Presenting Ultimate to PE Teachers
To set up a similar event:
- Contact your school district’s PE coordinator
- Can be found by contacting the local school district headquarters
- Find out if the school district has Ultimate in their curriculum
- Ask if there will be a PE teacher workshop in the near future
- Offer to present Ultimate to the workshop
- Contact local Ultimate community and let them know that you are looking for volunteers to help out
- Let them know that all they have to do is play Ultimate
Before the event:
- Copy information sheet for each teacher
- Remind teachers to wear clothes to play in
- Remind players to arrive early, bring cleats, and bring a white and other color shirt
- If you can get everybody on the dark team wearing the same color it will look much better
- If you can get actual jerseys from one team it will look great
Timeline for 12:45 presentation:
12:30 – Arrive at School
12:30-12:55 – Set-up field/players warm up/divide into teams
12:45-12:55 – Introduce Ultimate to PE teachers
- Introductions
- Ultimate Players Association
- Player run organization
- ~17,500 members
- Run championships – sectional, regional, nationals
- Outreach
- Website www.upa.org
- The Sport of Ultimate
- Has anyone played?
- Does anyone teach it?
- 7 on 7 Field Sport
- Played on a field the size of a football field
- 70 x 40 with 25 yard endzones
- Play is initiated: Pull
- Offense
- Disc is worked downfield - pass to teammates
- Can’t run with the disc
- To score pass the disc to a teammate in the end zone
- Goal is worth 1 point
- Defense
- Goal of defense is to cause a turnover
- Incomplete throw
- Pass out of bounds
- Defense intercepts the disc
- The disc is knocked down (Not team that touched it last)
- Once a turnover occurs the defense becomes the offense and they attempt to score at the other end
- If the disc goes out of bounds it is put back into play at the nearest point on the playing field
- Skills
- This isn’t meant to be a complete tutorial of skills and I don’t expect you to remember all of this. Rather, this is an intro to what you will see on the field.
- Throws
- Backhand
- Throw that most people know
- Very similar to a backhand in tennis
- Grip
- Curl your hand around (show)
- Release
- Forehand
- Very useful throw in Ultimate
- Grip
- Two fingers on the rim (show)
- Release
- Like flicking something icky off of your fingers
- Hammer
- You may see this in the game
- The motion is similar to throwing a baseball
- Grip
- Release
- Over the head
- Between perpendicular and 45 degrees
- So that it slices downward and levels out toward the receiver
- Catching
- Pancake
- Safest catch in Ultimate
- One hand above one hand below
- Body in front of the disc
- For when the throw is between chin and waist level
- Two handed rim catch
- For when the disc is below the waist or above the chin
- Above the chin – thumbs down and fingers up
- Below the waste – fingers down and thumbs up
- One handed rim catch
- Only when you can not get two hands on it
- For example: when the throw is really high, low, or behind you
- Marking and Stalling
- Mark
- To make it difficult for the thrower to throw the disc
- Often mark toward one side of the field called a “force”
- Demonstrate
- Stall
- The marker counts a stall
- To ten at second intervals
- If the marker gets to ten before the thrower throws it is a turnover
- Offensive and Defensive Strategies
- There are several offensive strategies
- Most offenses are designed to create space to cut to
- You will see the space before the disc is put in to play
- Once the disc is put into play there will be constant movement into the space and out of it.
- Cutting
- Cuts are a movement designed to get away from the defender
- They usually involve a change in direction by the cutter toward the open space
- There are several defensive strategies
- We won’t get much into them here
- They are designed to use the wind, abilities of the offense and other factors to force turnovers
- Most of them force the offense to a place where the defense is going to be
- Self Officiating and Violations
- One of the most unique aspects of Ultimate is that it is self-officiated
- Even at the highest level of Ultimate – National and World Championships there are no referees on the field
- Players are expected to play within the rules
- The rules are designed so that when there is a violation there is no penalty, but rather play resumes as it would have had there been no violation
- Players are responsible for making their own calls
- If I feel that I was fouled, I say “foul” and play stops
- The player who I called the foul on has the choice to either “contest” the foul or “not contest” – the rules then dictate where the disc should be put back in play
- Like any officiating system it is not perfect
- Obviously plays will arise where players will disagree on what happened
- This happens more frequently in games between highly competitive teams
- We’ve found that this system is as successful as an officiated system and there are values that are instilled through this system that build the community
- Violations – There are four basic violations in Ultimate
- Foul – any contact that affects the play is a foul on the player initiating contact
- Travel – players are not allowed to run with the disc
- Pick – (like in basketball) are not allowed in Ultimate
- Stall – throwers are only permitted to hold the disc for 10 seconds
- Marker counts to ten at one second intervals
- When we go outside you will see some of this “self-officiating” in action
- Does anybody have any questions?
- In a second we are going to go outside and watch some Ultimate.
- Why teach Ultimate to kids
- It’s a fun, different sport
- Many kids who aren’t into other sports may find that they really enjoy Ultimate and can be good at it
- It teaches mechanics and skills not used in other sports
- Ultimate is played co-ed – we have a National “mixed” (men and women) championship
- It’s a great opportunity for students to learn how to interact across gender lines
- Self-officiating builds good conflict-resolution skills, leadership, confidence, and respect for your opponents on the field
12:55 – Go outside
1:00 – Introduce players in demonstration game
1:00-1:15 – PE teachers watch demonstration game
- Have someone on the sideline point out aspects of the game and answer questions
- Terminology
- Forehand
- Backhand
- Hammer
- Huck
- Mark/Force
- Stack
1:15 – Ask if any of the teachers want to get into the game
1:15-1:45 – Throwing clinic and playing
- Players that are out of the game help instruct teachers who are interested on how to throw
- Teachers can sub into the game
1:45 – Wrap up
- Thank the teachers for letting us come
- Hand out information page
Notes:
- PE teachers think frequently about the mechanics of motion. If you can compare the mechanics used in Ultimate to those in other sports they will understand quickly (e.g. throwing a hammer is like throwing a baseball)
- During presentation have a player assist you in demonstrating grips, throws, catches, etc.
- During the demonstration game create “teaching moments.” Have contested fouls happen near where the teachers are. Make sure players stall loudly.
- Have only one person talking and answering questions during the demonstration game.
- Keep answers to questions succinct and simple. Ultimate players tend to want to explain every detail about their sport; try to avoid this when introducing the sport.
