7pm EST Alex Ghesquiere
How to pre-game: first game, mid-day, and before finals. Lessons learned from past successes and failures.
Pre-gaming is an art. The team needs to be together, but individual players have their own idiosyncratic approaches to being at peak performance. The players need to be warm and get in the zone, but expending too much energy early will hurt performance later. The emotions need to be high to fuel an intense start, but the intensity needs to spread out for the entire game. All in all, it's a delicate balance to strike and one that I've made mistakes on many times. I will share my views based on past experiences, share current thinking on best practices, and provide a blueprint for warming up at each phase of a tournament.
Alex has been playing or coaching ultimate for 32 years. He has played on teams such as Death or Glory, Jam, and Revolver and coached teams including Cal, Revolver, Scandal, the DC Breeze, and USA Men’s and World Games teams. He has coached Open, Mixed, and Womens teams to national and international gold medals. He has won Lei-Out, Kaimana, SandBlast, Poultry Days, Fools, and countless other fun tournaments. Alex live in DC and has e two kids. On the academic side, Alex has an engineering degree and a MBA. He still enjoys goaltimate and grand-masters ultimate (body willing).
6:00 pm EST
An Ecological Approach to Skill Development in Ultimate
In the presentation, I will consider how the principles of ecological dynamics can be applied to coaching in Ultimate. How can methods like the Constraints-Led Approach and Differential Learning be used to develop more adaptable and creative performers, improve decision-making, reduce injuries, and improve teamwork?
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Rob completed his BA in Psychology at Queen’s University and his MS and PhD in Experimental Psychology at York University. After receiving his PhD in 1998, he worked as a Research Scientist for Nissan Motor Corporation in Cambridge, MA, USA. In 2001 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the newly formed Applied Psychology Program at Arizona State University. In 2006 he was appointed Associate Professor and Program Head. Since 2005 he has also worked part-time as a Research Psychologist for the United States Air Force. From January-June 2010 he was appointed as a Visiting Professor in Sport Sciences at the University of the Mediterranean in France. From 2010-2014 he was a Reader (Associate Professor) in Perception & Action in the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. His research focuses on perceptual-motor control with a particular emphasis on the demanding actions involved in driving, aviation, and sports. His goal is to conduct basic research that can be applied towards the improvement of training, simulation, accident prevention and human-machine interface development within these contexts. In 2007 he was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association and the Earl Alluisi Award for Early Career Achievement in the Field of Applied Experimental & Engineering Psychology. Since 2023, he has worked as a Skill Acquisition Specialist with the Boston Red Sox. He currently hosts & produces the popular Perception & Action Podcast.