Ultimate Basic, Part 4

Here’s the middle of the field. Trying a vertical orientation this time, showing a bit of the endzone. Offense is attacking upwards. This is the downfield open space situation, with just the thrower.

The space is reduced by the mark:

And it’s further reduced by the thrower’s “Throwable Range”:

Becoming this:

This is still a good amount of space. Gets us from one brick mark to nearly the other brick mark. But, then you add in this terrible offensive positioning:

And then the downfield open space becomes this:

which has a much smaller throwing lane than before, just for the disc to reach the open space, often unapproachable for weaker throwers.

There’s a bigger picture. Look at the dump situation.

With not much of an effect by the mark and throwable range:

And, frankly, not much of an affect after the terrible clog positioning:

But, we go from this:

To:

The disc has nowhere to go but backwards, unless you want the thrower to attempt a throw through a thin lane. That clogging receiver has diminished the size of the downfield space, while not really affecting the dump open space.

Since that one player has destroyed everyone else’s cut by clogging the lane, they HAVE TO cut. Which leads to these two very bad and very wrong conclusions:

1. My team is so bad I have to keep saving them with dump cuts, and everyone looks to me for dump throws. I’m so good that I complete most of these.

2. My team is so bad I have to keep saving them with dump cuts, and our throwers are terrible, because they can’t hit me with a dump pass.

When the reality is:

I’ve single-handedly taken away all the options for my thrower, and nullified all other receivers except for me, by selfishly hanging out in the lane. Now I have to cut, even if it’s just to clear. But, since my cut will also move into the dump-side open space, the dump also has to clear so I can possibly get open.

The takeaway is that for most beginner-to-mid throwers, discs can’t reach people BEHIND other people.

So:

When you positioning like this, especially if that clogging receiver isn’t moving but lingering statically in the open lane, you destroy the opportunity for downfield throws. Doubly so for weaker throwers.

This is why I dislike Continuity Offenses with static starting sets. Look at this:

Looks great, on paper, right?

Here’s what that looks like with how defenses figured out Ho Stack:

Where is the disc supposed to go? I get that the field is bigger than this, and the “covered space” circles are too big, but the principle is the same.

Every person in the open space segments the open space, cutting it into smaller open spaces. Each smaller open space is harder to throw into, especially for weaker throwers. The more cutters in—or moving into—the open space, not only do they segment that space and prevent disc from reaching open players behind them, they more defenders they bring into the open space, eventually destroying the open space.

At this beginner/intermediate level, half your throwers are weak. By playing space-occupying Continuity Offenses, you take large lanes, and convert them into thin lanes, many of which are unthrowable for the weak half of your throwers.

With a good thrower, small lanes aren’t a problem. When half your team is weak-to-mid at throwing, this kind of offense can’t reliably work. Poor throwers forced to jam the disc into small lanes becomes a coin-flip situation. If your team scrimmages involve a half-dozen to a dozen turnovers per point, this is very likely what’s going on. You’re playing a style of offense that doesn’t fit your competencies. Very few developing teams have enough throwers to push the disc through these thin lanes.

And if you have to keep resetting the disc to the one or two good throwers who can push the disc downfield, then your entire offense becomes about those throwers. Every else only ever dumps, because there’s no open spaces. Which leads the team to erroneously believe that statically standing in the throwing lanes is the right thing to do, because they erroneously believe that no one else can throw downfield.

It’s a vicious cycle.