Playing In Tournaments

Tournaments are the best way for your team to develop its style of play and character and to improve.

Practice is of course useful, but playing at tournaments is the best way to help your team grow. During practices, especially weekday practices, time is short and players are not far enough removed from the rest of their lives to relax, enjoy, and concentrate on the game. Weekday practices should probably have a minimum of instruction and drills and instead should be mostly playing and conditioning. Longer weekend practices can focus a little more on strategy and philosophy and situational offense and defense. For example, to practice zone defense, have the zone D pull ten times in a row, and the offense gets one chance to score.

Tournaments, however, are where you learn the game and get accustomed to your teammates. Even if you only have 8 or 9 players at a tournament, it's worth your while to go (most of the time).

First off, you'll play as many as 6 or 7 games at a tournament. That's a lot of practice time. Second, you learn to work with the same players game after game. In practice, teams are mixed up, and continuity is lost. Third, you can work on things, get immediate feedback, and adjust the next game (or at halftime). In practice, there's not enough time for that. There is no opportunity for strategizing (or resting, even), unless you have 20 people on your team. Fourth, you get a realistic appraisal of your team's ability, and you know what you have to do. Even if you get spanked at a tournament, you can see neat little things other teams do, as well as trying out your own things and seeing how teams react.

And last, but not least, tournaments are fun. You bond, you learn your teammates' idiosyncrasies, you meet your opponents, and all that stuff. Decide one game that no matter what happens, you're going to play zone. In another game, have the first cut come from the back of the stack, or try a different type of stack. Look to huck more frequently one game. Treat the tournament as a learning experience in addition to its value as a competition. If you go to more tournaments, then each one isn't quite as crucial, so your whole roster will be able to play all the time, instead of "having to win this one". In the long run, it's a winning strategy.

References

Jim Parinella http://www.tiac.net/users/parinell/tip3