Mixed Quality - and maybe a call for stats help...
The Mixed talk is winding down on Al's blog , but I still play a bastard variant of the real ultimate that Al and Jim like, so...
Between the blogs and the beginnings of this year's 6 Trained Monkeys rebirth, I've been thinking a little more on the differences between Mixed, Men's (lets be honest, it's a Men's division at the upper levels), and Women's disc.
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One thing a player notices as s/he plays on increasingly competitive teams and at increasingly competitive events is the necessity of hanging onto the disc. Want to win on Sunday of a tournament? You'd better be a great defensive team or you'd better be an efficient offensive one. Absent truly superior athleticism, offensive efficiency is easier. So don't turn the disc over.
The call for stats help (Jimmy P?) comes from a perception I have about getting punished for turnovers. My possibly-erroneous perception is that against most elite teams in normal conditions (say, not extremely windy or flat calm), you are more likely to get punished (scored on) for turning the disc over in Men's ultimate than Women's ultimate. Against the very best teams in each division, this may not be true.
This has become one of my mental measures for the quality of ultimate in Mixed play. A couple years ago, watching regional-level or even middle-of-the-pack nationals pool play, I didn't get the sense that any given turnover was likely to change the game. There were close games and the last turnover of a game always feels big, but there is a difference. Last year, I did get that sense for some of the Mixed play. Essentially, the opponents were getting good enough that you had to be efficient offensively to win important games, the same as it would be in key games for other divisions.
This may be a spurious variable in an ultimately quixotic quest to suggest that Mixed is improving and has some quality to its competition. But maybe not.
Between the blogs and the beginnings of this year's 6 Trained Monkeys rebirth, I've been thinking a little more on the differences between Mixed, Men's (lets be honest, it's a Men's division at the upper levels), and Women's disc.
Read more...
One thing a player notices as s/he plays on increasingly competitive teams and at increasingly competitive events is the necessity of hanging onto the disc. Want to win on Sunday of a tournament? You'd better be a great defensive team or you'd better be an efficient offensive one. Absent truly superior athleticism, offensive efficiency is easier. So don't turn the disc over.
The call for stats help (Jimmy P?) comes from a perception I have about getting punished for turnovers. My possibly-erroneous perception is that against most elite teams in normal conditions (say, not extremely windy or flat calm), you are more likely to get punished (scored on) for turning the disc over in Men's ultimate than Women's ultimate. Against the very best teams in each division, this may not be true.
This has become one of my mental measures for the quality of ultimate in Mixed play. A couple years ago, watching regional-level or even middle-of-the-pack nationals pool play, I didn't get the sense that any given turnover was likely to change the game. There were close games and the last turnover of a game always feels big, but there is a difference. Last year, I did get that sense for some of the Mixed play. Essentially, the opponents were getting good enough that you had to be efficient offensively to win important games, the same as it would be in key games for other divisions.
This may be a spurious variable in an ultimately quixotic quest to suggest that Mixed is improving and has some quality to its competition. But maybe not.
posted by Marshall at 4:31 PM
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