Re: Question for Mixed Players

Bob,

I think you are right that just based on the strategy of it (at least
for that one point), a lot of teams don't always make the right
move...and a lot of choices teams make to play 4 men are weird.
however...

"Lets suppose you know that your opponent's on offence would have
chosen to go 4 men. If you on defence have the choice and also choose
to go 4 men then something is wierd."

Here's the thing I'm thinking with that. First, there might be times
when both teams are right to choose the same ratio. The biggest reason
in practice may be that most mixed teams have a lot more men than
women, and so for fatigue reasons (and subs reasons) they go 4 men most
of the time, even if 4 women might actually be their best
offense/defense for any one point (but if they tried it every time
fatigue might change that). So, yeah one team might be taking the
lower chance of scoring that point, but that might be their best chance
of winning the game (or tournament).

There's really something to playing your game as well...you can't
always do everything based on what the other team is doing, and teams
definitely practice different formations more than others, so maybe
both teams do feel they are best with certain ratios and combinations
of people. Chemistry does matter, definitely. The better a teams
gets, the more flexible I'd guess they'd be able to be on ratios and
positions.

The rest included here just takes stabs at explaining why teams often
play 4 guys. Lots of mixed teams don't know each other well enough to
figure out what all makes up the best chance of scoring. Even teams in
the same region that play each other a lot can't neccesarily figure
that out every point, or strategy would be pretty easy. Also, teams
don't in practice typically wait until the other team puts their line
out there, then put people out, and then the team that originally puts
their line out there makes changes, and then the other team does, and
so on and so forth, all before each pull, although maybe they should if
they could...I guess they both don't signal readiness at the same time.

Also, although Jim's "put your best 7 out there" doesn't work from a
fatigue standpoint (and thus isn't the most strategic), I do think that
depending on the makeup of your team, that definitely factors in within
the lines. If your 4th women on the O line is better (relatively) than
your 4th man, you might be more likely to put her out there regardless
of what the enemy squad has got.

Oh yeah...most mixed teams don't even have a line caller (in my region
probably less than half, and most of those aren't too formal), and most
captains likely don't even think to decide what their ratio will be
every point...people just kinda know roles and go out there, and
usually it's 4 men default.

In my experience on Moe, almost nobody went 4 women against us, and if
they did, it was likely only once...maybe they realized it'd be easier
to burn us guys than our female teammattes...but I also think that a
lot of teams didn't even consider the option...although against us it
probably wouldn't have been advisable, and we probably could have
benefited from going 4 ladies more often than we did too, but hindsight
sees better.

Dave

PS: Hey mixed strategy types--am I to represent everyone?

.

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