set plays vol. 1

The one thing I really learned with BAT was how helpful and easy set plays could be. If everyone is on the exact same page and looking for the exact same thing, scoring can be ez.

Our main set play for a middle stack - Goldencut or Golden

The usual 5 guys set-up in a middle stack. Someone catches a pull and centers it to the thrower that initiates the play. There is a slight delay in the play, you wait for the d to get down and set the mark. Once the thrower has it and the marker is set, the guy in the front of the stack cuts break mark (assuming the stack is in the middle, this guy runs parallel to the goalline for ~5 yards, enough to get the defender away from the stack in fear of a pick). This cutter best sets up this play if he also calls for the disc on the break side. Once the cutter is away from the stack, he takes off deep. The obvious thing here is to try and get your person to overplay and hit them going deep. Next, you have to read the defenders. If the last back defender is even/not paying attention to the guy last in the stack, this should be a goal. The guy in the last position of the stack just needs to start coming in to draw the defense even more.

If the last back defender is more aware, he might be inclined to help out deep. If that occurs or as it is happening, the guy last in the stack should be cutting in to the open side. Again, the cutter probably should not wait for the switch, rather try to force the situation with the last back defender. Cut before the 2 defenders have a chance to switch usually allowed either a wide open deep or a wide open under on the open side.

If the under cut gets it, then you have a cutter going deep that might be covered one on one. And possibly with an open thrower.

Also, if this play works once or twice early, you can improvise later and just have the guy not cut deep and look for a throw on the breakmark side. There are many things you can do with this, but the standard is described above and worked for a long time with both Truck and magnUM. And easily the play that I called the most while in Michigan.

"San Diego"

This play was for when we got the disc after a turn on the sideline. I have seen many teams run this, not just San Diego. First, there is a ho stack of 4 on the same plane as the disc. You could say there are 4 handlers spread across the width of the field. The 3 "cutters" are in an angled stack (~45 degrees) and the first cutter is ~10-15 yards on that diagonal from the thrower.

As the disc is being checked in, the first cutter goes deep. After a second or so, the cutter should look to make eye contact with the thrower. The thrower has a couple options. #1 Throw it. Obvious. #2 Not throw it. Also obvious. In both of these options, the cutter still runs deep. #3 Pump fake. If the thrower pump fakes, the cutter stops and comes underneath for the disc. {This is very powerful and something I always tried to teach teams I captained. If someone is cutting deep and you want them to come under, pump fakes. It works more often then you might think. Especially if you have a good thrower who really sells the big pump gake}

Now, as the first cutter is going (See the 3 options above), the second cutter in the stack (middle position of the starting diagonal stack), waits about a second and then takes off deep. His main role is continuation for the next pass. Although a player experienced in this set will realize that often times this guy is open deep. But for now, he is looking for a deep cut, but mainly looking for continuation (more on this in a second).

Right after the second cutter busts deep, the last cutter in the diagonal stack busts toward the discs (basically down the same diagonal line toward the thrower). Basically, he is looking for an invert from the thrower. This is open a lot of the time. The first cutter (the guy who started the cutting) must lookout for the third cutter when the first cutter is doing his comeback.

Almost all the time, one of these 2 guys (either the first or last cutter) are open. Once they get the disc, the middle cutter is now the continuation cut and should have plenty of field to work with. THe cutter who did not get the disc on the under should be thinking about a scoring cut or another continuation (bascially busting ass downfield).

Most of the time that the downfield guys were not open, it was due to poaching from the ho stack. That is fine. It sucks not to get an easy 1 or 2 passes downfield, but you will be able to get the disc off the line, which is just as important. And then you can get into your offense without being trapped on the line. Good times.

That is all for now, there are a couple other plays I may talk about later. These were the 2 main plays we ran back in Michigan and they worked pretty well. I hope you find it enjoyable.

Offense 2 - Primary & Secondary

Soon after my first year in college ultimate, I tried out with Big Ass Truck which at the time (and still is) a mixture of AA, Lansing, and Detroit area. With occasional help from the western side of the state. When we (Karl + I) made it, it was largely Lansing + Detroit area, but soon the center of the team would move to AA.

Anyway, the offense we played was fairly simple. 3 handlers - with dump and swing mentality. Go from side to side. Once you swung the disc, you look upfield. I really don't remember much of what the downfield cutters were suppose to do. I do know we assigned Primary + Secondary. Basically, the priority of cutters downfield, man/buddy, #1/#2, etc. If you were primary, you were cutting on a dead disc after we got the turn. And if we received the pull, catch pull - center - primary - secondary was the role.

I do not remember if we discussed what the other 2 cutters were supposed to do. I don't remember the role after the sequence played out.

For college, we did not have much structure and we loss our main strategician b/c he was out of inelgibility. So, that responsibility fell to me and Karl since we played on truck and also I was co-captain that college season. What I am trying to say is we ran the same offense for the college season that we did during the fall with Truck.

What this offense did was attempt to play to our strengths. Risky throws. And few cut downfield so people would stay out of the way of our main offensive threats (not major offensive threats competitively, rather the main threats on our teams).

The majority of the hucking/risky throws came from the handlers even though they were rarely in position of gaining yardage. And the bulk of the yardage was the primary/secondary.

Initially with truck, it was great b/c we had more deep throwers and thus more opportunities to cut deep as a primary/secondary cutter. And that was my world the first year that I played, all hard/deep/break throws were made from the handler position. I focused mainly on being a cutter and gaining yardage/scoring goals.

It was not until Tune-up (97) that I realized the importance of this primary cutter (or really any cutter downfield) to be able to be an extension of the handlers. Meaning, throw deep, throw riskier throws (not just dumps and open downfield throws). We played against teams that had cutters who could do this. I remember watching this and trying to guard against this and thinking this was just amazing. It was unbelieveable that guys who were responsible for going deep and for gaining yardage could also turn around and throw it 40+ yards. Or break the mark, creatively, on the goalline. I remember getting back to AA and that week at college tryouts to really start looking to put it deep.

Playing against inferior opponents, you get in a turnover war. Or the couple throwers we had were too good for them, that cutting was easy. It was not until this tune-up that defenses could play and were used to playing against good cutters and throwers. Teams very early on realized I was a much bigger danger going deep then coming back to the disc b/c I probably had a completion %age in the 70s or 80s. Many teams would aggressively back me (or our other excellent deep cutters) allow the 10-15 yard gain and wait for the ensuing turn.

(Which against Z one year resulted in me getting point blocked twice in one possession of the disc. Good times.)

Or the other strategy was aggressive, close fronting with a much more aggressive mark then I ever saw on the thrower. Basically controlling the huck at the marking level and controlling the comeback cuts at the cutting level. This strategy was not so much at tune-up as Nationals that year. But it would stick with me and is basically the d philosophy that I believe in today. But that is another story.

Both of these strategies are good, but if you can put the disc in the hands of another excellent thrower downfield (not just in your handlers like our college team or even Truck), the defense will be on the heels. Incidentally, i think this is the biggest change in the game over the past 10 years, the ability of more versatile cutters, cutters that can make you look bad going deep and can make you look bad with your throws. It seemed like in 97, teams had 2 or so guys who could do this role. Now, it seems like every team at nationals has several guys who fill this role. And you have to play more honest defense on everyone.

From then on, anytime I thought about offense I thought about 2 key points. First, you want at least one cutter (preferably all 4) that can make a difference cutting or throwing deep. Of course, this seems obvious, but at the time I started playing, it seemed that only handlers threw the breaks and the hucks. And the cutters gained yardage and cut deep. From Tune-up on, I tried to become more of a deep throwing threat not so I could handle, but so I could punish people for playing behind me and waiting for me to dump it. If I could get the disc, turn and jack it for a goal, well, I would become much more dangerous.

If you center the disc to someone who is a deep throwing threat who then throws to someone for 15 or yards and that person is a deep throwing threat, well then, you got something. You shortened the field and still have the ability to score on one pass. And hopefully, your next cutter will be able to do that score on that next pass. Or sell it well enough that he gets another 15+ yards. 2 throws, at least half the field. What a revolutionary concept.

The second thing that stuck with me is that handlers do not have to be excellent deep throwers. If you can move the disc from side to side (who cares where the mark is), then you could get the disc to your one or two better cutters when they came underneath. And it seems to me that it is an easier bomb when you get the disc coming back or on a swing. As opposed to getting a dump and looking for the huck (again, something that is pretty obvious).

I really won't go into the weaknesses, but we never did talk about cutter 3 or 4. And both of these teams really did not have the cutters who could put it deep. Although we tried on the college team, it took a while to sink in.