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08/05/2021 12:00 AMJames Beckman has made impressive progress in the sport of ultimate, or what is commonly referred to as ultimate Frisbee. James plays a handler in two Connecticut teams, a 20-U team by the name of Connecticut Harpoon and a men’s team called Connecticut Colt Light. James is also entering his senior year at Valley Regional High School where he plays football.
James has seen a lot of time on the ultimate field in his young career. The work that James has put in with players his age has led him to be accepted on a men’s team as the youngest player on the squad. That fact is a source of pride for James.
“So far I’m just happy and proud of the fact that I started at a young age. On the men’s team I play on, I am the youngest player. So far that’s something that I’m really proud of,” says James. “That’s not really an achievement yet, but that will help me in the future by playing up to the caliber of the more experienced players that I play with.”
James has also had the chance to travel far to play in big events like the Youth Club Championships. James feels like playing in events like that are helping him hone his skills against the best competitors in the sport.
“When I first started playing, my youth team, Harpoon went to Blaine, Minnesota for the Youth Club Championships. It’s basically the national championship for the youth leagues in US and Canada,” says James. “We weren’t able to do that because of COVID, but hopefully we’ll get back there.”
There are basically three positions on the offensive side of the disc in ultimate. James is a handler, which equates to a thrower. A player tasked with receiving passes for the most part are called cutters, and then you have hybrid players which are a blend of the two. Everyone on the field will necessarily play defense during opponents possessions. James became interested in ultimate through videos of games on the Internet.
“I started watching ultimate when I was in 4th or 5th grade. I started playing ultimate when I was in 7th grade,” says James. “I used to be a huge baseball guy when I was in elementary school, and I was watching baseball highlight videos. Then I saw an ultimate highlight video with people throwing themselves in the air and diving for a disc, and ever since then I’ve been hooked on the sport.”
Starting to play at such a young age made James take the role of handler practically by default. As a younger, smaller player, James would have difficulty jockeying for position to make a reception. In turn, James honed his throwing skills.
“I was never really given a choice. When I started playing, I was 13 or 14 and my opponents were 17 and 18,” says James, who lives in Ivoryton. “I didn’t have the height to battle downfield. I have been working on cutting a lot more, but I think I’ll always enjoy being a handler more.”
When it comes to maintaining possession and scoring a goal, James believes that handlers have to be willing to wait for the perfect window for a throw. It’s also necessary to believe in his fellow teammates’ ability to reel in a catch if given the opportunity.
“The biggest thing for teams that I’ve been on is trust and patience. You have to be confident in throwing it. Confident your cutter is getting there. If there is too narrow of a window, you may have to hold it,” James says. “Defenders can dive out of nowhere and slap a disc down. So you have to have the patience to hold it. You just have to have the trust in your teammates. I’ve always played with fantastic players that I can trust 100 percent, and they can take care of the disc very well.”
James has quite a few tricks up his sleeve with the disc in his hands, and he’s always looking for ways to expand his repertoire of throws.
“I would say I am able to throw it deep, but it’s not my game style. I am a possession handler. I like to be able to experiment with my throws,” James says. “When you have a defender on you, you have to fake different throws to get them off of you. I’ll have to throw anywhere from less than a foot off the ground to over my head to get a throw off. You have to find angles. Get the throw under their arm, or distract them. That’s an aspect of my game that the coaches have been working on with me. I’m always working on new throws to be ready for any situation.”
Sometimes the most important thing a team can do is play effective defense. A team that relies too heavily on set handlers and cutters can be frustrated with effective coverage of the handler.
“A lot of times, if you can shut down a team handler, you can stop a team’s offense entirely. So there is a lot of emphasis on playing defense on a team’s handler,” says James. “A lot of top-level teams in all divisions will have almost every player capable of playing both positions. You will have cutters throwing 60-yard bombs. It’s scary but a good strategy.”
As with every team sport, one of the most important skills that can often be overlooked is communication according to James.
“The key is to play as unselfishly as possible. You may have to put your head down and run 50 or 60 yards after a dropped disc. If you don’t play great defense and hard offense, there are six other people on the field that have to make up for that,” James says. “In order to avoid those situations, it all comes down to communication. If you’re covering someone and they go deep and get the jump on you, you can switch your coverage. If a team is shredding your man coverage, you can switch over to zone and hope that works better.”
This year, James got his first taste of tournament play with Colt Light at the Boston Invite in Massachusetts. James had some big plays during his team’s play, and he considers his performance a nice feather in his cap for one of the youngest competitors present.
“I went to a tournament in Boston this year with the men’s team. I had a block, a goal, an assist, and a hockey assist,” James says. “For my first tournament I think I did pretty well. I was excited about my performance, especially playing with grown men that had been to tournaments before. I was excited.”
James can see himself playing ultimate for the long haul, and can’t wait to see how he continues to improve in the sport as he gains more experience.
“I would like to go as far as I can with every sport I play, but I definitely see myself playing ultimate through college and after,” says James. “If possible, I would love to play in the American Ultimate Disc League. I would like to try out.”