Styles of Defense - Poachy

I see a few different types of person defense in my head. These can each be used at any point during play, and switched between within even the same possession.

Shutdown
Poachy
Baiting
Help
Lazy

This post will examine the poachy style of defense and how to execute it. Let me start by saying that I think a poachy style of defense is best used VERY sparingly. At the elite club level, you will absolutely get burned if you are poaching more than a few seconds here and there. Poaching can also be dangerous if done poorly or by someone with poor field awareness, so please be careful if trying this out. Always be mindful of the field, your body, and other players' bodies. 

Your job in this style of defense is to generate blocks or junk up a space by jumping into a lane or space that a thrower expected to be wide open. I think the most natural first iteration of poaching doesn't generally generate blocks but prevents throws upfield by doing the following. Imagine that you have just covered an open-side under cut and your mark is clearing/cutting back to the stack. Your mark is not a threat so you can stay in the lane and force the thrower to turn to look at their dump.

A key difference between poachy and help (post still to come) styles lies in when you leave your mark. When attempting to poach, you are leaving your mark preemptively to try to get a block or prevent a throw. When attempting to help, you are leaving your mark after a throw has gone up and you realize you may be able to make a play or make the offender's job harder by being there. 

Here are a few example situations in which a poaching style is likely to work.
The above example when your mark isn't a threat.
You are marking someone (not currently a threat) in the vert stack and someone else is cutting down either the open or breakside lane and you see that you can jump in front of them and intercept the disc. This example is most likely to cause injuries if you just run or bid sideways out of the stack/deadspace. Don't do this. Look around and make sure you can make the play safely first.
You are hidden from the thrower's view.

The biggest factor, in my experience, in determining success at this style of defense is your mark not currently being a threat. This state can change on a dime. Offenses everywhere stress the importance of recognizing when you are poached and what to do in that situation. So you must stay aware of your mark's threat level and this is why it is best used sparingly. If you do it too much, your mark will take advantage and your risk will no longer be worth it. You must be able to recognize your mark's threat level accurately to successfully poach (assuming a competent opponent).

Examples:
From the 2016 World Games Final between USA and Japan. Alan Kolick jumps into this space that he sees is open and that someone is cutting into and then finds the disc. The thrower had no chance of seeing this. This demonstrates an incredibly high field awareness and game IQ to realize in that split second that the space is open, the cut is open, his mark is not a threat, the thrower can't see him, and that he can beat the opponent to the spot safely.
https://gfycat.com/QueasyCapitalBlesbok

Styles of Defense - Lazy

I see a few different types of person defense in my head. These can each be used at any point during play, and switched between within even the same possession.

Shutdown
Poachy
Baiting
Help
Lazy

This post will examine the lazy style of defense and how to execute it. It's more of a 'fun' style of defense, not a serious style, and therefore will be a much shorter post.
Let me start by saying that this should really only be used in league play (summer/fall etc) or 'for fun/drinking' tournaments. 

Your job in this style of defense is to get cheap blocks or else hope your team generates blocks so that you can then play offense. There are a few strategies for this, but I'm partial to one in particular - The Tiger Trap.

Here are a few example situations in which a lazy style is likely to work.
You are playing a very weak team. Your other defenders are capable of generating blocks.
You trick the other team into thinking there is a free receiver open near the endzone.

How to execute the tiger trap. Many people think that you have to lie down on the endzone line for this, but I've found that success more often follows when you have a teammate standing near you, and you stand right by the corner and just pretend to be talking to them. (This usually happens, either way, right after the pull, but can be done during a point if you try hard enough)
The rest of your team needs to know that they are supposed to let someone go deep, otherwise they will just dink and dunk it up the field and your tiger trap will be wasted.
Then wait for the thrower to chuck it deep and go play spoiler.

How to execute lazy person defense. Just make sure your person catches unders (rather than deeps) until someone else forces a turnover, and then play offense.

Examples:
I couldn't believe when this actually happened in competitive play!

Styles of Defense - Baiting

I see a few different types of person defense in my head. These can each be used at any point during play, and switched between within even the same possession.

Shutdown
Poachy
Baiting
Help
Lazy

This post will examine the Baiting style of defense and how to execute it.
Let me start by saying that I think you must first be able to play shutdown d before you can play a baiting style of d.

Your job in this style of defense is to trick the thrower into thinking your mark is open. You then rely on your superior athleticism, path to the disc, or read on the disc to generate a block. This does not rely on poor throws, and if you are relying on that, you are not playing a baiting style, you are either playing a lazy style or you need to work more on shutdown first. However, this generally does rely on non-perfect throws. A perfect throw will almost always beat a baiting style of defense.

Here are a few example situations in which a baiting style is likely to work.
There is a strong wind in the face of the thrower and you force your mark deep because you know that even a good throw will hang up in the wind and you will have extra time to make up the ground.
You know that you are more explosive than your mark so you let them get one step open on an under and you bid past them once the throw is up.
You are hidden from the thrower's view.

For each of these scenarios, there is a very fine line that you have to walk. You have to know your own abilities just as well as the person you're marking. If you bait a throw and don't come up with the block, it can be very costly.
With that being said, you may feel comfortable giving your mark even more space to ensure that the thrower is fooled. As you play at higher levels, throwers will be fooled less often or else execute a perfect throw more often.

The biggest factor, in my experience, in determining success at this style of defense is seeing the throw come out. The closer you are to the thrower is directly correlated with the importance of seeing the disc come out. Assuming you have gauged your mark's and your own abilities accurately, and you have fooled the thrower, if you don't see the throw come out of the thrower's hand, your chances of success still drop immensely. On top of seeing the throw come out, you have to be able to read the path of the disc in that split second.

Baiting unders:
I like to start on the outside shoulder as the cutter starts under.

I let them in front by taking a half step so that I can then switch to the inside shoulder. This also accomplishes the idea of being hidden from the thrower, and gives you a shorter path to the disc. (Baiting from the outside shoulder is harder imo)

It is important that when bidding past your mark that you don't 'backpack' them. You need to be able to bid past without contact. Assuming a force flick and inside  shoulder bait, the easiest way to ensure a safe bid is to bid with your left hand reaching for the disc. Bidding with your right hand generally requires more body control to avoid hitting your mark. See that I have to twist a bit to avoid contact and so I don't land flat.

Examples:
I don't end up getting a block, but I got a hand on the disc and this illustrates the technique above.
https://gfycat.com/PrestigiousFlashyArmyworm

This next one illustrates being hidden from the thrower quite well as well as making your mark think they are open. Yiding thought he was wide open so he did not feel the need to run through the disc and Murray punished him for it.
https://gfycat.com/FakeAgonizingDeermouse

Baiting outs:
I have less thoughts about baiting outs. You can afford to see the disc a bit later on outs, but seeing the release still gives you your best chance. There is a lot more variability with baiting outs as the throws will be more variable and are in the air longer. Tracking the disc on the inside shoulder is generally preferable to outside shoulder as it gives you a shorter path and forces the receiver to make a play over the top of you.

More Video/Visual Examples still to come.

Self-Officiation and Spirit of the Game

See twitter thread(s) here for the inspiration behind the post:  

 
Thesis: Self-officiation and Spirit of the Game as selling points are bad for the continued growth of our sport 

 
USA Ultimate has made growth a top priority (See page 14 of the report). They claim that their goal is to 'Develop and oversee a broad spectrum of programs for a diverse community of youth players and administrators.' However, I will argue that their current plan is leaving out a large portion of the populace from their target audience and thus making their goal impossible. 

The current 'Elevator pitch', so to speak, of Ultimate that is given at the beginning of every ESPN streamed game goes something like this (Can't find the exact wording): Ultimate is a sport that relies on self-officiation, spirit of the game and integrity. 

I think it should go something like this: Ultimate is a sport that is fun, fast-paced, safe, healthy, and constantly pushing for gender equity. 

 
My reasoning: 

The prevailing perception of our sport is that of a joke. Exhibit A. This is not just a feeling I alone have. We are being actively referenced with a joke from a movie. And we are being thrown into the same bucket as Bags. Personally, I'd rather be seen in a different light than Bags as I think we probably do a bit more work than them to master our craft. 

Self-officiation, which we falsely claim that our sport relies on, only perpetuates this perception. If we want to grow our sport, we need to make a strong effort to change this. As it stands now, I believe that self-officiation is a big reason why people continue to have a negative opinion and a closed-mind about ultimate. See the following conversation with a relative during the ESPN2 game from Sunday. 

Her: So are there like set offensive plays that you run? Like football? 

Me: There are yeah. Most set plays are off the pull or another dead disc. 

Her: This whole call your own foul thing is a lil much 

Me: I don't like it but most of the frisbee community thinks it's our biggest selling point which is asenine imo 

Her: Yeah it kind of makes it less legitimate. And like... you have these observers who make calls anyways... 

Me: Agreed. They can mostly only rule if players choose to ask them   
 

These national broadcasts are a huge tool and a huge opportunity. We all make efforts everyday to introduce the sport to new people through our daily interactions, and that is fantastic. But these broadcasts are the rarest of chances, when we have a huge population of sports fans tuning in out of curiosity. We should do everything within our power to show them the very best our sport has to offer. In effect, we are trying to persuade them to become a player, a fan, a coach. By having a number of stoppages, questionable foul calls, and confusing discussions during the game (especially during plays and contact seen as fairly routine in other sports), we are raising the bar of inclusion. With referees in place, any other sports fan will be considerably more understanding of the flow of the game. It is something they are accustomed to, and a system that has proven to be effective in many other leagues. 

Having played with Referees in the AUDL, I can tell you it does not change how the game is played. It speeds up the game, takes stress off the individual to 'correctly argue their call', and does not introduce gamesmanship as some claim. My request is for the vast majority of the frisbee community that has not played with referees to give it a chance.  
There are many people who will have similar negative thoughts as my cousin while watching these broadcasts who won't have someone to explain things, and encourage them to start playing anyway. We are turning people off before allowing them to learn about the parts of the sport that actually are great and give it a chance.  

We should be opening the door to everyone rather than stubbornly saying 'we shouldn't change the game to get more people'. The best version of frisbee has the most people playing. All pushing each other to get better on the field and off. The more people we have, the more diverse our thoughts, the more powerful our impact.  

So why is USAU ignoring this fact that they are alienating a large contingent of our country and plugging along with SotG and Self-Officiation?  

Now, I know what anyone reading this is likely thinking. “Spirit of the Game” is a vital piece of ultimate, and we should celebrate that and explain it to any new fan. I know that I am touching a sacred cow here, but I want to ask two questions.  

1.       When you decided to give ultimate a shot, did you know what SotG was?  

2.       If so, was that what first piqued your interest in this sport?  

I would be extremely surprised if anyone answered yes to both of these questions. Even if you have disagreed with me up to this point, I hope you can understand what I am saying here. SotG, while a noble and impressive ideal, is NOT the reason people start playing ultimate, and to trying to use it as a selling point now is a substantial mistake for the reasons I've listed above. The reasons we all started playing are exactly the things we should be trying to show off on our broadcasts. For me, and I imagine for most of us, these reasons include the fun, the explosiveness, the fluidity of play, and the inclusivity. 

SotG is a part of all of the reasons I listed above. It makes opponents more fun to play against, it makes explosive plays safer, it (in theory) keeps the game moving quickly, and it gives everyone a voice. I am NOT against the idea of SotG. But I am against using it as an excuse to put an inferior product on the field, one that is peppered with questionable foul calls, long and confusing disputes, and unsatisfying resolutions. I am against using it as a selling point. 

I imagine most of you are familiar with the foot-in-the-door psychological technique. This involves first getting someone to agree to a small idea, before eventually getting them to accept a big idea. With these broadcasts, we are trying to get our foot in the door. We are trying to show off our sport in a way that some people will decide to give it a shot – the door has been cracked open. As these new players go out and meet others and begin to participate, that is when SotG manifests itself, and aids us in throwing the door wide open. But it does not work in the opposite direction. In other words, SotG sounds like a relic of the 60s, and this, coupled with the flaws of self-officiation at the high level, act as a doorstop preventing us from making any headway into new populations. We need to remember what made us join the sport way back in the day, and that is exactly how we should be opening the door to as many people as possible.  

Most people I’ve talked to resist the idea of making Frisbee any bit more like other sports. I understand the hesitance; many players –including myself – had bad experiences in other sports. But, on the field, we know we have a great product. The way this sport is played is more exciting and more rewarding and more accessible than any other sport on the planet. You start to fall in love with it as soon as you play your first pickup game, long before anyone opens the rulebook and explains to you the nuances of contesting fast counts or the USAU definition of spirit. This game is fantastic because it is a great game, and the community is fantastic because we all love it together, and we share and translate that love and respect with each other as well. That is never going to change. But in order to enable more people to join us, our methodologies do have to change. We need to eliminate self-officiation at the highest, most competitive, televised level. And we need to stop flaunting SotG as if we are some superior, entitled class of people.  

Did it once make sense? Yes.  

Can it still have a place even if we have referees? Yes. See integrity rule in The AUDL. 

Does it belong in competitive play? No, with a caveat. Each individual can still abide by it, as well they should, but it should not be the backbone of the rulebook. 

Should we be using it as the sports' main selling point? No. 

The people who play ultimate are great. I have made bonds in ultimate that can never be topped. But are we fundamentally different than the humans that play soccer? Or basketball? No, of course not. We are not so special that we do not need unbiased 3rd parties to oversee our games. Thinking otherwise is very arrogant.  

1. Advertise the fun 

2. Advertise the explosiveness 

3. Advertise the camaraderie 

4. People will be interested 

5. They will start playing and we can still teach them about the integrity we all learned to play with 

That is the template to growing our sport.  

Written in collaboration with KSC,

ARC

 
 

Machine

Early thoughts on playing for Machine.

It is everything I thought it would be so far. The most fun I've ever had playing club. It will never be in the same vein as NUT, which I'm sure many people feels regarding their college teams. But it is enough which is club has not been so far in my experience. I am ecstatic to be on this team. Everyone is pushing everyone to get better and there is a genuine sense that everyone cares that their teammates get better.

We scrimmage an Italian club team tonight and I couldn't be more stoked. Hopefully some of them brought some jerseys to trade.

Back... For now.

It's been a while. But hey, things are good. I made Machine which has been a goal 7 years in the making. I've already played at my first tournament with the team and I haven't been this excited about Ultimate since April of 2015.

There was a few weeks in May/June when I was feeling really burned out regarding Ultimate. I discussed it with a number of close friends and heard what I needed to. I pushed through that feeling and now I have a breath of fresh air! I've actually had it since the final round of Machine tryouts.

I've been traveling a lot recently and this week at home has been a nice reprieve. I shouldn't make it seem like it's been bad since it has all been my own choice. I got to go home and see my family, to Minneapolis to see Megs and Tony, to Seattle to play at Potlach and see Eric and Deedee, and it has been awesome! But I am excited to just be in Chi for a while and enjoy the summer with friends.

Oh and Megs is moving back to Chicago in September. I am super excited to have one of my besties back. Unfortunately, Haji is leaving right before then to go travel the world. You win some, you lose some.

Sandblast is this weekend, and I am very excited to just hang out and see friends and not play. My body needs the break while it can get it. The grind for Machine is here and it will put my body to the test no doubt.