I know you are speaking to the specific strategy/this match up, and I definitely agree with your points. Another factor to consider before it even comes to this game is where different teams ended up in the draw & how games went before this match. My team heard that Japan had purposely lost to Columbia in their power pool game so that they would end of on the opposite side of bracket play from the USA. I've got no idea if this is true or not, but it was the rumor going around at the time at WUC. This is not to throw shade at Japan, they are/were an excellent team and beat each team in bracket play fair & square and earned their finals position. But I do think that this strategy could have contributed to the result. Furthermore, if you consider how many games were played & points were played, you could also possibly factor in fatigue building up over the tournament further contributing to this result. Japan played a crossover game/pre-quarters (over NZ 15-12), won their quarters (over Belgium 15-14), and won their semi-finals (over Australia 14-8). This is a total of 78 points over 3 games. The USA on the other side played *only* two games during this same span, winning both games 15-8 (Canada, GB). That's a total of 46 points played, compared to 78 for Japan. I think over the course of a tournament that plays a big part, especially in crunch time where lines typically tighten (especially for teams that are not the USA).
If they purposely lost the Colombia game then their strategy apparently worked because they were able to avoid the US until the final even though they had a harder road. But personally I think with it was more of an issue with strategy vs fatigue (fully acknowledging this could have played some part).
thanks for another analysis vid Kurt! always really enjoy hearing your thoughts. to clarify for your point at 15:00 about the rifling flicks while throwing downwind - is it that you're bringing the 'rifling' up as a potential playstyle choice that is not as effective when compared to a more movement-style offense? or did i misunderstand - thanks in advance!
Thanks Chris! The point is that regardless of the strategy (I do believe that if they had more handler initiated movement they would have had more success moving it) those passes are high risk and it's one thing to throw them in a jam or sparingly when absolutely needed. They threw them multiple times and it's just a high risk throw especially in windy conditions.
I know teams sometimes teach players to race the dump. This is fine for beginners but I think it less to bad habits at the advanced level because the speed of the game is so fast you always need to keep your head on a swivel and not be locked in on one part of the field for too long.
Likely the best game of Beach Ultimate ever...but considering that people who know about/care about Beach Ultimate are only a fraction of the already small Ultimate community, I would think that the best game of Ultimate in general would have to be on a solid field.
@@williamtrowbridge4868 Well, yeah, to be fair grass probably has more 'momentous' games - nations are generally more notable than clubs. The 'meaning' of those games is probably bigger, yeah. But in terms of entertainment, drama, spectacle, and elite level play... I've never seen a game as good as the WBUCC finals.
to add to this, consider watching Raleigh Ring of Fire vs New York PoNY--Men's Semi 2018 U.S. Open ICC Club Championships. For me it was the best, count how many turnover for this game. Turnover is in singular form
I know you are speaking to the specific strategy/this match up, and I definitely agree with your points. Another factor to consider before it even comes to this game is where different teams ended up in the draw & how games went before this match. My team heard that Japan had purposely lost to Columbia in their power pool game so that they would end of on the opposite side of bracket play from the USA. I've got no idea if this is true or not, but it was the rumor going around at the time at WUC.
This is not to throw shade at Japan, they are/were an excellent team and beat each team in bracket play fair & square and earned their finals position. But I do think that this strategy could have contributed to the result.
Furthermore, if you consider how many games were played & points were played, you could also possibly factor in fatigue building up over the tournament further contributing to this result.
Japan played a crossover game/pre-quarters (over NZ 15-12), won their quarters (over Belgium 15-14), and won their semi-finals (over Australia 14-8). This is a total of 78 points over 3 games.
The USA on the other side played *only* two games during this same span, winning both games 15-8 (Canada, GB). That's a total of 46 points played, compared to 78 for Japan. I think over the course of a tournament that plays a big part, especially in crunch time where lines typically tighten (especially for teams that are not the USA).
If they purposely lost the Colombia game then their strategy apparently worked because they were able to avoid the US until the final even though they had a harder road. But personally I think with it was more of an issue with strategy vs fatigue (fully acknowledging this could have played some part).
thanks for another analysis vid Kurt! always really enjoy hearing your thoughts.
to clarify for your point at 15:00 about the rifling flicks while throwing downwind - is it that you're bringing the 'rifling' up as a potential playstyle choice that is not as effective when compared to a more movement-style offense? or did i misunderstand - thanks in advance!
Thanks Chris! The point is that regardless of the strategy (I do believe that if they had more handler initiated movement they would have had more success moving it) those passes are high risk and it's one thing to throw them in a jam or sparingly when absolutely needed. They threw them multiple times and it's just a high risk throw especially in windy conditions.
Completely agree that 2016 WUGC final was the greatest game ever played.
you keep mentioning that they keep missing open players going upfield. What is the best way or drill during training to avoid these misses?
I know teams sometimes teach players to race the dump. This is fine for beginners but I think it less to bad habits at the advanced level because the speed of the game is so fast you always need to keep your head on a swivel and not be locked in on one part of the field for too long.
Japan looked like they thought it was practice. Like "ok, you do this cut, and I'll send it."
No the greatest game of Ultimate played is now the WBUCC 2024 men's final. I think you were there... ;P
Likely the best game of Beach Ultimate ever...but considering that people who know about/care about Beach Ultimate are only a fraction of the already small Ultimate community, I would think that the best game of Ultimate in general would have to be on a solid field.
😂
@@williamtrowbridge4868 Well, yeah, to be fair grass probably has more 'momentous' games - nations are generally more notable than clubs. The 'meaning' of those games is probably bigger, yeah.
But in terms of entertainment, drama, spectacle, and elite level play... I've never seen a game as good as the WBUCC finals.
to add to this, consider watching Raleigh Ring of Fire vs New York PoNY--Men's Semi 2018 U.S. Open ICC Club Championships. For me it was the best, count how many turnover for this game. Turnover is in singular form