"EndZone Dee"



Let me preface this article by saying that what is about to be covered is a little more advanced than the first two article topics. You can go a long way in the game without taking advantage of this information, but you can be a much better player if you at least understand the goals and problems discussed here. Since the problem and my proposed solution are rather complex, I will try to end with a quick "what can the beginner do" summary. So read everything, ty to understand it all, and then read teh final summary. Hopefully, this will allow players that are beginners to grow into the full plan I layout here and not have to think about the subtleties right off the bat!

There are two distinct parts of the ultimate field: the midfield and the endzone. Defense is slightly different in these two areas and I hope to explain this in such a way that you both understand and believe. After all, if you don't believe it then you will not do it with full gusto, and I love gusto.

Ok, first things first. In the midfield defense is played according to the called mark. I won't go over this in full now since you can just click over to that topic at your leisure. Suffice to say, in general a force is picked (e.g. forehand) and everyone tries to force the throw to be in that direction. This allows the downfield defenders to cheat towards the forehand side a little since they know the throw will be made in that direction.


Great, this works wonders as long as the force is held (ie the mark isn't broken). However, good teams manage to get downfield despite the best defensive plans. How? Well, it just so happens that it is very hard to play defense. Good teams, and lucky teams, get the disc downfield as a result of bad matchups (our guy is slower than theirs), break mark passes (a pass to the un-forced side), and sheer luck (a crappy throw that swirls in the wind and magically appears in the hands of their 6'7" guy). It happens and we don't lose sleep over it. The question is, once it has happened and the disc moves close to the endzone, should something be done differently?

Yes. Definitely yes. First, lets assume the other team has marched gradually down field and did not arrive there via the huck. In this scenario, their offensive players are in the endzone and our defenders are there with them. The difference here is that if we allow a single forward pass to be made it may very well be for a score. So we must be careful, very careful.

There is one basic fact in ultimate that dictates what the defense must do: almost all scores occur in the corner of the endzone. Seriously, if you don't immediately believe this to be fact then you either haven't played very long or haven't been paying attention (or play with a crazy "frisbee football" crowd). It has been said that over 80% of all scores occur in the front corners of the endzone. Furthermore, at least 15% occur in the back corners. The rest are fast break or oddities of the game. I don't know if these numbers are accurate, but I would be willing to bet your car that they are pretty close.

Protecting the corner is of paramount importance. For this reason, a lot of teams will yell "no line", "force middle", or something similar to change the force when the disc gets close to the endzone. This can be effective if for no other reason then it switches things up on the offense; an offense that has been moving effectively under the previous defensive setup. Hey, it couldn't hurt, right?

Another reason it works is that the field is now shorter. By shorter I mean the endzone is only 25 yards deep. Unless some people stay out of the endzone (as dumps or just run out the back), there is going to be a crowd in the endzone. By forcing the throw towards the middle, we are forcing the thrower to make a pass into a high traffic area. If they have people in the middle, we have defenders there as well. There is the potential for the middle of the endzone to be a crazy mess. Making them throw there is a good idea because it simultaneously makes the thrower nervous while forcing a throw to a point where the majority of our defenders are. Sweet.

Still, their team is so close to the endzone that we must protect the corner with our defenders. Even though the force is to the middle, the defenders guarding players in the endzone still cheat over to the corner side. In the figure you can see the difference between this and the normal marking rules.


Notice that the downfield defenders are on the same side as the mark. This is not the case in the first figure which shows the normal forehand force. Whichever side of the midline of the field the disc is on, the mark forces towards the middle and the defender shades to the sideline. This can leave passes into the middle vulnerable (especially the closer to the middle the disc gets - which is why in endzone defense you typically want to center the disc), but since this isn't what a team generally is looking for, and we always have to give something to protect something else, we choose to play the odds and protect the corners.

This next figure shows the passes that both the standard and the proposed defense allow. From this figure I hope it is clear that forcing middle is much better in this case than using the normal forehand force. Incidentally, forcing middle is something many advanced teams will do all the time. We don't for two reasons. First, having a consistent force is easier on the downfield defenders. Second, most intramural players don't have good forehands so we are forcing them to throw their weaker throw.


The red arrows indicate throws that we are taking taking away because of the indicated force. The green arrows are throws that we are allowing but hope don't result in a score. Notice that in the first figure, which shows the forehand force, we are giving up the throw to the corner. Bad, bad, bad. Here's why. First, this is a very easy throw to make for someone with a reasonable forehand. By bending the throw you accomplish two things. First, you make it easier for your receiver to catch the disc (it is coming at the receiver when it arrives). Second, you are bending the disc further away from the defender. This means the defender not only needs to be close to the receiver, but ahead of him as well. Easy score using throw "B" in the first figure. We MUST take away that throw. Also in the first figure you see throw "A" marked as being given. Well, it is and it isn't. Regardless, that is a tough score to complete.

Now, what about when we force middle? Well, that is shown in the second figure. We are still giving up throw "A" but again, who cares. That is such a long throw that we hope the defender can get involved by the time the disc arrives. The important thing is we are taking away that easy corner pass. We give up a new throw "B" here, but this is also not a high percentage throw. Here, you are throwing a backhand bender (right handers of course) around the mark. This is as easy to do as the forehand bender before, but that is the only similarity! Here you are throwing the disc closer to the defender, making it easier for him to get a hand on it. Also, you are bending the disc such that when it arrives it is running away from the receiver. This makes for a difficult catch. If the player makes that throw then pat him on the back and say "nice throw", then job away and under your breath say "lucky son-of-a...".

One other throw is possible in the second figure that isn't drawn. This throw is the "inside-out" backhand. The idea for this throw is to step hard to the left, release the disc like throw "B" but the disc path is in the other direction. Meaning, it leaves the same place, ends up at the same place, but the arc is the same as the forehand throw we are taking away. Again, this is a tough throw (very tough since you must reach around the mark and throw right behind him) and if made for the score, oh well. We forced the tough pass and that is really all we can do.

I should stress that in the endzone the offensive players really want to score. Of course, right? I say this because you need to be aware of your person constantly. They may have made a cut, and you guarded it well and now they are joging out - stay awake. They can turn and cut again and you will be left sleeping. Maintain your position between the player and the sideline. If they start to sprint to the middle, so what. Don't let them trick you into sprinting up beside them just so that they can stop and leave you running behind them. This is common offensive tactics, hell, I bet you do it yourself even if you don't realize it. You'll have time to catch up when he stops at the stack. If he runs through the stack you can call "pick" (it is a pick so don't think that it is cheap to call it). If he continues onto the other side then someone will help or at the very least your man is open all the way across the field. You forced a tougher throw. Better than nothing.

Summary time. I promised a brief summary of what the new player, and what a team consisting of mostly new players, should do to combat this problem without complex shifting defenses. Basically, even if you did everything above a good team will find a way in the endzone. Fortunetly, we aren't talking about good teams in this case but begginer teams and intramural teams! Here's what you do. The down field defenders play the same through out the point with the small exception of guarding their man tighter when they get near the goal. The on disc mark is all that changes, and only subtly. As you get closer to the endzone, and the sideline, the mark slides to more of a straight-up mark.


In the figure I have placed five red players with the disc across the field. Each player is being marked by his own yellow defender. As I stated earlier, the downfield defenders are playing their defense teh same so I left them off the figure for clarity. (Of course, really there is one disc being used; the figure just shows the different cases on one field to save space.) Notice that as the disc position moves from the left sideline to the right that the mark starts to shade more towards straight up. This is to help prevent the throw to the corner. On the left sideline the called force, forehand, protects that corner by default. All the way to midfield the mark is the same since we want to force the forehand and the corner is a long throw. Once we cross the midline we start sliding in front a little more. Yes, this does make it possibly easier to break the mark, but we must - must - protect the corner so something must give. This slight change is remarkably affective against other under-experienced teams and is only a modification to the on disc defender. Easy!

Stop the other team at the goal line and you just might score a quick goal yourself. The other team tends to be dejected for a moment after they have blown a "sure score". Take advantage and you turn a score against into a score for your own team. Two point swing!

enjoy the game.


tom (aka soup).