Defensive Lines
First and foremost, Defense is easy. When you are on defense, the primary goal is not scoring, catching, or throwing like the O line. The goal is to not let the other team do any of those. There are a few things you have to do.
The first is BE IN POSITION! A defensive player who is out of position makes the rest of the team look bad. Everything can be going right, but one bad apple spoils the rest of the apples (or something like that).
The second is HUSTLE! I want to write speed, but hustle is close enough and I can teach hustle, but I can't teach speed. Hustle is laying out for a disc that is just far enough away, helping your teammate on a man going deep, or running down a tipped disc to make sure no one but you gets it.
Thirdly, you must be able to LISTEN! Communication is important. Tuning in and out the right voices is crucial. Listen to the experienced players on your team. [Editor's note: Along with listening to the experienced players in practice and between points, listening to the other 6 guys who are on the field with you is maybe even more important]
- Before I explain what I want in a zone, things to think about while standing on the line. Good work O line, you just scored (or maybe the D line scored) and that is why we are on the line.
- I want to keep playing so we're gonna get another turnover, score, and play D all over again.
- When counting off a line, figure out who is best for you, what he is going to try to do, and how you are going to make him fail. Think about this every time you place your knee on that chalked line (hopefully we keep playing on lined fields).
The Cup
0/The mark The mark should be a person who will only let throws go to the force side. NO BREAKS! This is a huge task, but a throw that goes to the break side puts lots of people out of position. Let them take that dump first and if a force side swing comes off that throw, which will happen, get over there and start all over. This person should be speedy, a great mark, and must have lungs (endurance).
1/Top o' the Cup
The top of the cup MUST LISTEN! The MM will be calling left, right, closer, further, and crashes. YOU are in charge of those crashes. Just in case this needs explaining, you may go within that 10 meters if someone crashes because you are now guarding them. When the disc is swung to the force side, watch out for a big throw through where you should be. If need be, round off that cup to keep that throw up field.
p.s. you should be laying out for any throw that goes through the middle of the cup.
2/ Wall o' the Cup
This is probably the hardest part of the cup to figure out where you need to be. The best way to think of it though is to be in position to stop the upfield throw, but still allowing them to get stuck on the sideline. Other than that, you need to have that hustle, speed, endurance, and must be able to lay out for throws through the cup.
MM/Mid Mid
This guy/gal needs to be experienced. There are so many split second decisions that I will be happy to talk to you about in person, but writing them is a whole different task. The biggest is figuring out who the most dangerous man is. There will be lots of times when you have two people in your zone and you have to decide who you are going to take. Who you take depends on several things. Usually, go with whoever is going to the force side and cutting towards the cup. That is easy to do when the disc is stopped with the cup on, but off a big swing, it can be a difficult position to find yourself in. Listen to your Monster. While you are in charge of telling the cup what to do, the monster is in charge of helping you know what to do. So BE VOCAL, but also LISTEN! We will go over this position more in practice, because a blog does not do it justice. [Editor's note: my blog is just as good as practice, if not better]
WS/Weak Side
Not to be confused with Weak Sauce. This position can be two things. One, a relaxing position where you hope the cup doesn't allow the disc to get to this side. Or two, THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON EVER....not really, but a person who can create havoc on the field. First thing (most important thing) is you are in charge of stopping throws up the break side part of the field, along with the MM. After that, you are in charge of hammers across the field. If those things are secure (AND ONLY IF THEY ARE SECURE) use your best judgment and start creating havoc. You can:
- move towards the center of the field to help the MM (if this happens MM can move over and help the SS/Strong Side.
- OR, you can move forward and help take away some of the handlers far swings, (but just remember, if a handler gets the disc on your side of the field and you are out of position, well then you "screwed the pooch" (note: reread the beginning where I mention always being in position).
You have the job of stopping throws to the throws up the force side of the field. It seems simple enough, but it can get difficult when there is a lot of room for the opposition to work with. If the disc starts way over on the break side of the field, the handlers are going to work it to your side of the field, and teams who can time their cuts will try and make you look foolish. DON'T LET THEM. You just take the most dangerous guy out of the play on your side, and if two people cut to your zone, you might have to let one of them get the disc, but you helped the team by having them move the disc to the strong side of the field, where our cup can trap them on that line.
NOTE TO ALL THE MIDS: This is a pretty hard job, so either Listen back to the monster, or before the pull, get someone on the sideline to help you out. This can be beneficial if your only job is to listen.
Monster
I'm tired of writing. DON"T LET PEOPLE GET BEHIND YOU! TALK TO THE MIDS. SKY PEOPLE! but most importantly DON'T GIVE MALONEY THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY "Oh, I would have caught that if I was monster."
This was a lot of writing, and some of it is kind of difficult to read without being in steve's head. So if you have time, come join me in my head, or ask me what it all means. or do nothing and watch the D from the sideline while you play O. Defense is more fun. And always remember, the better the D line does, the more the D line gets to play.
im gonna go watch role models
I can't emphasize communication enough. Everyone on D needs to be continuously talking to each other, including the 10 or so players off the field.
ReplyDeleteIt is the little things that will make the D successful. For example, something as seemingly insignificant as STALLING REALLY LOUD can be important. If I am guarding the dump (and preventing the upline cut), I know that any good team will start looking for the dump at stall-4 and will adjust myself accordingly once I hear it. If I'm guarding a cutter I will be looking for a throw-of-desperation, etc.
Welp, cya later