Downfield Defense

Downfield Defense:

1.       20 yard sprint

a.       Offense runs 20 yards as fast as they can

b.       Defense shadows

2.       10 yard down and back

a.       Offense runs a 10 yard down and back as fast as they can

b.       Defense shadows

3.       1v1 Shadow Box

a.       10x10 yard box

b.       Offense is cutting back and forth between two diagonal cones

c.        Defense picks a force and tries to keep the offense in front of them

                                                               i.      Offense wins by getting on the defense’s back or by blowing past them to the cone

4.       Box of Death

a.       20x5 yard box

b.       Offense makes vertical moves inside the box

                                                               i.      Wins by getting to a deep cone or catching an under pass

5.       1v1 Cutting

a.       No rules

6.       2v2 Cutting

a.       No rules

7.       4v4 Cutting

a.       No rules

How:

The image below shows what I would call the default position for downfield defense.  Red star has the disc and he is trying to score up the page.  The defender on the downfield cutter is on his man’s back shoulder and is actively trying to see both his man and the disc.

1.       As a downfield defender we want to see both the disc and our man as much as possible

a.       It is easiest to make a play on the disc if you can see it come out of the throwers hand

b.       When making a play you have to pick a shoulder to lay out, laying out onto the offense’s back is bologna

2.       Try to shuffle as long as possible, turning your hips to run only when you have to

3.       If we are forcing under or forcing deep we have to use our footwork and our hips to funnel the offense in the direction that we want

a.       If you’re forcing under and your guy makes a hard move under then commit to the move and go hard with him

                                                               i.      Be in a spot where if he stops and turns sharply you are in his path deep and you will know that he is changing directions

b.       If  you’re forcing deep then let him make his move deep.

                                                               i.      Turn your hips and follow him in a way that if he turns to come back he has to go through you.

4.       After the offense makes a move and clears it is time to work hard to regain a strong triangulated position

Handler Defense

Handler Defense:

1.      Upline Sprint

a.       Use three cones to outline the path of an upline (call them a-b-c)

b.      Dictate to the offense that they are just going to spring along the path (a-b-c)

c.       Defense is trying to just keep up with them

I am pretty sure this is step one.  A young defender needs to learn how fast he has to move in order to cover an upline.  I have a freshman right now who stands up straight and just lets the offense blow right past them, and then he jogs after them.  He would probably make the A team if he could play handler defense, but at this point he has no appreciation for what he needs to do just to cover the initial strike upline. 

2.      Upline and back

a.       Same three cones

b.      Dictate that the offense is going to just run upline and then cut back (a-b-c-b)

                                                              i.      Cutter doesn’t have to go all the way toward c – just ensure he drives hard toward it

c.       Defense is just trying to get in front of the upline and then trying to get back on the around

After you convince them to cover the uplines you have to convince them to pursue the arounds.

3.      Upline option

a.       Same three cones

b.      Offense is allowed to either run a hard upline (a-b-c) or a hard up and back (a-b-c-b)

                                                              i.      Nothing in between, no stutter steps, no jukes

                                                            ii.      Offense needs to pick which one they’re running before they get into it

c.       Defense has to be reactive to two options

Take them out of the comfort of knowing what’s coming.  This teaches them the perils of overpursuing.

4.      Uplines – no rules

a.       Take the cones and the rules away from the offense

                                                              i.      All juking/stuttering/shimmies are allowed

b.      Defense has to be reactive

Game like reps

Last year alumni weekend the Illinois kids were complaining about a rookie who couldn’t play defense.  Brad whispered to me, “they complain about him, but have they even tried to teach him how to play defense?”  I referenced earlier a freshman that I have this year, NUT has already complained about his ability to play handler defense.  They call him lazy, but we haven’t taught him how to play handler defense yet so who does the blame really fall on?

Coaching Cues:

Reds are on offense.  The star has the disc and is trying to score going up the page, she is being forced forehand.

1. As a defender she wants to triangulate so that she can see both the disc and her girl.
1. A major part of this is going to be working to maintain her triangle
2. The offense can “break” her triangle by getting on her back and forcing her to turn to face guard.
2. She can set her eyes towards this space so that she can see both the disc and the girl in her peripherals.
3. This is the “upline” space
1. It is not the end of the world to get beat here
2. If as a defender she can stay between her girl and the endzone (the endzone up the page) then she will have effectively “capped” their upline and taken away the power position
3. Under cutting the upline and trying to lay it out is definitely a risk she wants to take!
4. Another option and probably the best option is eliminating the dump from being an option by allowing them to go upline, but staying close enough that the thrower never even thinks about throwing it. This forces the offense to go to their next option which lowers their completion percentage drastically.
4. This is the “around” space
1. It is important to prioritize “capping” this movement over trying to undercut it for a d

                                                              i.      Compare this to the upline space where I say undercutting is a worthwhile gamble, undercutting here is not worthwhile!  - Just cap the throw

2. The general rule is she is not allowed to commit to getting a D on around throws until the disc is in the air. When the disc is release she has to make a quick read if she can get the d or not. Most of the time she can’t. If she can’t the focus immediately has to switch to containing/capping the around. She cannot let them continue to throw to the breakside.

The Defender's Back:

Marking Progression

What is a mark?:

Before drilling the mechanics of marking a player needs to grasp the big picture of what marking is.  It doesn’t matter if she can do the mechanical pieces of marking if she has no guide on how or why to apply it.

1.      Take four cones and line them up in a square (maybe 20x20 yards – it doesn’t really matter)

2.      Have lines form at red cones

a.       Downfield for the top red cone is the blue cone

b.      Downfield for the bottom red cone is the green cone. 

3.      As a mark you are putting on a “forehand force”

4.      After marking at the top red cone

a.       Run to the green cone and cut to the blue cone

b.      The thrower at the bottom red cone will throw it to you in between the green and blue cones

I like this drill because the marker has a 90 degree window to cover (blue-red-green = 90 degrees).  If the thrower completes any pass at all to the receiver in this space she knows that she’s lost. 

A fun example of marking poorly explained is with Crayon.  Crayon is called Crayon because he “isn’t a marker”.  When we told crayon to force forehand we told him to “not let them throw backhands” so he’d cover the backhand, but let them throw whatever forehands they wanted to the breakside.  During one practice Crayon was guarding me and I just kept throwing uncontested inverts, Adam was livid and Crayon eventually got the picture.  Although Adam solved the issue, as a captain I could have taught it better from the start. 

The mark is not responsible for guarding a “backhand” or a “forehand” he is responsible for a “cone” of space behind him, whether that cone is 60, 90, or 120 degrees is up to the leadership.

Get the Mechanics:

1. Shadow shuffling
1. 20 seconds on 40 seconds off
2. 6 total times

                                                              i.      3 offense

                                                            ii.      3 defense

Take two cones and put them ten yards apart.  One guy is offense and the other is defense, offense shuffles laterally staying within the ten yards and the defense tried to stay with him.

I use the “triangle marking” from rise up.  The foundation of this marking strategy is an ability to move your feet.  Shadow shuffling removes an incentive of lunging or reaching with your hands and forces your guys to move their feet and be reactive.

2. Figure eight shuffling
1. 5 laps
2. 4 laps
3. 3 laps
4. 2 laps
5. 1 lap

Take four cones and make a rectangle 2 feet by 4 feet.  Shuffle the diagonals, step up on the heights, shuffle the diagonal again.

3. 3 cone triangle drill
1. 4 single moves
2. 4 double moves
3. 4 triple moves

Set up three cones, one showing the base spot, one for the invert spot, and one for the around spot.  Have the throw pivot to either the invert or the around and make the marker shuffle to the cone that covers that space.

4. 3 man marking
1. 10 throws per marker

5. Breakmark drill
1. 0-1 moves
2. 0-2 moves
6. Redemption

Final Thoughts:

If you want your team to actually be good at something you need to do it all the time.  A classic mistake leaders make is doing some marking practice once or twice at practice and then at the tournament when the team’s marks are poor they freak out in a huddle, “we’ve practiced this you know it!”  No they don’t know it; you’ve practiced it twice over the course of 6 weeks.  If you want them to know it then you should practice it once a week or more.

Throwing and conditioning are usually the first two things to be removed from a practice plan, because somehow the team convinces the leadership that they can do those things outside of practice and that practice time should be used to accomplish “more important things.”  Don’t fall for this trap, nothing is more important than throwing and conditioning, make these the last things you pull from your practice plans. 

I posted three throwing progressions yesterday.  Ideally I’d run one of the three throwing progressions at every practice.  Also ideally this marking progression, or some other kind of focused marking work, would be done at least once a week.  I always assume two three hour practices a week because that is what NUT gets in the winter, so far my practice plan looks like this:

(180 minutes)	Wednesday	Saturday
10 minutes	WarmUp	WarmUp
30-45 minutes	Throwing Progression	Throwing Progression
15-30 minutes	Marking Progression	(Coming Wednesday / Thursday)
50 minutes	(Coming Friday)	Team Specific Strategy Work
50 minutes	Scrimmage	Scrimmage
10 minutes	Conditioning	Conditioning

Throwing Progressions

Possession Progression:

1.      Cut-to (same sides)

a.       To 40 in a row on forehand

b.      To 40 in a row on backhand

2.      Cut-to (cross shots)

a.       To 40 in a row on forehand

b.      To 40 in a row on backhand

3.      Pitt-Drill

a.       To 25 in a row uplines on forehand

b.      To 25 in a row uplines on backhand

The possession progression works on incuts and uplines, the throws you have to hit if you want to possess the disc.  The same side cut to forces you to throw either flat or OI and the cross shots force you to throw either flat or IO.

During the BMU season it took us about 40 minutes trying to get through this drill.  Frustrated with how long it took to complete the drill Matt West came up to me and said, “even Illinois could get through this faster.”  In an attempt to bring Matt back to earth I told him that NUT was known to take 45 minutes to finish this progression.  Matt quickly responded, “I guess that’s the difference between nationals and quarterfinals of regionals.”

If you want to bum Champe out, drop some passes during Pitt Drill.  It’s hilarious.

Throw and Go Progression:

1.      Three man weave drill

a.       Each individual gets 10 total touches

                                                              i.      5 going the forehand side

                                                            ii.      5 going the backhand side

b.      Twice through

2.      Give-and-go box

a.       Each individual makes 6 throws

b.      One time through forehand

c.       One time through backhand

3.      Give-and-go box with the cut back

a.       Each individual makes 6 throws

b.      One time through forehand

c.       One time through backhand

This is the hardest one on your legs which is why there is not “in a row” challenge attached to it.

Touch Progression:

1.      Outside-in box

a.       To 40 in a row on forehand

b.      To 40 in a row on backhand

2.      Inside-out box

a.       To 40 in a row on forehand

b.      To 40 in a row on backhand

3.      Long-box

a.       To 25 in a row fades on forehand

b.      To 25 in a row fades on backhand

4.      Big-Box

a.       4 throws each forehand

b.      4 throws each backhand

You have to lead your receiver in these drills, hence the touch name.  In the other progressions you can just throw it at the guy, but in this you have to get it out in front and let him run it down.  If the disc doesn’t float you’re not going to get it.