Playing with the Dingoes was the most helpful experience I've had in Ultimate. My team had Matt, and Kenny from Fakulti, Denya? (don't know who he is), Tatts from Newcastle and Tim Booth from the Gong. Here are some things I learned:
- On the mark, your hips should be perpendicular to their hips. This makes break throws much harder to accomplish than what I see as the 'standard' marking position where folks tend to edge around more to the front/45 degree angle. Also, this just in from having to mark a Dingo handler: stay balanced on the mark. For shorter folks like me, keeping balance involves moving about on the mark entirely on your toes and not lunging with your arms and upper body, as this will put you off balance. The taller you get (as you get bigger/longer than the person you are marking) the more lunging you are allowed to do, as it becomes increasingly unlikely that they will be able to pivot around your body.
- The benefits of having a communicative team on defence have been expounded forever, but sometimes as a defensive player in a man on man situation, your best friend is the offensive team. Despite my best efforts on D, the Dingo I was marking was getting open (hell, I'm just happy I stopped any of his cuts) but his team weren't clearing out so his 10-15m open cut didn't get rewarded at all. Conversely, if you are on offence, you don't want this happening to you. Take a second or two before cutting to look and see where players are on the field and where they are cutting. And, importantly, look at who is cutting - a tall receiver sprinting long is probably doing just that, whereas a shorter handler type sprinting long is more likely to be cutting out and then in.
- Be wary of the up-the-line dump cut. While it is possibly one of the easiest and best ways to get into a power position, it also cuts off any other upfield opportunity and eliminates the possibility of the conventional backwards 'safe' dump. Although in a situation where the dump has cut up the line and the defence has stuck with him, a quick 180 by the offence for the safe backwards dump is a good option, too.
- Pommy: the points in the wall don't want to be cutting off the dump option - leave that to the defender on the mark - but instead they want to be cutting off the swing. As I saw it and as I played it, 'cutting off the swing' as an off-point in a sideline trap generally meant a poaching style of play quite distant from the rest of the wall, very nearly a man defence situation. 9/10 times, poaching in this manner (sticking in between the disc and the swing) stopped that throw, and handicapped the offence something fierce. There's a very easy way to get around this though, and I was annoyed when nobody on offence adjusted: when the off-point is repositioned thus, the wall is no longer as effective at containing. Crashes are far easier, and there are even (for a skilled handler) several throwing lanes that normally would be stopped by an off-point in a tight wall with no gaps suddenly made available.
- All weekend I was being consistently chumped on by taller, fitter and faster 14-16 year olds. The '10 juniors team is going to be very, very strong indeed.
6 comments:
Re perpendicular to their hips on the mark to stop breaks, how does this effect your ability to stop the inside out break?
As it was explained to me, being perpendicular gives you the ability to put your foot out in the general area to stop that throw without sacrificing (much of) your balance. If that doesn't stop the throw then it will at the least cause the throw to be of a lower percentage because the thrower has to get past one of your limbs.
I think realistically, to get the most out of marking perpendicular to the thrower the force would have to be backhand. In a backhand force situation, standing with your hips on their hips at 90 degrees will stop (or greatly deter) the straight up pivot-around-the-mark conventional flick break, which is more of a threat than an I/O backhand break throw because of the speed and simplicity of the throwing action.
Flick force, though, I can see the necessity of shading around more to the front of the thrower to stop the I/O flick, which as throwers increase in proficiency becomes dramatically (and tragically, for the defence in an endzone situation) more viable.
T.
Paul Denyer plays for Sublime.
In terms of marking perpendicular, you really have to ask yourself 'What is the purpose of me being on the mark?'
Are you there to get a block or are you there to hold the force? This should determine where best to position yourself.
In terms of marking perpendicular, you really have to ask yourself 'What is the purpose of me being on the mark?'
Are you there to get a block or are you there to hold the force? This should determine where best to position yourself.
That's simplifying it too much. You need to ask a lot more than just whether you want to get a block or hold a force. There are degrees in between, different ways they can break you, varying advantages you may have over that particular player, etc.
Failing a good read, if the sole aim of the mark is to get a handblock then there is no force, so that needs to be part of a team strategy.
Post a Comment