Training
Tips
This section will hopefully provide both beginner and advanced clubs with something to help improve their standard of play. In addition to this page on drills I have also included some different games you can play at training and offensive and defensive plays.
Drills
These drills
are all useful to improve your disc skills, flow and movement but are
not comprehensive. For more drills look at www.upa.org
and www.ultimatehandbook.com.
Remember when doing cutting drills always cut properly. Make a
fake and sprint the cut as it's great practice for a real game.
KEY FOR DIAGRAMS:
Queues
Stack
Line Drill
Three man weave
End Zone
Circle D
Box Drill
Spider
Kill
Drill
Huck Drill
Break the Force
Racing Throw Drill
Pivot Drill
Five Turnovers - Endzone drill
1)
Queues
This is a simple drill to do with players just starting Ultimate (although
it can be made more difficult the better you get). When you sign up the
hundreds at Freshers Fayre it's a good drill to get everyone involved
and it's easy to explain. If the numbers are high split the group and
do the same drill in two groups.
Just set up two queues of people facing each other with a gap of about 20 metres or more between the two. The player at the front of one queue makes a simple cut out to receive the disc from the player at the front of the opposite queue. The thrower then becomes the cutter while the next person in the queue opposite passes the disc (fig 1.0).
A Variation on this is to cut fast and straight forward to receive the disc. This is good practice for hard catches and accurate throws
A Final variation is to add in defence players to mark the throw. The thrower can then either break the force or throw with the force to the oncoming receiving player. After the throw the thrower cuts for the next pass, the marker becomes the thrower for the following cut and the next person in the queue becomes the marker.
This moves directly on from the previous drill as it includes the previous drill but makes it more realistic to a game situation. Depending on the amount of space available to you either set up three or four queues spread out down the field simulating a stack (fig 2.0)
The drill is very simple like the previous one but can be added to as you get more confident with the drill. The thrower makes a pass to the player cutting off the 1st cut queue. They then receive the disc and make a pass to the endzone players cut. Each of the people move down to the next queue and the endzone player runs to the thrower end (good for fitness!) (fig 2.1 and 2.2)
Variations:
There are several variations on this drill so use you imagination. Here are
a couple you could try.
INVERSE - In this variation the deep player cuts first for the pass from
the handlers. Once the disc is in the air the middle player cuts deep
for the endzone to receive the pass from the deep player. As in the first
drill it is useful for game situations and adds variety to the normal
first cut. (fig 2.3 and 2.4)
This drill starts getting complicated when working out where to go after the cut. The best thing to remember is the order of the cuts, and where you go as a result, is the same as in the first drill. The thrower goes to the queue that becomes the first cut (endzone), the first cut becomes the second cut (middle) and the catcher becomes the thrower.
ADD A MARKER - In this variation you add a marker to the front of the handler stack. As before the thrower becomes the first cut but in this drill it is the marker who then becomes the thrower and the next person in the queue becomes the marker. With this setup you can either throw with the force or try and break it.
This is a great drill to practice throwing down the line which, during a game, can be a difficult position to get out of. It's also great practice for staying in the pitch for the receiver.
You set up two queues about 10 metres apart both facing in the same direction down field. One queue are the throwers and have discs and the other queue are the receivers. The throwers are set up on a line which represents the sideline of the pitch.
The receiver then makes a cut down the line to receive the pass from the thrower. (Fig 3.0 and 3.1 shows two variations on the cut)
This drill can be varied by differing the cuts and also by adding a marker and defence player. The best way to add D players is to split into pairs of similar standards and take it in turns to be offence and defence.
This drill should also be switched round after a while to practice the other throw (back hand or sidearm) down the opposite side line.
The Three Man Weave is a drill derived from basketball and has the same principles. Three players work their way down the field and back again. This is good practice for homeboy offence as it practices quick throws and catchs but you must either establish a pivot foot or release the disc before 3 steps to avoid traveling.
The way you move down field is in a line of three players. After you make a pass you run behind the person you threw the disc to and then receive the disc from the third person after they received the disc from the person you threw to.
Fig 4.0 - 4.2 shows the pattern for throws which continues down field.
This is a great drill to practice working the disc into the zone and keep your composure on the zoneline where a large amount of turnovers occur. It is also a good warm up drill before a game.
The setup at the start of the drill is simple. You have 2 queues, one at the back centre of the endzone and one at the front centre both facing down field. There is then one person about five metres in field facing the front queue with a disc. (fig 5.0)
The cuts come off the back of the back queue and the front of the front queue starting with the back queue cutting for the front endzone corner. The handler then throws them the disc and cuts to the same side as the receiving player for a dump pass. (Fig 5.1)
After the receiver throws the dump pass they run to the front queue. The handler then makes a swing pass to a player cutting off the front queue and the thrower runs to join the back queue (Fig 5.2)
This is the whole path of the drill which is then repeated alternating sides. The other side is shown in fig 5.3
Once the disc and drill starts flowing you should try to make no drops and safe but fast passes.
This is a very simple drill for practicing defence and is ideal for beginners to practice D and also get them calling their forces. You simply set the players up in a circle with a few metres in between each player. You then have two or three defence players in the centre of the circle depending on the size of the circle. The D players then have to intercept the disc and can set up a marker on the player with the disc. If they shout the force, Left or Right, then the other defence player will know where to stand and they will be more likely to get the D. The rules are that you are not allowed to do overhand throws so it practices breaking the force and also you cannot throw to the person next to you in the circle.
This is another great warm up drill and is also good for practicing lead passes. You set up a box with a cone on each corner and have at least 2 people on each corner. One person starts with the disc inbetween two of the corners. Then a player from the cone the person with the disc is facing cuts along the edge of the box towards the next corner and the pass is made. Then a player from the corner they are running towards cuts and receives the throw as before. This continues round the square. Once this has been completed for a while you switch direction to practice the other throw. (Fig 7.0)
The spider drill is a great two man drill so if you are short on numbers this is ideal for you. One person is stationary for the first half of the drill while the other person stands facing that player about 3 metres apart. The non stationary player then cuts about three metres along one edge of an imaginary square around the stationary player and receives the disc. The receiver then throws the disc back and cuts to their original position to receive the disc. This happens five times till they end up where the first cut they took ended. The player then stops and they pass to each other ten times. Then the receiver cuts along the next line of the square and back five times and stops on the next corner to throw back and forth ten times. This is repeated for each edge. (See fig 8.0)
Once the receiver. has finished the players swap places and the thrower becomes the receiver.
This is similar to the above drill but without the square. One player remains stationary and the other player, the receiver, cuts from side to side, passing and throwing the disc back to the thrower. This is repeated 20 times and then the players swap positions.
This drill practices the long throws that may be used during a game. It is a more difficult drill due to the length of throws but can be practiced by relative beginners to improve those throws.
You split into pairs with one set of pairs standing down field as the receivers and the other set of pairs on the endzone line facing down field. The receiving pair act as a defender and offensive player taking it in turns each time. The handlers stand about 3 metres apart and complete a one - two while the receiver and defender cut down field for the long pass. When the receiver. looks as though they have got free the handler hucks the disc. (see fig 10.0)
This is a good drill for both learning to break the force, fitness and throwing when tired. You take it in turns to be the thrower and marker and when you are not either of these you are a receiver. The receivers form a queue about 15 metres away from the thrower and marker. The marker has a pile of discs to give to the thrower. The maker forces in one direction and the receiver cuts to the forced side to receive the pass through the force. The thrower then runs to a cone setup five metres behind the discs and back again to complete the throw again. The thrower completes five throw breaking the force in each direction. (See fig 11.0)
The racing throw drill is a good drill for training as it encourages teamwork and improves fitness. The players split into teams of four and these team split into pairs and stand 15 metres apart, facing each other. The player with the disc at the front of one pair then runs to the opposite pair and back and makes a throw. The receiver then drops the disc, runs to the opposite pair and back and makes the next throw. This is repeated four times for each player and each throw (sidearm, back hand and hammer) and the winning team is the team that finishes first. However, if the pass is not caught then the thrower has to run and get it, run back to the place they threw it from and make the pass again. (See fig 12.0)
This drill has a similar set up to the break the force drill with a thrower and marker and another player acting as a receiver. about 10 metres away. The marker forces straight up and the thrower has to use their pivoting to try and throw past the marker to the stationary receiver. This is repeated about 10 times each. (Fig 13.0)
14) Five Turnovers - Endzone Drill
This is a drill that is organised in conjunction with the endzone plays from the offence section, which you will have to refer to for use with this drill. You organise into two teams and set up an endzone. One team is the offence and one the defence. You decide on numbers to give the different plays so you can call them before each play, and basically you try and score. You have five turnovers to score as many points as possible starting about 15 metres from the endzone line. You then see which plays work best and which team combinations work best at getting the disc into the zone. For diagrams of the plays see the endzone plays section
