Offense 1 - Horse & Buggy
Hi. So what I am attempting to do is describe the offenses that I have run over my career. Although the first o's I ran would be a more convential 3 handlers, 1 or 2 middles, and 2 or 3 deeps. Standard pickup type stuff, but we never really discuss these o's so yeah, I won't count them.
The first time I really had an offense described to me was in the winter of 97 when we came back from Xmas break. Our college team (along with a bunch of local club players) convened in Oosterbahn Fieldhouse for our first practice of the semester. I started playing in July of 96 (summer after my frosh year) in South Bend. Came back to AA and started going to club practices.
We were really young and so most of the fall was spent with the basics. What I am trying to say is we were not throwers. So the "horse & buggy" is a 2-5 offense set with the stack in the middle of the field. We would catch the pull, center it, and then work it up one side as much as possible.
We really only had 2 throwers, Brian Lane a med student from the Yale B team and Jon Bakija a grad student who was a precision thrower. After that, not many people could handle. Mike "national champ" Jaeger handled and so did Wu, but they would be much better if they could have been cutters with the rest of us. But they had the unique ability to throw both forehands and backhands well.
Anyway, what did the 5 of us do. Well, the cutters basically did the stanford O. We waited our turn and cut from the back of the stack. If we got the disc, we usually looked back right away to a dump (although I think we called it "cag" for some reason). We were not really good at continuation from cutter to cutter.
There was not much swinging of the disc from side to side. Part of the reason was only 2 handlers and no other "short fills". The main reason was we hucked it a lot. Probably the reason Jon and Brian enjoyed it so much.
So what did I learn from this?
- Reading the disc, we hucked it a lot.
- How to read teammates' cuts and when to cut out of turn. Being that we *only* cut from the back, teams figured this out. I feel I learned about positioning of the defense. Not just my man, but especially the d behind me. Any and all fronting was met with a quick cut deep, especially if I was not in the back of the stack. I was definitely the first one on the team to cut out of turn, but I feel I did it appropriately. Meaning, I only cut deep when that space was open and my guy was fronting me in the front of the stack. Also, taking a completely different lane for cutting.
To get more specific, we really only cut in/out from the back of the stack on the open side. It was probably Sectionals by the time I learned, holy cow there is no one on the break side. So you can easily drift over there, separate from the stack, and then go deep. When the timing would work, the back of the stack cutter is going in and you are going out. Thus, the back of the stack is in transition and the endzone can be a little more open. It helped to have throwers that always looked deep too.
- If someone plays even with you (not fronting not backing), it is better to go deep then to cut underneath. I felt that most defenders are focused on stopping the under or at the very least you can get them to bite on the under fake and then go deep. Any team that I have been in charge of, I try to get this point across, go deep (or at least try to go deep) if your defender is even. The under cut is pretty useless and especially in college much riskier then the deep (reasoning- when you turn it over, it is a good punt).
Basically, it was a good offense to be on a decent team. We liked to play defense and we liked to huck. Most of the other guys took care of the ds, I tried to take care of the scoring. It is good to "grow up" as an ultimate player on a less strict/regimented offense. It makes you figure things out and allows for a bit more creativity as a younger player. Although I would have loved to play on a team that was nationals caliber right from my first year playing college ultimate, but I think it allowed me to get better as a player earlier. And I had fun with that.
The first time I really had an offense described to me was in the winter of 97 when we came back from Xmas break. Our college team (along with a bunch of local club players) convened in Oosterbahn Fieldhouse for our first practice of the semester. I started playing in July of 96 (summer after my frosh year) in South Bend. Came back to AA and started going to club practices.
We were really young and so most of the fall was spent with the basics. What I am trying to say is we were not throwers. So the "horse & buggy" is a 2-5 offense set with the stack in the middle of the field. We would catch the pull, center it, and then work it up one side as much as possible.
We really only had 2 throwers, Brian Lane a med student from the Yale B team and Jon Bakija a grad student who was a precision thrower. After that, not many people could handle. Mike "national champ" Jaeger handled and so did Wu, but they would be much better if they could have been cutters with the rest of us. But they had the unique ability to throw both forehands and backhands well.
Anyway, what did the 5 of us do. Well, the cutters basically did the stanford O. We waited our turn and cut from the back of the stack. If we got the disc, we usually looked back right away to a dump (although I think we called it "cag" for some reason). We were not really good at continuation from cutter to cutter.
There was not much swinging of the disc from side to side. Part of the reason was only 2 handlers and no other "short fills". The main reason was we hucked it a lot. Probably the reason Jon and Brian enjoyed it so much.
So what did I learn from this?
- Reading the disc, we hucked it a lot.
- How to read teammates' cuts and when to cut out of turn. Being that we *only* cut from the back, teams figured this out. I feel I learned about positioning of the defense. Not just my man, but especially the d behind me. Any and all fronting was met with a quick cut deep, especially if I was not in the back of the stack. I was definitely the first one on the team to cut out of turn, but I feel I did it appropriately. Meaning, I only cut deep when that space was open and my guy was fronting me in the front of the stack. Also, taking a completely different lane for cutting.
To get more specific, we really only cut in/out from the back of the stack on the open side. It was probably Sectionals by the time I learned, holy cow there is no one on the break side. So you can easily drift over there, separate from the stack, and then go deep. When the timing would work, the back of the stack cutter is going in and you are going out. Thus, the back of the stack is in transition and the endzone can be a little more open. It helped to have throwers that always looked deep too.
- If someone plays even with you (not fronting not backing), it is better to go deep then to cut underneath. I felt that most defenders are focused on stopping the under or at the very least you can get them to bite on the under fake and then go deep. Any team that I have been in charge of, I try to get this point across, go deep (or at least try to go deep) if your defender is even. The under cut is pretty useless and especially in college much riskier then the deep (reasoning- when you turn it over, it is a good punt).
Basically, it was a good offense to be on a decent team. We liked to play defense and we liked to huck. Most of the other guys took care of the ds, I tried to take care of the scoring. It is good to "grow up" as an ultimate player on a less strict/regimented offense. It makes you figure things out and allows for a bit more creativity as a younger player. Although I would have loved to play on a team that was nationals caliber right from my first year playing college ultimate, but I think it allowed me to get better as a player earlier. And I had fun with that.
posted by sometallskinnykid at 9:04 PM
4 Comments:
Horse has the best fakes in the game.
You haven't been updating for a while. Glad you're back. I'm excited to read the rest of this series.
I have to agree with Seth. Horse's fakes can dominate all aspects of a point.
we are a band obsessed with Frisbee. As a frisbee fan, I thought you'd like this vid of tricks :)
www.facebook.com/thebandthetrip
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