I had a question come in from an old Fuguer (who bytheway need a good, dumb name like Geezergy.) She asked a series of questions related to defensive positioning:
1. DIP D – can you tell me when this is ideal?
I’m going to get to all of it, but it is a lot, so it may take a bit.
Before talking about dip and cushions and switching, I’d like to cover basic, fundamental face-guarding positioning. The classic position is:
1. Between your player and the disc….
2. shifted half a step to the open lane. (Not the open side, the open lane.)
Take a look at this clip from the 07 Sockeye-Bravo final. Once the disc moves to Moses on the sideline, there are a series of Sockeye out cuts running down that sideline. The Bravo positioning is perfect – giving a half step deep and shading slightly to the open lane. Well, until Beau gets caught napping.
Something to consider about this standard club-ultimate defense: it is high risk, high reward. Championship caliber ultimate teams are completing 95% of their passes and 60% of their possessions. A turnover is a BIG deal. All the players are constantly making decisions about the percentages. It’s not a question of open or covered. Offensively, it’s a question of can I hit this throw (because the receiver is open for something.) Defensively, it’s a question of limiting options to what the thrower doesn’t want to throw (because you can’t stop everything.) In this clip, the defenders are limiting the thrower to a straight-away 40 yard touch throw downwind. Not an easy throw and it doesn’t come until Chase has a 5-step cushion.
If you are playing college ultimate or co-ed or city league or something where the completion and conversion percentages are lower, you might want to use something other than classic positioning and I’ll talk about those next time.