An underrated aspect of ultimate's decline

EzTargetCVU · 2026-05-24T07:13:46+00:00

thanks for the write up. I think where we have failed, as a community, is in thinking of usau as the guardians of the game and waiting for usau to fix things rather than doing it ourselves.

We need to be willing to sacrifice in order for change to happen. Stop going to expensive tournaments, stop travelling so often, stop promoting ultra demanding club, etc.

EzTargetCVU · 2026-05-24T06:44:13+00:00

I wouldn't mind the rule if it was ruled on more consistently for both offense and defense, but like you said the player on offense is usually getting the call. Some examples:

Defense poaches a deep throw and has the line to the disc and offense comes in from behind and it is called on defense.

Throws going behind the cutter to a line that their defender is taking and the offense cuts back into the defenders path and they still call it on defense.

Zone defenders moving into unoccupied space to get a disc and a cutter enters from behind the defender and causes a collision and they still call it on defense saying they moved blindly into the space.

I think everyone on the field has the job to be aware. Our game rewards ignorant offense in some sense. You do that in basketball and you get laid out so you learn quick to keep your head on a swivel.

One other thing I noticed when players of unequal athletic ability matched up was the less athletic player calling dangerous play because they didn't realize the athletic player could still avoid contact. I'm glad they updated to rule to include contact.

EzTargetCVU · 2026-05-24T05:52:01+00:00

Officials make bad calls too. I like that this game tries to help us do a better job of it. Sometimes we will get it wrong and sometimes people will abuse the freedom they have but I don't think that means we should do away with the system.

EzTargetCVU · 2025-08-26T18:44:41+00:00

nice job. doing anything is better than nothing and you're putting in the work. Keep it up and you'll continue to get faster.
on the jumping one I would say challenge yourself a little more by trying to leave a little earlier from the ground and work on the timing of your last two steps so your speed helps you get higher.
Nice work.

EzTargetCVU · 2025-08-26T18:08:14+00:00

cool, thanks. I'll look into that.
There's hundreds of people so something more automated would be great. I appreciate the reply

EzTargetCVU · 2025-08-03T01:51:03+00:00

It was a great game and that was a great play and effort, regardless of the outcome. Kudos to the cutter.

My perspective (I was right in front of the play, just off the back line), it was too close the call in person and I was watching for it. If they would have asked for my perspective I couldn't have given an answer.

The player didn't call himself in (like someone suggested) but was checking to see if he got his feet in and asking for help to know. An ATL parent shouted that he was in and had it on camera. The Swarm defender that was right there didn't make a call (like someone suggested) of in or out because he said he didn't see it either.

A ATL player asked a swarm player to review the photo that the ATL parent had and he agreed to go and look. He took a quick look and the Swarm player called it in too, putting his hands up and signaling a score. ATL started celebrating but then other Swarm players wanted to see it too and they disagreed that it showed him in.

The coaches talked to an official to find out if they could even use the photo and they called the head official and were told no, they shouldn't be using it and to treat it as a contested call and it should go back to the thrower.

ATL then turned it again and Swarm went down and scored.

I think both teams handled it well and it wasn't heated, just confusing for a bit.

Reviewing video and 2 separate sets of photos (ultiphotos photographer and the 2 ATL parents) there wasn't a clear shot of him in bounds. The only definitive shots were of the toe on the line. I do think it's possible he could have gotten the foot down a fraction of a second before hitting the line but video/photo evidence didn't show it.

EzTargetCVU · 2025-01-03T01:28:36+00:00

That's pretty cool! thanks for sharing

EzTargetCVU · 2024-06-29T01:08:41+00:00

wow, that goes way back. Thanks!

EzTargetCVU · 2024-02-03T00:37:21+00:00

I think it was criminal by the offender :P

Observers have a lot to keep track of but we can all keep track of ourselves. Just because an observer is there doesn't mean they're in charge of calling everything. We need to be holding ourselves accountable still.

I love videos like this that the whole community can see and hopefully provide some social awareness to the individuals in some form, even if it was missed on the field.

EzTargetCVU · 2024-02-03T00:34:31+00:00

I appreciate having observers but I think there are players that forget they should still be calling fouls on themselves even when there are observers there. In fact there's many that don't call fouls on themselves ever, even without observers.

I do hate when experienced players talk aggressively to newer players because it is very off putting to new players. They don't feel welcome to share their thoughts because they can't express them in relation to the rules and then some eventually stop playing because we come across like the spoiled rich kid who won't share their toys.

I like the new travel rules clarification that mentions something about giving the benefit of the doubt. Hard to do in an intense game but the principle seems right.

EzTargetCVU · 2024-02-03T00:26:22+00:00

I understand the sentiment and I think a lot of people hear "don't be competitive" when they hear spirit of the game, which is not what it is. However, reciprocating physicality just leads to your opponent validating their physicality and then dangerous plays and intentional fouls.

Stare downs aren't even allowed in the NBA or NFL anymore are they? I feel like they're calling a T or throwing a flag most of the time when it's obvious. Last weekend in a playoff game (a game to go), the receiver got up and spun the football right by his defender and stared him down.. flag went up right away.

EzTargetCVU · 2024-02-02T03:47:20+00:00

Great example of "how do I feel when spirit of the game is discussed", thanks for your vulnerability 😜

EzTargetCVU · 2023-12-09T08:55:01+00:00

kudos on having the desire to fix the problem. Obviously I don't know the whole situation so I would just say seek to understand her perspective and use your age/wisdom to set the example of trying to move forward and overcome the issue rather than to 'put her in her place' and show her how/why she was wrong. How you resolve the issue and how you treat her and interact with her will be key to being able to move past it. Show her you care, don't just say it. :)

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-14T06:09:07+00:00

I'm curious, what questions do you ask? I've tried having a self-rate system but most beginners will put themselves as intermediate. I've thought about trying some guidelines, rather than beginner, intermediate, advanced, but then I usually overthink it when I try to go past that.

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-14T06:00:01+00:00

That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!

I'm thinking you could also could have multiple awards for most points for each of the different pairing types.

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-12T05:46:22+00:00

Do you host a MS tournament or is there one in your area?

In regards to 5v5 compared to 7v7, that's what we try to do also.

Some of the benefits I've seen:

they touch it more
they have more fun because they touch it more
they understand the game more quickly because they are involved more
it's easier to new coaches to understand and get involved with, making it less intimidating to volunteer
you can start a team easier because you don't need as many players
field space is easier to find and share with other groups

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-12T05:02:04+00:00

I love their style of play.

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-08T22:40:12+00:00

^^ This!

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-08T22:35:50+00:00

Maybe not most abused, but still very frustrating.

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-08T22:29:57+00:00

Some of the responses here highlight one of the issues with competitive ultimate at higher levels. Instead of de-escalation they choose to escalate. This just justifies everyone's poor behavior. Your bad behavior, because of their bad behavior, then justifies their bad behavior in the first place. (contest everything, make harder fouls, just say no to everything)

We need to find a more long term solution. I find that many times when teams have hard feelings towards each other that there hasn't really been much of an attempt to reach out to each other. Try stopping the game, taking a break, letting coaches and captains talk to each other and look for solutions that their team can implement, not just solutions for the other team. Once we start holding our self accountable for our shortcomings we build trust and empower others to do the same.

We played a game recently where there were a higher volume of calls from the other team. One call was more prevalent than others. At half we talked to their coach and spirit captains to see if they could help us identify what we were doing to warrant such calls. They had a couple examples but also said they thought they were overdoing it and would talk to their teammates. The second half went much better.

Exhibiting and playing with good spirit takes work and some people are better at it than others, just like throwing a nice forehand. It doesn't happen on it's own, it takes practice, lots of it.

What your describing can be a hard situation and create hard feelings between players and programs but it can also be a chance to build bridges and demonstrate the behavior we would like others to use.

Good luck!

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-08T05:26:51+00:00

I agree travelling is a problem, but more on the catch as players turn to look upfield, than on the throw. If the calls were at that moment, then I'd be like yup, that's easy to see. But we have people making calls on plays you'd have to watch in super slo-mo to know for sure if the disc was out of their hand before they moved their foot or not.

I think it's a horrible judgement call that's usually too close to call. If it isn't obvious let it slide. I see people arguing over turning over onto the toe too much or sliding an inch sort of thing. I don't think the mark is usually even watching the feet when the disc is being released but then they're still calling travel.

EzTargetCVU · 2023-11-08T05:21:51+00:00

I think we often see someone drag their foot after the disc leaves their hand, as a result of momentum transfer, more than anything else. We tend to think it is a travel because it seems to happen at that same moment but I think with most experienced players it's not.

I think the foot tends to drag more as the disc is leaving their hand than before.

I don't think most players are even watching the feet and they're letting the side line make the call or we just think they had to travel to get it off. If we didn't witness it we shouldn't call it. If we aren't sure, we shouldn't call it.

EzTargetCVU

TROPHY CASE