Swing – This strategy is fundamental for ANY offensive strategy, as it gives the Handler an option to change the angle of attack (switch focus to the other side of the field) or get them out of trouble when the stall count is high. The person playing the Dump Handler, will always stay even or behind the disc to keep both the Strike-side Lane and Breakside clear for the rest of the offense to cut to open space.
The Dump Handler has to be aware if their defender is “playing off” of them or “poaching” the lane, and should make a cut behind the disc to the wide open space. Otherwise, they will wait for the Handler with the disc to look for the dump if there is not an upfield play. This position is also important to help provide a backup (or even first) option for less experienced thrower to throw the disc behind them. They Dump Handler should let this player with the disc know they are getting open by loudly calling for the disc with the “DUMP” call. It is important when making a dump cut, not to stop running, but continue running towards the disc until it is caught.
Leave the Handler Room – Do NOT ever run near the Handler! If you understand enough about positioning to ignore this rule, you would already have been open in a better position. Getting near the handler allows the other team to apply another person that can “double team” the person with the disk. Run away from your defender into open space and show the handler where you want to catch the disk.