Kris Kelly
It can be easy to make excuses for not playing team defense in Mixed Ultimate,
especially in man-to-man set-ups. About half the people on the field you would
never choose to mark up on/cover prior to the pull, the people you want to set
up switches with may not be the closest people to you, and the person in the
best position to help you might not be the obvious choice given the situation.
However, with practice and communication, there’s no reason why skills such as
poaching, switching, and being heads-up in general can’t be incorporated into
a defense’s repertoire.
Unfortunately, there are no strict rules for teaching these skills since the
configuration of genders on the field is so unpredictable and ever-changing;
also, a person’s thinking will often have to shift from moment to moment
between guarding one’s person, guarding one’s gender, and knowing when to help
out regardless of gender. It can be a lot to process and therefore becomes
more a function of being able to react dynamically, which is, in larger part,
based on a person’s/D-team’s experiences. Therefore, while theoretical
explanation can help foster understanding of the basics, honing the skills is
best done via real or simulated game situations.
A LITTLE THEORY…
Low Risk/High Reward Poaching
One of the easier poaching strategies to master in Mixed is a woman poach in
the lane off of the woman handler. Often times, this offensive position will
stay behind or around the disc and so a poach will never be too far from
putting a mark on. The biggest advantage to this poach is that, if done
properly, she can cut off the in-cuts, which means that the downfield
defenders can back a little, thus the out-cuts are also covered. Then when the
disc goes to the woman handler, the downfield defense can adjust to covering
the in-cuts since this is generally the more dangerous part of the field at
that point. The challenge for the poacher is to position herself so that she
can see where the cuts are coming in while also keeping track of where the
thrower is looking. Sideline talk can help her be in the right place at the
right time. This D can be especially effective given adverse weather
conditions and can be a way to switch up the D from zone to man so that the
offense doesn’t get too comfortable with one particular look.
Prepare for Switching to Make the D’s Job Easier
Switching can take several different directions in Mixed. Although there are
times when there is switching between genders, it is usually out of momentary
necessity (i.e. zone O to man D transition) and looks to be resolved as
quickly as possible since those are probably not the match-ups you are hoping
for. However, switching within a gender leads to more equitable match-ups, can
be planned for, and can be used to make defense easier and help save your legs
a bit.
Being able to prepare for switches with players of your own gender depends on
how the offense sets up and how quickly they get going. If there are two
people of your gender in the stack, one defender could cover the in-cut and
one could cover the out-cut. If there are three people of your gender in the
stack, you could set up an in/out/middle or an in/out/break (this one is great
around the endzone where there is less field to cover on the force side and a
break side throw could lead to an easy score). The thing to remember is that
the genders are probably spaced out in different places in the stack and so
you have to keep an eye on what all the cutters of your gender are doing and
continue to communicate with your teammate(s) when your wo/men start making
their moves.
Switches become slightly trickier when the offense is in a split or ho stack.
With the split stack, unless two of your gender are set up on one side of the
field (in which case you could set up in/out), preparing for switches probably
isn’t possible. And with ho stack, the spacing between offensive players is
probably greater than with a straight stack so, again, unless two of one
gender are next to each other to provide an in/out set up opportunity,
switching could prove to be more trouble than it’s worth (although it might be
worth a try anyway to see for yourself—defensive points are the times to take
chances). What it comes down to is being aware of where the genders are set-
up, what opportunities for switching, if any, that provides, and then
communicating intensions with your teammates.
Be Heads Up and Go Get It If You Can
One mentality that needs to be avoided in Mixed is the one where a defender
thinks s/he should only go for a disc that is meant for someone of his/her own
gender. If you are in a position to make a bid on a disc, do it. This means
knowing where the disc is, where the intended pass is going, and gauging the
risk of leaving your person relatively undefended (if the situation calls for
it). Probably the most advantageous places on the field for one to be heads up
are the front of the stack, last in the stack, and as the person clearing out
of the lane. The first person in the stack can keep an eye out for the quick,
straight pass up the middle; the last person has to be aware of the deep shot;
the defender clearing out of the lane can see the next cut coming in and can
intercept the pass to that cut if the timing is right. I’ve found that one of
the more fun things about being a woman in Mixed Ultimate is being
underestimated. Sometimes you can make that work for you and get your team
turns in the process.
AND A LOT OF PRACTICE
Provide Opportunities for Collective Learning
Team D is all about knowing each other and working together and for that you
mostly have to learn together. So your aim as a team should be to get your D
exposed to as many different situations and conditions as possible. In terms
of practice time, 10-pull or some variation of it is a great “drill” because
it lets the defense work together more intensely than a simple scrimmage
would. Controlled scrimmage, such as a game to 5 with play stoppage, can also
be valuable for real-time pointing out of where people are and where they
should be for more efficient and effective defense. Then of course it is also
extremely important to try some of these things out on people who don’t have
the inside track to what you’ve been working on. Worthwhile pre-series
tournaments, as many as you can get your team to, are imperative for D-team
development. A brief huddle after certain D points where the line can discuss
positives, negatives, and adjustments will help to increase their collective
learning.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!
Team D isn’t just about the 7 people on the field; it’s also about the other
10-20 on the sideline. True team D gets them involved as well. It is at times
impossible for a single defender to see everything s/he needs to see in order
to play the best D and so having another member of your team in your ear from
the sideline for the duration of the point is invaluable. From the line before
the pull, a defender should pick an available teammate from the sideline to
talk to him/her and it is that person’s responsibility to follow the defender
and let him/her know what is going on elsewhere on the field that would effect
how one plays D (i.e. who has the disc, where the disc is, where the thrower
is looking, where the cuts are going, etc.). Regardless of what kind of D you
are playing, communication on the field and from the sideline is a must. The
best communication comes from familiarity with each other’s voices, which is
why being vocally active in everything from a basic endzone drill to sideline
encouragement helps make sure that communication comes more naturally and will
be there when it matters most.
Ben Wiggins
I’ve had some success teaching team D in the past, and I like to think that
young players, especially bright ones, will often surprise you with their
ability to learn complex concepts and make them work against very good
offensive players and teams.
One example of our team-D philosophy is in how we taught dump D at U of
Oregon. This would usually happen at some point during February or March,
after the basics of defense and offense but before the real tournament
schedule got up to speed.
We’d talk/walk/run through three aspects of dump D. For each aspect, we’d talk
as a team, most often using a couple of people as human models. My experience
tells me that people learn only rarely from whiteboards. If you want them to
apply something on the field, you have to show them on the field. We’d discuss
the logic first (“why” are we doing this) and then the tactics.
As often as possible, we’d do a drill where everyone was in a group, and we
went through a specific motion together. Wax on, wax off, only we are ‘poach
on, poach off.’ This works really well for individual techniques like marking,
as well.
The three aspects we’d talk/demonstrate/drill/attempt for dump D were:
1. Body positioning
We give our players the option of forcing the dump upfield, backfield, face-
guarding, or watching only the thrower (space-guarding). The logic for each is
given simply:
- Face-guard when you want to prevent the throw entirely, and no one else is a threat.
- Force backfield when yardage is crucial (like, they are going upwind).
- Force upfield when we want to pressure the thrower or the handler.
- Space-guard when you think you can get a block, or to poach and force a thrower to give up the disc.
(We’d demonstrate each tool that the defender has, and practice each briefly
on a slo-mo D to get the sense of body positioning.)
2. Changing the focus
Poaching is often more effective early, when throwers won’t give up the disc.
Changing from force-back to force forward can disrupt timing. Great throwers
should be give fewer open looks, if possible. Perhaps most effectively; giving
a certain player a different look can keep them thinking, and prevent them
from establishing a rhythm.
Crucially; this is the point at which we discuss working together with the
mark. Choosing an appropriate focus based on the mark is very useful, and can
give us blocks. This is where the team D aspect comes in; the dump defender
was allowed to ask for a different mark or a different tendency from the mark,
so that this becomes a 2v2, instead of a 2v1 against the dump defender.
3. Frame the competition
This was absolutely important for us; we had to give our defenders (most often
our inexperienced players, if they were learning this for the first time) an
expectation of what they were supposed to accomplish. In this scenario, we
tell our players that a dump is a 95% throw, and that if they can force a
turnover on 2/20 dumps, they are winning their battle by a large margin. They
should expect to give up completions, but try to keep those completions off-
rhythm, difficult to execute, and occasionally pick off a throw (and then go
to the house for the fast-break goal!).
I definitely do not write this to say that this is the best way to play dump
D; but rather as an example of how we taught team defense (at least in this
fairly specific example).
Miranda Roth
I think there are two skills that can take a player from a good defender to a
great defender and they both have to do with the transition from an
individually good defender to a good team defender.
1. Communication. Silent defenders will never be great defenders. This
includes “up,” “switch” and “last back” calls. This is particularly important
in zone defense for wings and deeps. To practice this, I sometimes require
players to be saying something continuously during a defensive drill. This
helps generally quiet folks get over the hump of being vocal on the field.
This skill also holds true for people talking from the sideline. To practice
sideline talk have a thrower pivot while a marker marks with her eyes closed
and someone talking from the sideline. By doing this, the marker will learn to
listen and the sideline talker will learn to puppeteer the marker.
2. Vision. This can be harder to teach—some people are born with field
sense or learn it in other sports and some just don’t have it. However, this
can be practiced in concert with skill #1 by doing lots of 2-on-2 drills or
2-offense-on-1-defense drills. This forces the defender to be aware of more
than just her offender. Erring on the side of fronting in one-on-one matchups
and then relying on the sideline for an up-call is a great way of practicing
the transition from individual to team defense—finding the disc after an up
call (no matter where it was thrown) is an upper-level skill that most good
defenders can always work on to become great defenders.
VY Chow
Team defense begins with an understanding and analysis of the strengths and
weaknesses of your team’s defensive talents, followed by the development of
defensive philosophies that are executed by specific team-oriented strategy.
Too often, “team defense” is taught in terms of situational defensive sets
such as zone, clam, poaching, and whatnot with an over-reliance on individual
athleticism to play man-D. While high-flying layout blocks are at times
warranted and necessary, it appears the spectacular has come to define a
team’s defensive prowess along with foot-races and gravity-defying leaps.
Rather than focusing on improving individual D (with a run harder, jump
higher, and spit further mentality), teaching broader defensive concepts can
help a player step up both their own and their team’s D by seeing the field
better.
One way to think about it, is to have players answer the questions “where and
how is the team going to get a turn?” This team defense philosophy shifts the
onus from the individual player creating and getting a block to the team
generating opportunities for everyone to get turnovers and, in theory,
increasing the chances of any player on the field to earn a D. Obviously when
the opportunity arises, the individual(s) must still make the defensive play
but the overall strategy relies on the entire team creating specific outcomes.
Instead of the “play hard man D” or “run harder and faster than the O and get
a block” motto, the underlying tenet is that turnovers are created when the D
forces the O to do what the D expects, which allows any player on your team to
earn/get the turn.
In addition to forcing the O to do what the D expects, force the O to choose
their second or third or fourth options. The O clearly has an advantage if
allowed to play to their strengths, so structure your team’s D to expose and
exacerbate their weaknesses. Dictate how the O will have to beat you through
team D strategies and your team will likely have a better chance of
winning—i.e. if you get beat by Rondo hitting pull-up jumpers all night, then
tip your hat off to the other team. But if you let The Truth take you down the
river then shame on your team D.
How does this translate onto the field? Something simple such as forcing one-
way (forehand/home) for a point needs to be translated into a systematic team-
wide approach. Pit the strengths of your team against your opponent’s
weaknesses. Evaluate what types of D-players you have on the team and how the
O likes to score. One scenario can be if your team is full of short(er) speedy
players and you know the O prefers to bomb the disc down the field to score in
minimal throws. Thus forcing the O to repeatedly cut under to make them throw
more passes is a good start to a team D strategy. But it doesn’t stop there as
the D can systematically further reduce the offensive options.
The team will make sure to disrupt any sort of big throw, so when a marker
sees the thrower wind up for huck, she will step-off and be bigger and more
straight-up, forcing a less than perfect shot. The marker is also responsible
for holding the force but given the throwing talent around today, that isn’t
always possible. However, this too can be turned into a D-earning opportunity.
If the O is going to break your mark, how does that fit into your D-strategy?
In the case of forcing a team under repeatedly, the O will be running full
steam to the disc on the in-cut so where do you want to generate a block? Do
you want the O to try throwing floaty IO’s or do you want the O to throw zippy
IO’s or do you want flat wide step-around backhand break throws and will those
be fluffers or zippy? Does the wind affect any of those choices? Does the O
run mainly through their handlers? If the lane cutters rarely look up-field,
do you want to force the disc into the hands of the lane cutters more often
and take it away from the handlers? How does each of these things change the
mark? The important thing to note is that the mark isn’t “giving” anything but
making sure that if they are broken, it will be by a certain type of throw
that the entire team will expect and can either deny and/or contain. At this
juncture, the team D strategy has now defined which lanes and spaces the
downfield D will control and clog, what throws are expected, and as a result,
when and how a turnover can be achieved.
Obviously, this is just one over-simplified scenario of forcing one way, but
it demonstrates the types of questions that the entire team needs to be able
to answer and that team defense is a general philosophy and not only
applicable to fancy defensive sets.
As a final note, team D is firmly ensconced in the concept of deny and contain
D. First deny the disc to the O-player but if the disc goes up and the D isn’t
150% sure about getting the block, then he switches immediately to containment
mode. This means the D-player no longer goes for the block but now works hard
to get into position to ensure the designated force is put on the early on the
imminent thrower. How many times have we seen a team break the force and the
disc move quickly up the broken side for an uncontested score? Or how many
times have we seen someone whiff a diving block or lunge past the disc thus
giving the thrower an uncontested look downfield?
The beauty of team D is that it doesn’t rely on just a few individuals on your
team to either get blocks or shut down specific people on the O. You don’t
want to rely on individuals to win you games since you just don’t know who
will get injured or who will simply have a bad day. As one of the smartest and
most successful players once said—someone always blows a knee at Nationals but
if you have a team philosophy and strategy, that won’t kill your chances of
winning. Don’t screw your teammates, follow the plan of attack, and more often
than not, you’ll get the turnover you want.
Adam Goff
Rich “Farmer” Hollingsworth once said that when a team is on offense, seven
people is too many (a crowd), but when a team is on defense, seven isn’t
enough. Communication is the extra player, and it’s the key to successful team
defense. For team defense, I don’t think that there is a more important skill
or a more simple one. It’s also hard to develop and I have always found it to
be really difficult to teach. It’s especially difficult for players who are
either new on a team or just on the cusp of becoming elite.
Probably every team at some point when in a huddle has talked about the
importance of talking on the field, the importance of the players not on the
field being ‘part of the game’ and about different things to say during the
game. The cliché statements often don’t work. There are only two things I have
found that work, and even then I can’t promise success.
The first is be specific in what you expect to be said. Telling people to talk
without telling them what to say doesn’t work. As an example, think about the
offensive calls that your team has. If there’s a turnover, as the handler is
picking it up, teams will often make a play called that defines what most of
the players on the field do. “Yellow thirty-seven five puppy” On defense,
you’ll only hear part of it. “Force flick.” It’s a start. But, if you add more
specific things to say, then even the most reticent player will probably use
it. “Strike” probably sounds familiar, and most people know that this means to
stop the throw up the force side (usually on the line) for a second. Define
terms for your team to use that have very specific meaning. Next, define what
the person who hears the call is supposed to do. “On a strike call, the mark
goes flat for 2 counts.” Now you’re playing team defense. “Switch” is another
call that you’ve heard. It’s meaning is pretty obvious—but even these
‘obvious’ calls should be clarified. “If you are last in the stack, and a
player calls switch, you do it. Period.”
Two quick asides: (1) I don’t want this to discourage players from saying
anything. Any piece of information is useful, so you can’t only focus on
specific calls. I watched a player turn and get a D last weekend because one
of his teammates got beat and communicated that he had been beat. What did the
player yell? “Oh s***!” It worked. (2) The things that you say don’t have to
be too complicated or secret. It’s more important that your team understands
what it needs to do than it is for you to hide it from your competition.
The second thing that I’ve found works is to do it. You can’t tell people to
talk, and then stand on the sideline looking at the sub sheet between points.
You can’t tell people to talk on the field and then cover your person without
saying anything. Leadership and example goes a long way.
Pat McCarthy
Team defense starts when you can make solid assumptions about what your
teammates will and will not allow. A good team defense limits the offense’s
options to looks that the D is prepared for, and then pounces when the O
predictably does what you set them up for. Basically, you can’t play team
defense if you are purely reactive to the offense—you have to have a general
goal for how you are going to manufacture turnovers.
The key to making an offense predictable is to limit the play of handlers.
Since handlers are close to the disc, it makes sense that they can change the
point of attack faster than downfielders—as in, a quick yardage gainer to a
handler changes the viable deep space instantly—making it much harder for
downfield defenders to take away both the out and under. Similarly, a first
look break by a handler gives the O free yards by attacking where the
downfield defenders assume they are protected.
If you’re keeping handlers on the open side and losing yards, the only place
downfielders can cut is underneath to the open side. This makes it much easier
to switch on D or poach, or generally ball hawk down field. Last year we
started with handler D, and we had a lot more success with switches down
field, or running stunts that generated blocks.
My favorite drill for working on handler D in a flat stack offense is a 3-on-3
drill, with a full width field, with 5 cones 10 yards apart along the
sideline. The O starts with the disc in the middle of the first segment. The O
can only advance the disc one 10 yard segment at a time, and if they go back a
segment, they have to regain that segment again (you can’t lose 10, then gain
20, if that makes sense). It’s an exhausting drill and can be used as a
conditioning drill—but generally, I like to have the whole team watch, cheer
and talk to their defender teammates as the drill is being run. This puts more
pressure on the defenders, and makes it painfully obvious when they lose
focus.
Before we start, we talk about:
1. Preventing the up the line cut with body position.
2. Winning the first step after each throw.
3. Stopping the first break look that your person gets if they do get the
disc.
4. Making a “Strike” call to the marker (stop the open side) if you get
beat up the line.
Jaime Arambula
At the college level, the dividing line between teams that can generate a
break or two, and the teams that consistently go on a run of breaks can be
attributed to the concept of team defense.
My experience in trying to introduce this concept to new, or inexperienced,
players is to break things down to the absolute basics. Initially, during our
first chalktalk regarding the defense I like to introduce the name of the D
(something catchy, without lending too much information to opponents who might
hear it on the sideline), and the main objectives of the defense (forcing lots
of short passes, forcing inside out strikes, forcing long, low percentage
throws).
I may show the defense on a chalkboard. for some, it is very useful to move
off of the chalkboard and onto the field. I like to place people on the field
(or a shortened field) and walk the entire team through each position, and
explain what the contribution of each position is to the team-D concept.
After fielding questions (taking special care not to get into a flurry “What
if?” questions) we run the defense against a 70%-speed offense. After 5-10
minutes of reps, we go 100% live. This is the usual time for things to
degenerate, or objectives lost due to competitiveness, so it’s very important
to ensure that the reps are not rushed, and are re-focused with the team
defense concept in mind. This is also a great time for people to experiment at
different positions to get a feel for where their strengths lie in this
particular team D.
If there are still troubles with results, objectives, or simple understanding,
I find it very useful to bring a whistle and explain that during the reps if
the whistle is blown, everyone freezes. While frozen, I ask various positions
what thoughts they have at the current time-frame (Are you in the right spot
with regard to the nearest offensive player? What are you planning to do next
to move the offensive flow in the direction of our concept? And so forth).
This basic teaching formula has been very effective in teaching beginning and
intermediate players some of the more advanced concepts of team defense. As an
added bonus, these positional concepts also condition them for advanced
concepts of man-to-man defense.
Brett Matzuka
Understanding that each player is an integral part in the defensive machine
precludes all other aspects of defense. Getting everyone on the same page is
of utmost importance as 6 players playing together and fulfilling their
responsibilities does not equate to a block. So, this is the initial step in
teaching team defense.
From here, it is a matter of understanding the defense we are running (zone,
man, clam, junk, etc.) and the duties of each player in the defense
thereafter. It is also important to understand the purpose of the defense. Is
it containment-based or high-risk-high-reward? What are we taking away and
what are we giving them? Questions of this order are important because they
give each player an understanding of the overall objective and their personal
responsibility.
For example, you can play man defense with a one-way force, but do you want
the downfield cutters to be pushed away, under, both?
From here, I would set up an offense and put a defense on them, and walk
through the different forces/defenses and what they give and take away from
the offense. Let the defense see what the offense sees, what options are
available and which are not, and what options are more rewarding to the
offense than others. After walking through, let the two teams play for
sometime and try things out. Give them a chance to see what works and what
doesn’t, and improvise a little.
After they played for a while, I would bring it in and let the two teams talk
about what they found to work and what didn’t. This would lead into drills,
which would emphasize these specific traits. For example, if we were working
on forcing straight up and having the downfield cutters push their guys out, I
would run a drill with a 1-on-1 cutting situation where the cutter has 5-stall
counts to get the disc, getting rewarded for beating the defender under,
nothing for getting the disc long, and defender getting rewarded for a block.
If the team is working well and understanding everything, I would then move on
to try and show switching and poaching; I would not introduce this, however,
unless they were confident with the defensive tactics up to this point.
Switching and poaching can be extremely useful and advantageous, but only
under the confines of a well-executed team defense. The advantages of poaching
or switching are nullified if the defense is not playing together as a single
unit; ie a well-timed switch or poach with everyone on the same page can lead
to a team block, however, a well-timed switch or poach without everyone
together can lead to a quick offensive point.