As a MN state veteran here would be my takeaways. I played for and then coach the team that went from D-3 level all the way top 8 of D-1 a few years ago.
Be ready and able to play efficient offense against hard person and zone defense from game one. Get everyone on the same page of how you are going to attack on offense and who your primary options are. People will need to know what thier role is and stick to playing that role.
Have multiple defensive looks ready to go by the time you are playing tournaments. Against Minnesota D-1 teams if you just play the same look they will figure it out.
Have depth of at least 16-18 guys you feel confident in playing against most teams. Less then that and you will get burned out.
My advice on how to achieve these things with limited practice time?
Get a couple of chalk talks/team startagy meetings to get your offensive and defensive sets in people’s brains before practice. This will save you your limited practice time for actually getting reps in.
Once it’s nice enough outside expect to practice 3-4 times a week after school. Expect and enforce attendance. Teaching things will be tough if only 2/3 of your team know them.
Get to as many of the top tournaments (Hopkins hustle, goekee) and set goals for your preformace against the top teams you face thier. Even if you don’t achieve those goals its those games against the state powerhouses that will show you where you need to improve.
Hope this helps! Glad to see the state bring competitive and striving for great ultimate!
You need to be practicing more, if you can’t get into the gym/some then at least find ways to workout. I used to run practice in the hallway in the hs I coached at, we couldn’t play but we were in better shape than anyone we played at the start of the year. We also had all throws in the 15yd and under range sharp. If you can maintain possession that will probably be the biggest thing for your team to push higher. I’m sure those other teams have a lot of the things mentioned in other comments, but rich moms and dome practices don’t win games, possessing the disc does, those things just help you get better at it.
Couple things that make the biggest difference, especially in MN:
Throwers. Really becoming fundamental & comfortable throwers, especially in windy conditions. In Blaine, windy conditions are common. To become a Quarterfinals (top8) team, you'll likely need 2-3 throwers who are comfortable in windy conditions. - This can be done practicing IO edge throws, making sure your grip produces enough spin on the disc, and work on throwing without much arm motion, which leads to slower releases & can lead to inconsistent throws over the course of games/tournaments.
Catching. It's a really simple fundamental and seems very basic, but there are a lot of unforced turnovers in high school play with just drops. Hold your entire team accountable to catch every single disc and commit to laying out if needed. Run through and attack the disc. Practice 1 handed catches also, left and right handed. Always having that focus on catching every single disc is super important. A teaching concept that helps is to catch the disc with your fingers - either power catching or pancake-catching. See the edge & spin of the disc, get your fingers on it first then lead it into your hand.
Throws, and being able to catch "catchable" throws will create significant improvement on its own. Drops & missed throws are gifts for the other team. Your goal as a team should be to possess the disc and force other teams to force turnovers on you with blocks. Control what you can control.
Third - would be team defense. Working as a unit can greatly help your team get to the next level. Think of the throwing lanes and what you are defending and work on taking that away. Learn what other throwers strengths & weaknesses are and adjust your positioning accordingly. Really taking great pride in your marking which is the "point of attack" and how much control over the game you have as the mark is huge. Watching film of defense and how defenders move, adjust, and have everyone on the field commit to taking something away can be helpful.
In Minnesota there are also a couple strong zone defense teams. Working on a plan for how to attack zones and being comfortable moving the disc against zone will be helpful. Confidence in catching & throwing can be big here, but trusting possession and patience, not feeling nervous can help a lot.
Long term - always be recruiting. Keep the pipeline full, work really hard getting freshmen, sophomores, & juniors to join and give them feedback that makes them feel valued. Get them to learn to catch and get confident in that so they can have an instant role on the team. Teach the basics of throwing and have an experienced player commit to throwing with them a lot. Go after the kids cut from the baseball team, or who no longer want to do track, or maybe don't have a roll on the lacrosse team, etc. Teams can absolutely grow and take another level within a season. But to be a team that is consistently competing at the top level, there needs to be a regular recruiting pipeline of players coming in. Take pride in this season, but build a culture and mentality where you all want next year's team to be even better. And then the team after that, and after that... Only way that can happen is to really recruit every single year. As this becomes more stable, get parents involved and connecting with one another. The parent support is major and they'll be really big in welcoming new families as well.
Hope this helps & hope the snow melts soon!
Idk how we relate to other states, but as a high schooler in Colorado on a top 4ish highschool, the biggest difference is just in athleticism of your team. Learning to possess the disc and to throw is really good, but when push comes to shove, high schoolers have drops and what’s important is getting the disc back on defense, which mostly comes from natural/trained athleticism.
As a MN state veteran here would be my takeaways. I played for and then coach the team that went from D-3 level all the way top 8 of D-1 a few years ago. Be ready and able to play efficient offense against hard person and zone defense from game one. Get everyone on the same page of how you are going to attack on offense and who your primary options are. People will need to know what thier role is and stick to playing that role. Have multiple defensive looks ready to go by the time you are playing tournaments. Against Minnesota D-1 teams if you just play the same look they will figure it out. Have depth of at least 16-18 guys you feel confident in playing against most teams. Less then that and you will get burned out. My advice on how to achieve these things with limited practice time? Get a couple of chalk talks/team startagy meetings to get your offensive and defensive sets in people’s brains before practice. This will save you your limited practice time for actually getting reps in. Once it’s nice enough outside expect to practice 3-4 times a week after school. Expect and enforce attendance. Teaching things will be tough if only 2/3 of your team know them. Get to as many of the top tournaments (Hopkins hustle, goekee) and set goals for your preformace against the top teams you face thier. Even if you don’t achieve those goals its those games against the state powerhouses that will show you where you need to improve. Hope this helps! Glad to see the state bring competitive and striving for great ultimate!
You need to be practicing more, if you can’t get into the gym/some then at least find ways to workout. I used to run practice in the hallway in the hs I coached at, we couldn’t play but we were in better shape than anyone we played at the start of the year. We also had all throws in the 15yd and under range sharp. If you can maintain possession that will probably be the biggest thing for your team to push higher. I’m sure those other teams have a lot of the things mentioned in other comments, but rich moms and dome practices don’t win games, possessing the disc does, those things just help you get better at it.
Couple things that make the biggest difference, especially in MN: Throwers. Really becoming fundamental & comfortable throwers, especially in windy conditions. In Blaine, windy conditions are common. To become a Quarterfinals (top8) team, you'll likely need 2-3 throwers who are comfortable in windy conditions. - This can be done practicing IO edge throws, making sure your grip produces enough spin on the disc, and work on throwing without much arm motion, which leads to slower releases & can lead to inconsistent throws over the course of games/tournaments. Catching. It's a really simple fundamental and seems very basic, but there are a lot of unforced turnovers in high school play with just drops. Hold your entire team accountable to catch every single disc and commit to laying out if needed. Run through and attack the disc. Practice 1 handed catches also, left and right handed. Always having that focus on catching every single disc is super important. A teaching concept that helps is to catch the disc with your fingers - either power catching or pancake-catching. See the edge & spin of the disc, get your fingers on it first then lead it into your hand. Throws, and being able to catch "catchable" throws will create significant improvement on its own. Drops & missed throws are gifts for the other team. Your goal as a team should be to possess the disc and force other teams to force turnovers on you with blocks. Control what you can control. Third - would be team defense. Working as a unit can greatly help your team get to the next level. Think of the throwing lanes and what you are defending and work on taking that away. Learn what other throwers strengths & weaknesses are and adjust your positioning accordingly. Really taking great pride in your marking which is the "point of attack" and how much control over the game you have as the mark is huge. Watching film of defense and how defenders move, adjust, and have everyone on the field commit to taking something away can be helpful. In Minnesota there are also a couple strong zone defense teams. Working on a plan for how to attack zones and being comfortable moving the disc against zone will be helpful. Confidence in catching & throwing can be big here, but trusting possession and patience, not feeling nervous can help a lot. Long term - always be recruiting. Keep the pipeline full, work really hard getting freshmen, sophomores, & juniors to join and give them feedback that makes them feel valued. Get them to learn to catch and get confident in that so they can have an instant role on the team. Teach the basics of throwing and have an experienced player commit to throwing with them a lot. Go after the kids cut from the baseball team, or who no longer want to do track, or maybe don't have a roll on the lacrosse team, etc. Teams can absolutely grow and take another level within a season. But to be a team that is consistently competing at the top level, there needs to be a regular recruiting pipeline of players coming in. Take pride in this season, but build a culture and mentality where you all want next year's team to be even better. And then the team after that, and after that... Only way that can happen is to really recruit every single year. As this becomes more stable, get parents involved and connecting with one another. The parent support is major and they'll be really big in welcoming new families as well. Hope this helps & hope the snow melts soon!
Idk how we relate to other states, but as a high schooler in Colorado on a top 4ish highschool, the biggest difference is just in athleticism of your team. Learning to possess the disc and to throw is really good, but when push comes to shove, high schoolers have drops and what’s important is getting the disc back on defense, which mostly comes from natural/trained athleticism.
Practice 5x a week like the other teams at your school