Australian Mixed Ultimate Championships

I recently played in Mixed Nationals down here and had some thoughts to share. First of all, they know how to do tournaments right. Three days, two big parties, breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day, a disc for every player, and a bunch of other stuff made for an awesome weekend. I haven’t played much mixed ultimate in the US so it’s tough to compare the level of play here and there, but there are definitely a top tier of players that would excel on elite clubs in the states. One thing that really stuck out to me was how much of a difference having lots of game experience with your teammates makes. First, a little context. Down here, the mixed and open/women’s seasons are offset so you can play both. The ultimate culture here is very social, and even though people play hard, the mixed season is more or less just that, social. This means that many teams are just groups of old friends who don’t necessarily play club together. The teams that finished 1-6 at nationals, however, had a core nucleus of male and female players that play club together and (in most cases) have for several years. This was particularly evident in the finals. There is a set of twins, Matt and Anthony Dowle, that play on the Australian Men’s National Team. Both about 6’4”, with all the throws so obviously they are great players. The thing is, when they are on the field together it’s so awesome to watch because they ALWAYS know what the other is going to do. They’ll throw passes to a space before the other has even cut that way, they just KNOW where to put the disc and KNOW that the other will cut to that spot. It’s incredible how just two players can slice up a zone because they are on not just the same page, but the same word on the same line on that page. Obviously as brothers they’ve played together a lot, and we can’t necessarily get that much experience together in one season on magnUM, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. Having that sort of connection with another player (or hopefully all your teammates) is something that you should aim to have by the end of the season. Watching your teammates tendencies every chance you get (in games, practice, when you’re on the sidelines, just throwing around, etc) will make the team better and make that one or two point difference in big games at regionals and nationals. Think about it a bit. What can you do to learn more about your teammates’ games? I’m thinking getting to as many practices, tournaments, and other magnUM events as possible is a good place to start (and yes, that is hypocritical coming from the guy in the southern hemisphere – sue me).