Let's be Frank Ep 7; Dribbling redux

[@IHACKER316]

Brilliant video - I love it and it really is beautiful to watch that kind of movement - love it

[@DogsAndBaskets]

Um, I hate it. It's about where I was in 1989. It's very illegal, and not very advanced or sophisticated. Yes, it's decent movement, but somewhat lacking in purpose or intention. These are all just amateurs.

[@tarek2901412]

Brilliant, and it will change!

[@DogsAndBaskets]

Thank you Tarek, I've known for 30 years how beautiful Ultimate can be when it's played right. It's a tough sell.

[@Michael_Deti]

Why do you say these plays are "extremely crude, unrefined, highly illegal"? I don't see why these movements are highly illegal - is it because of traveling? In that case I'd like to know how you define that.

[@DogsAndBaskets]

I would prefer to answer the first part first, which is that these players are very crude and unrefined. Balance should be maintained ON TOP of the pivot foot for the most part in order to set up a dribble. A refined player, such as myself, dribbles off either hand, either pivot foot, with a minimum of two dozen different and effective dribble throws, with a minimum of two dozen different choreographed penetration moves. At best, the best players in the game today only have a couple of moves, off a single pivot foot, with only one or two throws and their weight is not on pivot foot so they're not nearly as explosive as they can be. And they travel a lot, but it's not so much that this is illegal (WHICH IT IS), it is that because they are traveling, that's an indication that (a) they are not balanced and (b) that they are clearly completely unaware that the proper technique will make them much harder to defend. In other words, these guys are all as sloppy AF.

[@Michael_Deti]

@@DogsAndBaskets I'm very interested in the concept of dribbling. I have just heard about it watching Felix's video and I'd like to see those (or some), as you say, proper dribbling moves/throws. For example: How can you be balanced on top of your pivot throw when you want to accelerate out of your throw immediately? I have watched some of your other videos today as well, where you talked about traveling. I get it, that players take too many or too long steps when decelerating. However in my understanding of Ultimate (I have been playing for just over one and a half years) these clips don't show many travels. Could you explain that in more detail perhaps?

[@DogsAndBaskets]

@@Michael_Deti Look, forget the legality or illegality of travelling because if you focus on that, you're missing the point. Attaining balance as quickly as you can after you catch the disc is paramount in dribbling. Because there's not a single player who puts a priority on attaining balance ASAP, that proves that no one (besides myself) understands dribbling (Felix has no idea on how to dribble). I train, in ALL my dribbling drills, to have your non-pivot foot in the air when you throw/go. This forces you to have all your balance on your pivot foot and for you to be 'locked and loaded', so to speak. With 100% of your weight on your pivot (I'm definitely NOT saying flat footed), you can be your most explosive. I hope that makes sense.

[@Michael_Deti]

@@DogsAndBaskets Oh, with the traveling issue I wasn't focusing on dribbling, but okay ;) Yeah, it makes total sense to be explosive at any time. How would you dribble it on the field with a team? Is it a system you should be playing in or is dribbling just for disrupting the defense for a while? (This is probably wrong but does it with in Hexagon?!)

[@DogsAndBaskets]

@@Michael_Deti yeah, really don't pay much attention to felix, he simply doesn't understand how dribbling changes the game so he's more or less shooting in the dark. Yes, you need a team that embraces dribbling, not so much a framework, per se (although that helps), but just like valuing dribbling changes your footwork, if you have a team that values dribbling above all else (as it should) then players will alter their style to accommodate dribbling. Does that make sense? It's an abstraction that players need to understand, more than any particular framework, that said, I published a paper on the motion offense almost 20 years ago with a hex formation and Felix still refuses to acknowledge that. It's on archive.org to prove it. Hex is good, stack (either vert or ho) are horrible for dribbling.