New Trier Ultimate Frisbee Blog

Video of the Day #1

2009-11-22T15:50:00.001-06:00

This is why you should work on your vertical jump.

2007 UPA College Championship Video

2009-11-20T17:48:00.001-06:00

Colorado- Black
Wisconsin- Blue

2008 UPA College Championship Video

2009-11-19T10:18:00.001-06:00

Wisconsin Hodags- Blue
Florida Gators- Orange

Offensive Strategy 2: Vertical Stack

2009-11-18T18:47:00.001-06:00

The vertical stack is a very common offensive strategy that slowly advances the disc up the field. As the name implies, there are five cutters lined up vertically and two handlers.

In this strategy, the cutter at the back of the stack makes either the red or blue cut to get open for a pass. If they are not open, it is very important that they run to the front of the stack so the next cutter can go. The cutters should rotate through cuts so that there is a constant supply of cutters in the stack. The offensive players who start in the front of the stack should move backwards as players behind them cut. Also, they should look to make a short cut (purple) to the closed side if the thrower is close to stall "10".

When a cutter makes a catch, they can quickly look for a downfield pass, but they should look to toss the disc back to a handler at stall "4".

In this offense, it is extremely important that handlers make smart short throws and that cutters keep running towards the disc as they catch it.

USA Winning Gold at the 2009 World Games

2009-11-17T18:14:00.001-06:00

This is a great video with commentary. Notice the spacing of the US offense.

Defensive Strategy 2: The Cup

2009-11-15T15:08:00.001-06:00

The cup is the most common zone defense and works very well against an undisciplined offense. It is called a cup because that is the shape the blue defenders try to form around the disc. It is important that only one defender is within three meters of the disc (XIV.B.2).

The three players in the cup follow the disc no matter where it goes. This means that they end up running the most and should be substituted out more often. The defender who is marking the disc should force the throw to go past the other two members of the cup. The middle (point) player in the cup should never mark the disc.

The mids should defend the areas where a pass can be made. Also, the mid on the opposite side from cup should look to intercept a cross-field swing pass.

The deep defender should make sure that no player gets behind him. Additionally, he can call "up" and "down" because he can see the entire field.

It is important to always be active when playing a zone. It is easy to get lazy because you are not directly accountable for a player, but that ruins the strategy.

Offensive Strategy 1: Horizontal Stack

2009-11-11T20:33:00.004-06:00

The objective of any offense is to create one-on-one match-ups and lanes from the thrower to cutter. The horizontal stack is a means to separate the cutters into lanes so that it is easier to find open passes.

In this strategy, there are three handlers spread across the field and four cutters. The players in the stack make cuts directly towards or away from the disc so that they are always in their assigned lane (numbered). Also, the cutters must watch each other so that they do not cut to the same place. If the cutter next to you cuts deep, you run back towards the disc. Because the cutters in lanes 2 and 4 are going deep, lanes 1 and 3 have more space to get open.

When a cutter catches the disc, they immediately look for an open throw. If there is no open throw before "stall 4", then the cutter should look to throw the disc back to a handler.

The most important part of this offense is to stay in the assigned lane so that your defender cannot guard two people at once.

Defensive Strategy 1: The Force

2009-11-08T20:24:00.015-06:00

Force: make the offensive player throw to one side of the field

The reason that we force in Ultimate is to limit the offensive cutter's element of surprise and keep the defense fresh. The idea is that the defender guarding the disc makes sure that the throw goes to one half of the field. This enables the other defenders to only guard the half where the disc can go.

Home: the side of the field with your team's bench, equipment, and subs
Away: the opposite side

In the diagram, the defensive player is "forcing home", standing so that the thrower can only pass to the home side of the field. The other defender stands between the cutter and open side of the field because that is where the offensive player will need to run in order to catch a pass. This means that the defender can be a step ahead of the offense.

Break: the disc is thrown to the closed side of the field

It is of the utmost importance that the defender guarding the disc doesn't get "broken". This results in an easy catch for the offense. For that reason, everyone on the team must force the same direction for the entire point.

The Rules

2009-11-08T19:42:00.004-06:00

Do you have any questions about the rules of Ultimate? Check out the 11th edition Ultimate Player's Association rules (HTML/PDF)