For instance, the stereotypical fat player, is slow. (this often turns out to be true, but not always!)
"I'll mark the fat guy"
-your lazy teammate.
The fat guy must be a handler (a handler with great throws)
The old guy too.
The tall guy is probably a receiver.
The guy wearing runners and tracksuit pants must be a beginner.
The guy wearing loads of gear (underarmour, tights, visor, gloves, some sort of support on every joint), is either really really good or really really bad. It could go either way.
The girl playing open, won't be cutting deep.
I'm sure you're thinking of exceptions to each assumption as you read them. It would be a dangerous game to rely completely on a stereotype assessment of an opposition player, without any supporting evidence.
As a game goes on, you might make comparisons between the guy you're marking and the other players you've played before, while trying to figure out how best to mark them. That's still basically labeling them, but now you have some evidence. I have said things like this to myself: "he plays like a fat handler despite being trapped in the body of a much thinner man". Maybe I'm getting into the categorisation of players, which could be a whole other blog post.
How to use this
If making quick assessments based on appearances is widespread, a team starting on offence can use it to their advantage. Basically, send your fat, old, deceptively fast guys deep, early on, for easy goals. While your tallest players make sure to stay well out of the way (since they have the fastest and best aerial defenders).
And at a low level fun tournament, wear jeans for the first point!
The guy wearing runners and tracksuit pants must be a beginner.
The guy wearing loads of gear (underarmour, tights, visor, gloves, some sort of support on every joint), is either really really good or really really bad. It could go either way.
The girl playing open, won't be cutting deep.
I'm sure you're thinking of exceptions to each assumption as you read them. It would be a dangerous game to rely completely on a stereotype assessment of an opposition player, without any supporting evidence.
As a game goes on, you might make comparisons between the guy you're marking and the other players you've played before, while trying to figure out how best to mark them. That's still basically labeling them, but now you have some evidence. I have said things like this to myself: "he plays like a fat handler despite being trapped in the body of a much thinner man". Maybe I'm getting into the categorisation of players, which could be a whole other blog post.
How to use this
If making quick assessments based on appearances is widespread, a team starting on offence can use it to their advantage. Basically, send your fat, old, deceptively fast guys deep, early on, for easy goals. While your tallest players make sure to stay well out of the way (since they have the fastest and best aerial defenders).
And at a low level fun tournament, wear jeans for the first point!
