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Forcing the Thrower to Make the Hard Pass

By Craig Haley
PlaySportsTV Managing Editor

A football defense doesn’t necessarily love when a quarterback throws the “bomb” pass. In Ultimate Frisbee, a defense should welcome when an offensive player makes this type of throw.

By forcing the harder throws, a defense can create drops and interceptions, which will put it back on offense.

While the offense likes to run a stack offense, the national championship program at the University of Florida prefers to stack the odds in its favor defensively. The Gators play in front of the offensive players.

“Our team actually likes to play between the guy you’re guarding and the person with the disc,” says Jon Windham, who played for the Florida squad that won the 2006 national college championship, and now is a coach with the Gators. During the 2009 season, they were top-ranked nationally in the Ultimate Players Association collegiate poll.

“It’s a little different than soccer, where a lot of people play goal-side of their man. Our philosophy is that if you make them throw farther, there is a higher rate of error on the throw. The throw takes longer, so you have more time to make a play on it.”

An Ultimate Frisbee defense usually tries to take half the field away from the offense, starting with the marker whose diagonal stance to the thrower will pressure him to go one way. It’s important for the other defenders to be aware of the disc’s location in addition to the player each is guarding.

By fronting the offensive player, a defender will limit this cutter from coming back toward the throw and force harder throws. To be effective, it’s important for each defender to be only one or two feet off the offensive player because good throwers can place the disc well.

“Whenever you’re marking someone, you’re focusing on shutting that person down. You’re not going to let your guy get the disc,” Windham says.

“The idea behind this (defense) is the downfield defenders will be on that side of the field of their person, between their man and that side you’re trying to force it to. Take away that space for the throw.

“A lot of other teams will back their players; they’ll stand between the guy they’re covering and the end zone to take away the threat of a huck (long pass to the end zone) going up. They’ll try to force them to come under and complete a lot of shorter throws to work down the field.”

The mark, of course, rotates if a defender’s player catches the disc. That defender then becomes the marker, and the previous marker should then position himself between his cutter and the disc.

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