The following is written by Evan Karson, who is a current captain at WashU. Karson and I matched up a lot during my time at WashU and he is a great player and great leader, so I hope you enjoy this.
I've also added some of my own comments, in italics.
By Evan Karson
These eleven items are lessons I have picked up during my 3 and a half years playing ultimate here at WashU.
Some of them you may have already heard, while other ideas are a little more nuanced. Either way, my hope
with this “mini-article” is to pass along some wisdom that I have been lucky enough to internalize, thanks to
some fantastic teammates, role models and coaches.
1. You can never take too much care of you body – stretch before and after playing (the half-pigeon is my
personal favorite stretch), invest in a decent roller and buy yourself an ice pack.
Yoga is also a great way to build mobility and strength. You can find videos on youtube that will walk you through some yoga in 30-60 minutes.
Yoga is also a great way to build mobility and strength. You can find videos on youtube that will walk you through some yoga in 30-60 minutes.
2. Embrace accountability and demonstrate humility. Always be thinking about what you could have done
better even when your team is winning or you are playing at your best. Always be asking older players and
coaches to watch you during scrimmages and don’t be afraid to pester them for feedback.
Relevant Zip's tip: 11/20/2002 - "Accountability"
Hold yourself to an extremely high level of accountability. Good players will think about what they did wrong after they get scored on or beaten. Great players will think about what they did wrong while their team is scoring and winning. We must continue to improve even when we are playing well. Many times when I play I think games are much closer than they actually are because if my man broke my mark then thats what I remember, even if we got the d on the next pass and scored. Constantly be improving.
Relevant Zip's tip: 11/20/2002 - "Accountability"
Hold yourself to an extremely high level of accountability. Good players will think about what they did wrong after they get scored on or beaten. Great players will think about what they did wrong while their team is scoring and winning. We must continue to improve even when we are playing well. Many times when I play I think games are much closer than they actually are because if my man broke my mark then thats what I remember, even if we got the d on the next pass and scored. Constantly be improving.
3. Saying things aloud to yourself helps. While the encouragement and cheering of teammates is invaluable,
sometimes you alone are in the best position to pump yourself up or push yourself through a workout.
Quick story time: last spring I was doing a sprint workout with Brendan and Skittles at 8:30am and about a quarter of the way through, we thought we were going to die. Blake wrote it for us and it was a rough one. Eventually we resorted to motivating each other between sprints by saying stuff like “we can give more”, “we can dig deeper”, and “we can do this”. We finished the workout because of how driven we felt from those small words of encouragement. Saying those things aloud forced us to believe them.
Quick story time: last spring I was doing a sprint workout with Brendan and Skittles at 8:30am and about a quarter of the way through, we thought we were going to die. Blake wrote it for us and it was a rough one. Eventually we resorted to motivating each other between sprints by saying stuff like “we can give more”, “we can dig deeper”, and “we can do this”. We finished the workout because of how driven we felt from those small words of encouragement. Saying those things aloud forced us to believe them.
4. If you’re injured, then go see a doctor/physical therapist. WashU Health and Wellness doesn’t count.
Seriously, you aren't impressing anyone by playing through an injury, especially a chronic one. Get healthy and stay healthy.
Seriously, you aren't impressing anyone by playing through an injury, especially a chronic one. Get healthy and stay healthy.
5. Always be trying to play/workout/train/throw/watch film/etc. with people better at ultimate than you.
6. A good low-release backhand around the mark is the most important throw to have in college.
A good low-release around backhand is the most important throw in ultimate right now, period. If you don't believe me, watch Revolver play.
7. Sometimes, hanging out and doing nothing in the stack is contributing.
8. Catching is the most necessary skill in ultimate and also the most undervalued.
9. Writing things down notes for yourself helps you internalize messages and lessons. By the end of my sophomore year, my desk was covered in post-it notes with pieces of advice scrawled on them that I had received from the likes of Joe, Ross and Blake. Now I keep a notebook for that kind of stuff.
10. Often times, cutting deep is simply sprinting deep from a standstill at the precise moment. A handler catching the disc in power position is one of those moments.
Zip's tip #35:
When a team gets the disc in power position and no one cuts deep, somewhere in the jungle a baby sloth falls out of a tree. #cutdeep
11. Be kind to people and do your best to learn and remember names.
"I'm bad at names" shouldn't be a valid excuse. This is one I need to be much better at.
6. A good low-release backhand around the mark is the most important throw to have in college.
A good low-release around backhand is the most important throw in ultimate right now, period. If you don't believe me, watch Revolver play.
7. Sometimes, hanging out and doing nothing in the stack is contributing.
8. Catching is the most necessary skill in ultimate and also the most undervalued.
9. Writing things down notes for yourself helps you internalize messages and lessons. By the end of my sophomore year, my desk was covered in post-it notes with pieces of advice scrawled on them that I had received from the likes of Joe, Ross and Blake. Now I keep a notebook for that kind of stuff.
10. Often times, cutting deep is simply sprinting deep from a standstill at the precise moment. A handler catching the disc in power position is one of those moments.
Zip's tip #35:
When a team gets the disc in power position and no one cuts deep, somewhere in the jungle a baby sloth falls out of a tree. #cutdeep
11. Be kind to people and do your best to learn and remember names.
"I'm bad at names" shouldn't be a valid excuse. This is one I need to be much better at.
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