USA Ultimate

The Huddle, Issue #6: Footwork

• Two Players of Note
  
  
  
  • Two players that come to mind when I think of good footwork are Idris Nolan offensively and Hensley Sejour defensively. Idris is quite a good basketball player, which requires a significant amount of body control as well as footwork. Hensley, coming from a football background as a defensive back (I believe) has worked on his footwork extensively.
    
    Whether offensively or defensively, Idris and Hensley have the same traits in common:
    
    1. Awareness of the current situation.
    Each player understands where the disc is on the field. Knowing where the disc is on the field allows you to position yourself to make a play. They are also keenly aware of the type of player that is opposite of them and are able to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, they are aware of they player who has the disc.
    
    2. Positioning themselves.
    Using the knowledge from assessing the situation, they position themselves to make a play. Offensively this could be repositioning yourself to a location that will make the next throw easier, or closing the distance between themselves and the defender. From a defensive standpoint, it could be as simple as taking an extra half step toward the disc, or a step to the break side.
    
    3. Making people commit.
    Offensively, Idris is great at making people commit one way and changing his direction. I think that comes quite a bit from playing basketball and trying to get people off balance. Defensively, Hensley will position himself so that the offensive player only has one cut. However, with the footwork of a defensive back, if he is feinted, he is able to recover quickly without tripping over himself.
    
    Their awareness, positioning, and footwork to make people commit or recover allow them to make plays on offense and defense.
    
    Over the past two years, our teams have started to implement footwork drills during track sessions. Most of the footwork drills are ladder drills at this time. Our workouts in sprinting have incorporated some footwork drills, but usually the focus is on Ultimate specific type of sprints. Everyone on our team has noticed that their footwork in Ultimate is better from even doing something simple as ladder drills.
    
    I think the Ultimate community is very slowly coming to the realization that there is a proper way of doing things, but have yet to make the change. Mostly because there has not been an authority figure to say this is the right way to do something. For instance, we may do some defensive drills, but each player executes their footwork as they know how and are unwilling to change because they have been successful in the past even with poor footwork.
    
    This will change in the future, as I see the implementation of soccer and defensive back football type drills into ultimate, as players start to make the association between the footwork in those two sports and Ultimate. This implementation will have to come from players who are/were low level college players who have practiced the footwork and know the drills that work to improve footwork. With few exceptions, we are not there quite yet...but we will be shortly.
     
  • CHRIS ASHBROOK
• Notes From Other Sports
  
  
  
  • Ring of Fire's Dave Snoke has tremendous footwork. Of course, Dave was a star soccer player for the NC State Wolfpack before switching over to Ultimate so it's no surprise this skill is to his advantage. On offense, he constantly seems to accomplish more with less, taking the least amount of steps to get a big gain or get the O out of a tight situation, time and again. On the D side of things it's not a matter of beating the receiver to the spot, but he excels at the cat and mouse game prior to the cut due to the economy of his footwork. As a marker, he's never taking large steps and lunging at fakes that the thrower gives with his pivoting or throwing arm—both feet work together to keep balanced, and on high counts the strength of his D1 background is really exposed.
    
    About the time I came to Ring (summer of 2003) I started using a ten yard single agility ladder. Prior to that, I would polish my footwork with agility drills using cones and stairs, as well as skipping lots of rope. For footwork and to get the heart rate up, a favorite drill three times a week was to sling the rope for six rounds: skip for 3 minutes, pushups for 1 minute, for six rounds. A shorter speed rope always worked best and was more difficult.
    
    Outside of sparring, I've always been interested in the ways boxers train. My stepmother's father would have boxed for Germany in the 1936 Olympic Games, but his parents were Polish Jews living in Berlin. Prior to finding track, my father boxed for Charlotte Central and was champ of his weight division his sophomore and junior years. UVA was considering offering him a scholarship but then NC banned boxing in their high schools, and the rest is history. I followed boxing religiously from somewhere around Leonard's gold medal in the '76 Olympics to just after the Leonard/Hagler bout. You can see a touch of the sweet science in Ultimate, here and there, every now and again.
    
    Using the ladder, I employed it two or three times a week after the meat of a workout or practice with probably 5 reps of 7 to 10 exercises. As the game became more cerebral, the commitment to footwork helped in the open field during stoppages: getting open going under or away off of a two step move that was simply muscle memory, as well as changing direction in the front of the stack when the count is getting high and the thrower's options are running out.
    
    When the offense is being forced line, you're the number one dump posted up 10 to 12 yards from the marker's fanny. Stepping to the dump is really no problem, the pressure is on someone else, but then you're going to be expected to "swing" the disc. Do you turn inside or outside? What if the pass floats? How do you recover? What if it's a short footrace? Do you go two hands or one hand and how do you prepare your feet? Getting yardage up the line is a real trick. Proper footwork and good acting can get you breathing room up the line for the so-called Cut of Death. Again, it's a one-two combination (on top of a handful of other things moving a thousand miles per second).
    
    Experience of course goes quite a long way, but I think many of these techniques can be taught and learned and perfected. Again, it's all muscle memory, situation, repetition, and a commitment to hard work, or working hard for that matter.
    
    I'm surprised at how many players round the bases rather than slice up the field in sharp angles and take advantage of the cleats on their feet. Some players are fast and some have big long strides and can cover a lot of ground and some players have great closing speed inside fifteen yards. Yet proper and effective footwork, most players completely lack.
    
    A move I've always liked is the power cut-back pedal-power cut. That's posting up in the back of the stack and lying low for a swing—pulling the defender out to the flats with a power cut, pull up and back pedal or drop step, and then change direction again and drive forward to the cone. Another, and I think this was discussed recently on (that black hole of goo called) RSD, is the move you make after a teammate has made the catch just outside the endzone, on the teeth of the goal line. A lot of players do the run by and put up their hand up expecting the old Nerf to be lobbed to them like it was recess. I like the run by, a drop step, and then going left or right or under with hands way out in front for a possible handoff pass. I'm amazed at how many times a player is the first there after the catch, does the run by and somehow feels the D has done his job. Shoot, you have to make that guy work or else that genius teammate of yours is going to waste a timeout.
     
  • TULLY BEATTY
• Balance & Explosiveness
  
  
  
  • I still remember being at Worlds in 1999 in Scotland and it was sort of the debut of Fortunat Mueller with Boston. He was a young workhorse at that time and DoG knew how to use him, as he was probably catching half their goals. I remember watching a pool play game of theirs and a more experienced player pointing out his footwork, how he was always on balance. While we had begun some very basic footwork drills, it was the first time I remember noticing someone's footwork in a game situation. Footwork became a critical component of our training after that as its value became more clear, and it's an easy thing to work on and improve.
    
    Good footwork not only helps you stay on balance and and allows you to change directions easily, it also allows you to be more explosive because your feet are in the right positions to make explosive moves. The key is to practice it so that in games you are doing the right things without thinking about it.
    
    Practicing good footwork can come in a variety of ways. Obvious things are ladders and hurdles, which will improve your footspeed. Simple cone patterns of direction changing, or even having reaction direction changing can reinforce footwork in a change of direction situation. Weight distribution is also important, and to this end getting a player off-balance or extended and having them find their balance point is helpful. Then there are more extreme things like one of my teammates (Chris Frost) who goes for runs in dry creekbeds to work on his foot placement and strengthening his ankles.
     
  • GREG HUSAK
• Improving Footwork
  
  
  
  • Improving footwork is just one of many ways to improve quickness and efficiency on offense and defense. Other ways to improve quickness and efficiency include weight training, plyos to train muscles often overlooked/underused, learning to lower your center of gravity, core strengthening, and balance. As a team, Truck Stop has chosen to focuses on some of these other factors to improve quickness and efficiency.
    
    However, there are two instances where I think a focus on footwork, more so than the other factors, can vastly improve performance:
    
    1. 180 degree changes in direction when cutting/defending, and; 2. Pivoting as the thrower.
    
    A player with poor footwork in these instances will require more steps than a player with good footwork, making him or her slower and less efficient.
    
    Good 180 degree direction changes—going full speed one direction, slowing, planting, and accelerating to full speed in the opposite direction—can allow a cutter to create separation from a defender. Conversely, it can allow a defender to keep that from happening. I see many players taking lots of little steps to make a 180 degree turn, which inevitably makes the cuts less sharp and more round. This is slow and inefficient. Playing soccer in HS, I was taught the efficient way to make the turn was all based on footwork and that it should take only two steps to get fully turned around. Let's say you are planting and making a turn to your right, here is what I was told to do:
    
    1. Plant left foot pointing at or near 90 degrees from your initial direction of motion and begin pushing off. 2. Lift right leg, rotate hips to the right. 3. Point your right knee and foot in the opposite direction, 180 degrees from your initial direction of motion, no less. Plant and push off. 4. Drive your left arm and leg in the opposite direction to accelerate.
    
    Focusing on the footwork during this turn will direct all of your energy in the direction you want to go instead of wasting it with extra steps in the wrong direction. I remember it becoming second nature fairly quickly.
    
    As a thrower, opening up space with fakes takes more than good footwork. But sometimes all you need to get a throw around a marker is to be quicker than him/her. Even if your fakes aren't good, focusing on footwork can give you that quickness edge to get you from open-side to break-side faster than the marker.
    
    As a marker, you should learn to recognize poor footwork and bait it. In my experience, it's the taller, lankier players and, of course, the newer players, who require extra steps. As a marker you should note poor footwork and anticipate the same footwork next time. Then, if you have good footwork, you should be able to beat the thrower to the release point to get the block.
    
    I do not have great fakes and am often criticized for not pivoting enough when I have the disc. Last season I came up with a little drill to do at home to improve quickness. It's supposed to simulate throwing around a marker. I moved away the chairs to make some space in front of my kitchen table, which is about 5 feet long. Then I positioned myself in middle of the long side of the table with a disc. Focusing on quickly moving my non-pivot foot in only one step, I would fake one direction, pivot, plant, and pretend to throw by touching the short side of the table with the disc during the throwing motion. The length of the table and the need to touch the short side of the table forced me to extend out. I would repeat the drill until I felt comfortable with my footwork. Then I would do it again, positioning myself relative to the table to simulate a forehand mark, backhand mark then straight up mark.
    
    I further refined this learned footwork in practice against live marks. Even though my fakes are still atrocious, I now feel more confident that I can beat a marker to my throwing release point because my footwork is cleaner.
     
  • RYAN MORGAN
• Stay On Your Toes
  
  
  
  • I am a big fan of simple rules that can be followed that have far reaching implications for improving your individual game. Staying on your toes, or more appropriately, keeping your weight on the balls of your feet, is one of the best, and can be the foundation for all improvement in footwork that increase your basic skills set. My mentor in the game, Steve Joye, one of the best players of the 80's and early 90's was a big (almost manic) proponent on this. He would throw on his toes, cut on his toes, mark on his toes, argue calls while bouncing around on his toes, go for trail runs on his toes, walk around work on his toes—crazy. But also, he was crazy good at all aspects of the game.
    
    The key is to "toestrike" whenever transferring weight/preparing for your next action/reaction—never, if you can help it, transfer weight to your heels. Staying on your toes at all times out on the field sets up a cascade of body mechanic compensations that put you in the universal "attack" position for explosive sports. You bend your knees slightly, you crouch some with arms bent in front of your body, and you balance over the balls of your feet—committed only to being ready for the next move needed to make the play.
    
    Throwing
    After receiving the disc, I immediately get my weight onto the balls of my feet to lower my weight. Then, whenever I pivot and throw, I always step out onto the balls of my feet—to the backhand and to the forehand, staying bent and balanced. This is part of my muscle memory now, but something I spent a lot of time focusing on early in my career—whenever I threw, I never casually stood lock-kneed or straight up, and never stepped out onto my heels...always out and onto my toes. The benefits are numerous, but one of the best is that I never "turf" the disc—even as I tire.
    
    Starting from the lock-kneed position and/or heel striking on the pivot throws your core weight foreward and then down, becoming more pronounced as you get tired. This momentum will be transferred to the disc on quick pivot/throws. I have watched this with great interest over the years and noted that every Semifinal fatigue "turf burger" was preceeded by a heel strike—followed by a look of confusion//rustration on the throwers face who does not seem to know what happened. I mean, who the heck wants their turnovers to start inexplicably appearing late on Sunday?
    
    Cutting//Defending
    Nick Handler, my teammate on Revolver is one of the better current examples of the benefits of staying on your toes out in the passing lanes. His weekly workouts always include cone drills designed specifically to perfect footwork while staying on his toes, so this has been a learned/drilled skill. On offense, he will cut full speed, then pull this pause "float" move. Fun to watch. Really, he just takes a series of shorter "stutter" steps on his toes at speed, moving, crouching, preparing, then explodes from that position to any one of the 360 degrees he next deems best. On defense he uses this same great basic skill to great benefit: as his assigned lane cutter jukes/fakes/pauses, Nick pulls the "float" ready to react and close the gap when the cutter finally commits to his cut.
    
    In any situation out there, practice getting to and staying on your toes. If you are not already there, like I like to say, that should be very next on your list of things to do.
     
  • DARYL NOUNNAN
• Cutting Fundamentals
  
  
  
  • The player that has excellent footwork in my mind has a football and track background. He has great body positioning while cutting that I think leads to his strong footwork. His cuts are strong as a result of pushing his weight into the ground and exploding after getting low and chopping his feet. This helps his play because I believe he is able to get open on players that are bigger and stronger and faster than him by using good technical footwork.
    
    In my own game, my footwork is very important. Because I have developed myself into a deep cutter and mid-range receiver and thrower, my defender does not know where I'm going to cut in an ideal world. Typically defenders play me just on the force side, not necessarily fronting or backing. Because of this I have to make some kind of fake to cut anywhere. Generally I move into the space a few feet away from the stack to make my move (or in spread, a few feet away from the sideline). Then I either get low, chop my feet, and explode or shake and bake (I think this is more effective for me because it plays to my power cutting and gets faster defenders on their heels).
    
    I think more than any drills, thinking about cutting and training explosivitiy is key. If you can envision yourself making a strong cut, you will be able to do that. Cutting drills will help this come to fruition.
     
  • MIRANDA ROTH
• Get On The Ladder!
  
  
  
  • A big part of footwork is quickness, and the best tool I know of to improve quickness is a speed ladder. I would highly recommend getting one—the longer the better. The various drills and exercises are pretty easy to find and learn, and they're pretty fun to do.
    
    You can just Google "speed ladder drills" and you'll get plenty of sites that do a far better job of explaining the drills than I can. Then get your team on it: warm up, stretch, then run through the exercises at the beginning of practice or workouts. I'm no fitness expert, but I've heard it's better to work on speed and quickness at the beginning of a work out as opposed to the end when you're tired and less likely to use proper form. Whether that's entirely true or not, I'll leave for you to decide.
    
    Anyway, you can get by with one ladder for your team, though I prefer not to run more than 10 people on a ladder just to keep the down time to a minimum, so two usually works better when you've got your whole team together. I guarantee you'll see results. (Note: Results not guaranteed in any real or meaningful way).
    
    As for individual footwork "moves," one that can help make cuts sharper is planting off your inside foot instead of your outside foot (or a cross-over step). For example, say you're setting up a cut to the left by heading to your right. When you're ready to change direction, the typical move is to jab your right foot out to plant and push off to the left. Try this instead: place your last step with your left foot under your center of gravity, or more to the right of where it would land if you were running straight ahead. Rotate your hips hard to the left, and swing your right leg around to make your next step roughly 90 degrees from your original path. It will also help to get low and dip your left shoulder as you make the move. You should see that this will allow you to change direction quicker than with a jab step.
     
  • CHRIS TALARICO
• What Coach Arambula Is Preaching
  
  
  
  • Is footwork important? Only if winning games is important. Ultimate, maybe more than any sport, has layers of pretty arm and upper-body movement that disguise a game primarily decided by feet. Basketball is right up there.
    
    As a handler, I get lots of different body-types defending me during big games. I'm just as likely to look across the line and see Jit (Revolver's tiny handler-defender extraordinaire) as I am to see some massive athlete that I have no hope of running with. Jam usually throws a defender at me like Big Jim Schoettler; in a race with this guy, of any distance, I would need him to be wearing flippers. The hardest defenders to beat in a small space, of any size, are those that are confident and fluid in their footwork.
    
    If I can find a hole in a defender's footwork, I can use that. Do they turn 180 degrees poorly? I'll know within a cut or two. Some defenders love to go side-to-side from a stopped position...fine, I'll start my sideways cuts from a jog, and watch them struggle. Jit (and especially Mike Jaeger, who I am grateful I only have to play against in practice) is amazing at moving to any direction from any direction...I have to make my best move, my best fake, and get a little lucky or be a little stronger on that particular day. Plus, if I do get the disc, he knows where he wants his feet in relation to mine for the mark, and I can't coerce him to go somewhere else with any kind of fake.
    
    Defensively, Jaime Arambula (you might know him as Idaho) is revolutionizing what I think of defensive training. He is taking small moments out of D moves, and translating those into drills. I've been doing this with teams as well...the Seattle YCC team in 2005 may have had a flaw or two, but those guys could flat out mark straight up. They would force throwers to make 1-2 extra pivots per stall count. If you don't think that adds up, go count out how many pivots you make on an average touch, and then add 2 for a game. Fatigue, timing problems, confusion, loss of calm vision...it adds up. We trained by doing short, focused drills on tiny parts of the mark. Idaho's PLU women have had some of the best person-to-person D footwork I've ever seen for an entire college team in either gender.
    
    You know that karaoke move that everyone does for 20 or so yards for warmups? The reason it makes you better is that it builds the little muscles that help make that move on the field. Not that you would ever run 20 yards in that stance...but you often move 1/2 of a yard in that manner, in the transition from moving sideways to moving forward, say. Those transitions are where you can build or lose margins against an equally fast player. If you aren't training for those, then you better be much faster than everyone you play against.
     
  • BEN WIGGINS