I mentioned this in a comment on Luke's "Priorities" post. Last year, I really thought that our team had reached a kind of "critical mass" of talent, and so I decided that it was time for us to play like the big boys and girls. Accordingly, I created an O- and D-line.
What a disaster.
(This recalled a thought I've often had, about exactly how youth ultimate differs from the adult game--a topic for another post, perhaps)
But it got me thinking, really thinking, trying to break outside the box and come up with a good subbing "philosophy." Naturally, this idle pondering produced nothing of lasting value.
So, how 'bout it? What do your teams do? What have you seen out there as far as subbing goes? HOW do you sub? And why?
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
On Subbing . . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
On a side note, I find this to be among the most challenging things that a coach must do--balance a concern for equity and even-handedness with a desire to field the strongest 7 we've got.
Quite the conundrum.
I keep our squads tight and small at the varsity level. Players are expected to be conditioned well enough to play 4-6 points in a row. This differs from a lot of other teams who preach a 1-3 point average. I simply found over time that there are a few skilled athletes that can run at a high rate for a longer time. It serves our team better to have them in longer and give them only small and short breaks.
At westerns this last spring we took 1 senior, 9 juniors and 5 freshman. Of those, there are a solid 10 upperclassmen who get the majority of the playing time. Subbing for westerns pretty much was a player thing and only at critical times or at the start of the game would i call full lines. I subbed in our freshman when I could, but they came to the tournament knowing that they wouldn't be guaranteed any playing time.
You can see how many points our open & girls players played by checking out our stats on the spring 2006 history page: http://chsultimate.com/spring2006.html
Very helpful comments, folks. I was so locked into an O- & D- mentality, I hadn't considered a "hybrid" philosophy like those described above. Sounds like a perfect fit for our team.
I'm on Wissahickon and last year we only had about 7 players on the team show up to every tournament including easterns. So we didn't sub. Although the starters get tired, its a great stratagy because we were so used to working with each other we tied for 5th at easterns even with minimum subbing.
I play/captain/coach for South Eugene High School, and my thoughts are that the most competitive team must be fielded at all times during a crucial game. The best players, regardless of O line or D line must be in the game, and impact the game, especially at the high school level. To be one of those best players, conditioning is a factor. You cannot be a top player on the team if you are not in shape to play quite a few points in a row come crunch time. I've played tournaments where myself and Jacob (the other captain) have been forced to play every point of every game along with our other top players. Generally we have our four players who are expected to play nearly every point, and then we have a series of players that sub into the other open 3 spots. I think to win big games at the high school level, you need to have your most talented, fit, and dedicated players in nearly every point. Due to the vast number of turnovers often occuring in high school ultimate, good offensive players must be out there with a D line. I think that just a few players of great talent affect the game severly in high school ultimate, so those players need to expect to play practically the entire game.
Post a Comment