Concentration in Ultimate

On of the hardest things to face in ultimate is that your team is getting whooped 9 - 0. A harder thing is that the reason you're getting turns is because of cold drops and the classic huck-to-your-smallest-player-who-happens-to-be-standing-right-next-to-the-deep -(Who-you-conveniently-failed-to-see) offense.

Now as a handler I love the HTYSPWHTBSRNTTD(WYCFTS) play, closely followed by blaming the receiver for not effectively boxing out a player who's about a mile and a half taller than them. But as an experienced leader/captain type its really frustrating to watch this happen to your team.

This type of thing comes down purely to concentration, especially what I call in-the-moment-concentration. This concentration comes in two distinct flavours however: Throwing and Receiving (Also chocolate, but that's less relevant)

I'll start with receiving, (as you need to catch before you can throw the disc).
This is the concentration that you see on the faces of players like Jonno Holmes when he lays out or Brett Middleton as he goes up to sky some chump. It's the concentration where all you're focussed on in the world is the disc. Not your next throw, not where your defender is, but where the disc is and your relative space to it.

Throwing:
This concentration is much broader than receiving. In this flavour the person with the disc is focussed on the whole field and the relative positions/speed/ability of every person they may be throwing to (or near in the case of defenders). The trick is knowing how this combination works with your individual throws, and where players will be when your throw gets to where you want it (or not).

At a higher level you see players who have both these kinds of concentration and can take great grabs and put amazing discs. At lower levels though players have more cold drops or throw the disc into traffic heaps more often. So its clear that this is something that comes with experience, but is it trainable?

My feel is that part of it is connected to two things: individual skills and mentality.
With individual skills - as players become more adept at catching in general or can stop thinking about their grip when throwing a forehand - as these things become instinctive, it frees up more brain space for focussing on the game.
These skills can be taught. The Huddle has a great article on eliminating unforced turnovers when catching. (Actually that entire issue is pretty sweet.)
With throwing the only advice is TO GET OUT THERE. If you want to work on your hucks, but your team won't let you because you make bad decisions/throws find a social team that won't have many throwers at all, become the dominant thrower and huck like crazy. You'll find out pretty quickly what works and what doesn't.

The mental game is the harder one to work on. It's often said that the difference between a good player and a great player is in their mental game and attitude. This is very true.
The great players are the ones that tune into the game totally. They don't get distracted when throwing. They want the disc. BUT the important factor is that they (caps for emphasis) DON'T SWITCH OFF UNTIL THE POINT IS OVER.

And that folks is I think the critical point. You can train as hard as you like - have amazing, glossy skills - but if you're off staring at the shiny thing by the field when someone throws the disc your way, then there's no way you can be as effective as you can be. Likewise if you're not 100% focussed on how you're getting the disc from you to your receiver in the endzone, then you're going to end up throwing the disc straight to a defender.

So for future reference don't just train the skills, these are important, but also train your mental edge. Want the disc, love the disc, and don't stop concentrating til your team pulls it down in the endzone.