In a Position to Win; Part I – Why It Matters

i. In a Position to Win; Preface

Introduction

In the simplest sense, Ultimate is a game of throw and catch. Behind all of the offensive strategies and defensive sets, each point is won by someone throwing a disc and someone else catching it. Within a game of throw and catch, there are two vital spots on the playing field: the spot of release and the spot of the catch. As a down-field defender, out job is to defend the spot of the catch. The best way to do this is to get between the offensive player and the place they want to catch the disc.

This is how defense is played in every sport. The most obvious example: football. There is a line on the field that the offense has to stay behind, and it is the side farthest away from their goal. The defense lines up on the other side between the offense and the goal. Basketball and hockey players do the same thing: stand between the offensive player and the basket/goal; but in these sports, you can see it taken to another level: the defense will force the ball/puck carrier to the outside of the court/ice. Why? Because the goal is in the middle of the playing field.

Ultimate is a little different, however. The goal is an end-zone, just like in football, but there are no restrictions on where players can be at any given time. Additionally, there is no reason to force players to the outside or inside of the field, because they can score on anywhere across the width of the end-zone. There is, however, a way to create a specific goal for the offense as a defense, and it’s the most important defensive position in all of Ultimate: the handler defender, or the mark.

Defensive Positioning: “In a Position to Win” – PREFACE

The moment I started playing college/competitive Ultimate, I’ve loved playing defense. I found the endless changing of positioning, thought processes, goals, and objectives during the playing of each point remarkably intense and rewarding. In my playing, learning, and teaching of the sport, I’ve seen a lot of new/young players struggle with the concept of “defensive positioning”, watching them simply chase their mark around like a game of “follow the leader”, and they waste a lot of energy/allow a lot of easy catches in doing so.

My next series of blog posts, titled “In a Position to Win”, will try to shed some light on the concept of “defensive positioning” on a level that players of most any age/level can understand. I will talk about why it matters, how it works, when to use it, and more. It will focus primarily on player-on-player defense, but the occasional zone conversation will occur.

Along with my own thoughts on the concept, I will do my best to compile other great content already available on other blogs/websites. There is a great wealth of Ultimate knowledge on the internet if you take the time to look.

I hope to have the entire three or four part series done by the time May comes around (no promises).

Look next for “Part I: Why It Matters” early next week.

Outside the Huddle: Issue No 2. – Trying Out

I wanted to eek this post out a little faster than I planned so that anyone/everyone looking to join an AUDL/MLU in the following days/weeks might be able to get some quality advice from the panel, which could make or break a try-out.

Spring brings the climax of the college season, as well as the beginning of club. Most club teams hold some sort of tryout; without adding new talent they are sure to fall off of the map sooner rather than later.

At this point in the year, thousands of ambitious players are cleating up to show that they are worth a precious roster spot. We asked our panel to give us their thoughts on the tryout process in general. Their answers demonstrate the complex nature of tryouts, both from the tryout’s perspective as well as from the viewpoint of the decision-makers.

If you are trying out for a team, or even if you are interested in how captains of various teams approach their tryout process…keep reading. The responses show a commitment to improving each team, but in a variety of different ways.

Below are several of the sub-questions we asked to provide structure for the panel’s answers:

Do young players have any chance of making the team as an offensive player? What about as a handler? As a hucker? What would they have to show you to prove their worth?

Is calm, conservative play better? Or do you want to see highlight reel moves, throws, and catches?

Say you are a young player with a specialty throw (something out of the normal repetoire). You are confident in that throw, but it doesn’t really fit easily into a team’s offense (rather, they could change how they play to take advantage of this talent).

Should you show this in tryout scrimmages?

What is most important: practices or tournaments?

How should tryouts behave and carry themselves? Some captains and coaches love people that ask a ton of questions, and others want people that want a lot of feedback. Or give their opinions. Or are silent, strong teammates. What are you looking for? Does the personality of a player figure large into whether they can make the team? What about an obnoxious player with tremendous talent?

Is there anything about the tryout process that you think teams should do more often?

Does everyone try out, or are returning players safe?

How long are your tryouts? Is this optimal?

For everyone trying out this year, we hope the answers to these questions from our writers proves to be helpful.

The premise of this Issue is simple: what should you do/how should you think/how should you act in order to give yourself the best chance to make the team (whichever one it is that you’re trying out for).

Outside the Huddle

Over the past/upcoming several weeks, I will have browsed, read, and taken notes on every issue and submission on what might be the single best Ultimate knowledge resource available today: Ben Wiggin’s The Huddle.

For those unfamiliar, it is a “magazine” of sorts. There are 29 issues, each dealing with a different specific topic of Ultimate strategy, technique, skills, opinions, and more. Within each issue, a panel of high level Ultimate players and minds give their own personal input on each topic. The result is a wonderful collection of varying views on a wide array of important topics and aspects of the sport.

For my Outside the Huddle series, I aim to ask some follow-up questions on most, if not all, of the issues. Hopefully I can find some community input (via the comments on this blog, reddit’s /r/ultimate, and more). I will do my best to research any past discussions on my own questions and find some possible answers.

There are also a notebook’s worth of invaluable statements and ideas, and I hope to collect and expand upon those that I find.

I plan to start this series as 2015 rolls in.

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Unfortunately, The Huddle has been closed for a couple of years. Read about the present/future state of the publication here.