Note: the Jab Step is an IFP driven movement. That is, pushing off of the arch of the foot and abducting the hip. This is a separate skill from a crossover step which involves OFP driven by adduction. We will look more in depth at the Crossover Step in future Above the Competition articles. Once you have mastered the Jab Step, progress to the Serpentine. The Serpentine (Morrill 2010) entails a five-yard acceleration followed by six changes of direction and a five-yard finish (see Figure 2). It teaches athletes to accelerate, decelerate, change direction utilizing a Jab Step, and reaccelerate in another direction. This ability to absorb and produce high amounts of force on one leg (e.g., the Jab Step) is the key to efficient cutting and has direct transfer to field movement in Ultimate.
Figure 3a (Left). A Boston Ironside athlete runs a Serpentine. The right foot is the Jab Step with a steep shin angle pointed in the direction of the next cone. Fig. 3b (RIGHT). The left foot Getaway Step marks the first step of linear acceleration in a new direction.
Women’s Division
Cues for the Serpentine: - Jab Steps with steep shin angles on each of the six changes of directions (see Figure 3a). The Jab Step should be placed at least two feet from the cone in order to ensure a steep shin angle.
Team
Time (in seconds)
Sandy Jorgensen
Scandal
9.03
Whitney Morgan
Phoenix
9.12
Ruth Chen
Safari
9.20
Player
Team
Time (in seconds)
Nick Lance
Chain Lightning
8.46
Ken Porter
Ring of Fire
8.54
Axis Sivitz
Madcow
8.57
OPEN Division
- Push hard of the inside off the foot to propel yourself toward the next cone. -A ggressive Getaway Steps and arm action after each Jab Step (see Figure 3b). The Getaway Step represents your first step in a linear fashion.
In sum, efficient cutting is a function of absorbing and producing force in as few steps as possible. In order to develop this quality, one must spend time in the weight room developing strength as well as on the field grooving and adding conditioning on top of IFP and OFP patterns. In this issue, we introduced the Jab Step as our primary IFP pattern. Look forward to the next issue where we will introduce the primary OFP pattern, the Crossover Step.
- Straight lines; make sure not to round your cuts.
Figure 2. The Serpentine Agility Drill (Morrill 2010)
Player
The Serpentine is a great benchmark test that can be used at combines and tryouts. In 2010, USA Ultimate sent Morrill Performance to Club Nationals in Sarasota, FL., to collect some data on this test. Here are the top scores recorded with a Brower Laser Timing system.
Tim Morrill is the owner of Morrill Performance & Explosive Ultimate. He is the Speed, Strength & Conditioning coach for Boston Ironside and many other Boston-area Ultimate teams. Tim has played Ultimate since 2005. Visit www. MorrillPerformance.com for more info. Editor’s Note: Previous editions of Above the Competition can be found in the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter 2010 issues of the USA Ultimate magazine. Electronic versions of these issues are located in the Archive on usaultimate.org.
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