The convention this year will have a strong national team flavor to it over the two nights.The first night (November 12) features two excellent Team USA national team coaches: Hannah Baranes and John Groess. They will be offering their insights into some of the more tactical areas of coaching ultimate.
The second night (November 13) will focus on learning more about the national team structure from Will Deaver, USAU Managing Director. The session will provide an overview of the national teams program including player and coach selection. You can register for free and access that directly on the night of the 13th at 6pm MST/8pm EST through Zoom. The national team presentation is free and open to athletes, parents, coaches, etc.
For those who sign up but do not attend, the recording will be made available for a couple of weeks after the session.
Certified coaches will earn 3 continuing professional development credits towards recertification for each night they attend.
John will lead off Sunday night November 12, 2023 starting at 8pm EST and Hannah will take over around 9:15pm EST.
November 12 Session Descriptions
John will go over how to pick an offensive set that best matches the strengths of the players on the team. He will explain the basic principles of Vert stack, Ho stack, L stack, Side Stack, German, Hex, and handler dominator offenses. With this knowledge you will be able to better adjust your team’s offense to your current roster, rather than just doing what you have always done.
Hannah will describe how she structures defensive strategy through the beginning, middle, and end of a game’s story arc. How do you gather data about the other team early in a game? Once you’ve identified elements of an offense’s Plan A, how do you reach into a toolbox of disruptors to create chaos and adversity for the offense? And maybe most importantly, how do you design practices so that athletes can quickly and effectively implement in-game adjustments in a way that doesn’t draw focus away from their own team?
Presenter Bios
Hannah had a 10+ year playing career starting at Dartmouth and later Boston’s elite club teams Wild Card and Slow White, Hannah has given back to her community through coaching high school and college ultimate. Since 2014, she’s coached the Amherst Regional High School girls’ varsity team, becoming the head coach in 2017. She also coached the Harvard women’s team in 2016 and early 2017 before leaving to head up the mixed team at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Hannah was an assistant coach for Team USA that captured gold in the mixed division at the 2023 U24 World Championships.
John has been a part of the ultimate community for over 20 years since first playing the sport in high school. He has played and coached at all levels of the sport: middle school, high school, college, club, and national teams. He is the coach of Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust, USA Mixed beach for the 2023 world championships, USA mixed Grass for the 2024, and the Benilde-St. Margret’s girls program. He is passionate about learning and growing as a programmatic leader. Outside of ultimate, he is a high school math teacher and spends any free time working on fixing his old house.