Jonathan Potts
If this is in the middle of an elimination game, and we’re going to make an
effective adjustment, it needs to be simple. It sounds like the defence is
playing particularly tight around the disc, and putting enough pressure
downfield to force us to take bad looks. If this is the case, these are
probably the things I would try early on:
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Look for the reset earlier in the count.
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Run give-and-go’s more often.
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Pull any handler off the field that’s particularly struggling, or move them downfield to a cutter position.
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Put a quick/dependable defensive handler onto the O-team.
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Give a big green light to our best hucker and tell the receivers to give them options.
At half-time, I would evaluate which of these strategies is working and go
into more depth with the team about how exactly we’re going to modify our
gameplan to execute these successful options.
Jonathan Potts
It seems sensible to find the disc as early as possible. However, I think
first I need to make sure I’m matching the receiver stride for stride, so I
let them do the work of finding the disc early on and use that time to make up
some ground.
Any work they do finding the disc will also help me pinpoint where to look for
it. Once I’m matching their stride, I’ll look for the disc and start making
judgments about how the contest is going to pan out
If it’s a leading pass, I just need to put my head down and try to get between
the receiver and the disc, as close to the receiver as possible, and
preferably with a decent jump. If I can establish a better line than them,
I’ll try to do that. Realistically, my high layouts are pretty ineffectual and
injury-creating, but I’ve seen some great high blocks from layouts, so go for
it if it’s your thing.
If it’s a floating pass, I would usually approach the bid from behind the
receiver. If the receiver needs to back up, I probably try to establish
position early to stop them backing up (but beware other receivers coming in
for scraps!). If the receiver has good position, I try to stay out and get in
a well-timed maximal jump at speed while they’re standing flat-footed under
the disc. If the cut is from the break side, it generally means there’s a bit
more room for negotiating position, so it pays to find the disc early and
establish the best line at the disc.
If they have a height advantage, I’ll try to establish position early and stop
them getting a play on the disc. If I have a height advantage, I’ll try to
just find the place where I can bid for it at close to maximum jump and bid
for it there, assuming they can’t bid in the same place. But I want to
minimise the risk of it going over my head and giving them a cheap win, so I
include a bit of a margin of error in choosing that spot. So it helps to know
if someone is short with big hops.
If it’s a leading pass and they have a speed advantage, as they spike it in my
face I probably turn around and start abusing the marker for letting out a
clean huck.
Jonathan Potts
I wouldn’t say I’ve thought about this a lot, surprisingly. I find I’m
generally on a team that’s drilled a lot of vertical or drilled a lot of
horizontal, so we’re better at one particular offence in most conditions.
All other things being equal, horizontal relies on using static structure to
create space on the field, whereas vertical relies on cutting (dynamic
structure?) to create space on the field.
Wind tends to nullify cutting advantages, so theoretically horizontally
should be preferred in the wind, all other things being equal, including your
team’s ability to play either offence.
However, in wind you need to modify the static structure of the horizontal to
adjust for the wind direction and strength, and everyone needs to be on the
same page, so it could be pretty tricky to get right.
For example, obviously, going upwind you need to shorten up the stack to
maintain the deep threat, and going downwind you need to lengthen the stack so
that you get reasonable return on the in cuts.
Similarly, in a side wind you’ll probably need to adjust your spacing across
the field to allow a greater margin of error on the throws into space.
But, just like vertical, it will be more difficult to play horizontal offence
in the wind, you need a genuine deep threat at all times, and you need to
coordinate your cuts.