The Ultimate (Frisbee) Catch-All

The group I play with (when I play, which is not while I have an infant at home) plays at a local municipal park that has great lights at night. It costs a little bit to reserve, but it's great for playing at a time when people are available, and when it's cooler.

Well, I'm late to the party but I play too much Ultimate Frisbee in fair weather. I was playing 4 days a week over the summer and most of the Fall. One BUDA club team, one hat team, and two pick-up groups. I'm playing indoors one day a week during the winter and that's been a lot of fun, we essentially play 5-on-5 in a hockey-rink with turf. I may try out for a USAU club team in the Spring.

In regards to observers vs. referee's. One of my indoor teammates is a USAU observer and played in the AUDL. He's in favor of observers as players tended to game the rules more when calls are up to a referee discretion. I think the 7-second stalls helped speed up AUDL games and arguments/reenactments for self-officiated games tend to kill the watch-ability of Ultimate as a spectator sport.

Anyone have thoughts on how USAU nationals transpired? Interest in attending MLU/AUDL games this summer?

I haven't played this whole year thanks to my son being born and now me being sick. I look forward to getting back to it, but looks like it'll be 2013 when I do.

I still haven't played an actual game since my accident in summer 2011. Once I'm done with the MA thesis, maybe.

Well, I finished my first indoor league today. My team came in dead last, but I won a spirit award for the season. I have already signed up for another indoor league and I'm hitting the gym more frequently to get in shape for the spring season. I miss the sunshine, and my knees miss laying out into real grass. Anyone else finding ways to play in the off-season?

In Houston, it rarely gets too cold to play, so outdoor leagues are still going.

I haven't played since my son was born almost a year ago, but I look forward to playing again soon. Just pick-up. I tried a league once, hated the 9am games.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

In Houston, it rarely gets too cold to play, so outdoor leagues are still going.

Bite me!!

I haven't played since my son was born almost a year ago, but I look forward to playing again soon. Just pick-up. I tried a league once, hated the 9am games.

9 am games? Do they know this is ultimate??

I've been playing indoor lately on a pretty nice field. Only 5v5, though. We did a winter league last year, but I'm not sure that's in the cards this year. The place is predominantly for soccer. While we reserved the place last year to start at 10 pm on a Wednesday, they always bumped us until the soccer games (which always ran late) were finished.

This year the only time we could get in was Saturday night...not great for attracting a lot of people. Still, I've enjoyed actually running around lately!

Here in Ottawa there are plenty of winter options: 6x6 rec (3 leagues), 6x6 comp, 4x4, 5x5 sub on the fly.

Our spring leagues are indoor too.... damned climate.

There's a little indoor ultimate here, also at an indoor soccer place. I tried it once and didn't much like it.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

There's a little indoor ultimate here, also at an indoor soccer place. I tried it once and didn't much like it.

It's better than sitting on your ass, looking outside at the foot of snow on the ground!

There's two sets of independently run indoor leagues near Boston. They're both at indoor soccer facilities. I still prefer outdoors, but certainly not when it's below freezing outside.

We missed last saturday's game because the fields were frozen, but otherwise leagues go for most of the year. Winter League (DEC-FEB) is actually the biggest and most competitive because it's during the off season for both college and club, so all the talent comes out.

@Squee9, That makes sense. One of my teammates told me that the FEB-MAR league is the most competitive one because a lot of elite players use it as a warm-up for the spring. I guess the DEC-JAN league is the one that gets skipped the most since a lot of people use that as time to rest. I did get to play with one Ironside player this winter, but he was goofing off the whole time.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

There's a little indoor ultimate here, also at an indoor soccer place. I tried it once and didn't much like it.

What didn't you like about it?

firesloth wrote:

It's better than sitting on your ass, looking outside at the foot of snow on the ground! ;)

What must that be like!

S0LIDARITY wrote:

There's two sets of independently run indoor leagues near Boston. They're both at indoor soccer facilities. I still prefer outdoors, but certainly not when it's below freezing outside.

What must that be like!

AndrewA wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

There's a little indoor ultimate here, also at an indoor soccer place. I tried it once and didn't much like it.

What didn't you like about it?

Well, the playing area was probably less than half of what I'm used to. Somehow, this seemed to lead to more sprinting than usual. I'm not usually the worst-conditioned dude, but I am getting older.

In general I just didn't enjoy it as much, though.

I can attest that playing indoors is more tiring. The rulesets tend to favor a faster pace, as field space is always payed for by the hour. The lack of space also leads to harder cuts with quicker cycles to help give the handler more options. I also find defense to be harder, but I tend to rely on 'ball-hawking' in open space and that's a lot harder to pull off when floaters/slow passes are extremely rare.

Glad to hear it wasn't just me, then.

Indoor definitely requires different cuts, and you run out of space fast on anything deep. That also means the timing for throws has to be better. It's hard to out-throw someone long! I do find that I grab fewer disks on defense than outdoors.

I tend to be more of a middle/deep player, and the indoor cuts feel more like handler cuts in that they favor fast feet.

Still, I'm having a lot of fun.

@firesloth, does your group play with the disc being live off the walls?

S0LIDARITY wrote:

@firesloth, does your group play with the disc being live off the walls?

Yes, but not off the webbing above the walls and the web ceiling. Our field seems like it used to be a hockey arena, with plexiglass going up about 8 feet. Above that is the webbing.

Also, you can't run your body into the boards making a catch (for safety reasons). If you do so, it's a turnover.

Off the wall doesn't actually happen that much. It can if someone misjudges a long throw and sends it too deep.

My league rules have it so that the disc is always live unless it hits the rafters. Our plexiglass is about 10 feet up though. It's pretty rare that a disc hits the webbing, but when it does it has two options: taking a fantastic pong-like bounce or sliding down and getting stuck between the webbing and plexiglass. We don't have a rule about running into the boards, but people tend to do a pretty good job of avoiding it. One team I faced used a strategy of bouncing off the back wall constantly. It worked great for them, probably 40% of their points were earned that way and they ended up winning by 2.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

@firesloth, does your group play with the disc being live off the walls?

Whoa.... this is odd to hear. My league plays contact with any out of bounds object (walls, netting, light fixtures) as a dead disc. Our fields are usually 1/3 of an indoor soccer field, so any walls are not bumping up against the sidelines though..... the netting is awfully close.

One consequence of this is that 'push' defense is more prevalent - we'll try to force the handler to bail onto the sidelines, and then trap the disc there where it's harder to get upfield throws off.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

There's two sets of independently run indoor leagues near Boston. They're both at indoor soccer facilities. I still prefer outdoors, but certainly not when it's below freezing outside.

College town.

firesloth wrote:

Indoor definitely requires different cuts, and you run out of space fast on anything deep. That also means the timing for throws has to be better. It's hard to out-throw someone long! I do find that I grab fewer disks on defense than outdoors.

I tend to be more of a middle/deep player, and the indoor cuts feel more like handler cuts in that they favor fast feet.

Still, I'm having a lot of fun.

Sounds a lot like indoor soccer. The contraints and quicker pace really helped me learn positioning for soccer, though, and made learning about hockey more natural.

I played soccer from ages 7-16 and never really understood anything but how to play defense. After learning about team-movement in ultimate frisbee, I've become much better at following and predicting what happens in basketball and hockey. I still don't really get soccer.

I'm ordered some new turf-cleats for my next indoor league starting Sunday. I'm not a big fan of the pink, but it's the only turf mercurial.
IMAGE(http://dsp.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDSP1-13603284p275w.jpg)
I wear cheap mercurials for outdoor frisbee, I love the weight and the way the synthetic leather conforms to my feet. I just lost traction too much with my sneakers, and firm-ground cleats aren't allowed at my local facility.

I have been playing games with my friends (casually) throughout the winter if its 30 or above in Newton, MA. I have found the New Balance trail running sneakers to work surprisingly well. Although, I'm not sure if the field is going to be able to grow grass.... ever again.

Trail running sneakers make a lot of sense for turf now that I think about it. Wish I had thought of that. Do you play in any BUDA leagues/events EvilDead?

I've done barefoot. But I'm a smelly hippie.

wordsmythe wrote:

I've done barefoot.

There's no other way to play on the beach. I'll play barefoot on grass if everyone else is, getting stomped by a cleat wearing shoes is bad enough.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

I played soccer from ages 7-16 and never really understood anything but how to play defense. After learning about team-movement in ultimate frisbee, I've become much better at following and predicting what happens in basketball and hockey. I still don't really get soccer.

I'm ordered some new turf-cleats for my next indoor league starting Sunday. I'm not a big fan of the pink, but it's the only turf mercurial.
IMAGE(http://dsp.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pDSP1-13603284p275w.jpg)
I wear cheap mercurials for outdoor frisbee, I love the weight and the way the synthetic leather conforms to my feet. I just lost traction too much with my sneakers, and firm-ground cleats aren't allowed at my local facility.

Son I love Mercurials, good choice. The all purple ones are my favorite. However, when Dick's has the normally $200 top-of-the-line vapors on the discount table in your size you just buy 'em for $98 no matter what shade of pure white nonsense they are.

S0LIDARITY wrote:

Trail running sneakers make a lot of sense for turf now that I think about it. Wish I had thought of that. Do you play in any BUDA leagues/events EvilDead?

No, but some of us are thinking about playing next year. The group I play with varies allot in skill level but we still manage to have a good time.