What exactly is handling?

Handling is probably the strangest subject for new players. Somewhere along everyone’s Ultimate journey, they develop the idea that there’s some mystique to being a handler. How does one acquire this role? Who trains them? How did they learn to do what they do? Are they just some rare species of “good” Ultimate player—though, confusingly, some appear to be elite athletes while others who appear to be lazy old fat men—and while some can huck, some can’t. But, common to them all is seeing someone who just naturally assumes they should pick up the disc when it’s down.

So, it’s not surprising that there’s an element of mystery to this whole thing.

What further confuses the situation is the unfortunate reality that often, especially at low(er) levels of play, people ASSUME they are—or should be handlers—but have none of the relevant competencies, and then wonder why their team struggles mightily and can’t score. It’s an equal mystery to those of us who are “in the know” how these people came to the absurd conclusion that they are (or should be) handlers.

The reality is that at the beginner-to-intermediate levels, there are very few “handlers”. Most in the position are wildly unprepared. And, that’s not because they didn’t get the memo or didn’t understand it, but rather they—in the parlance of our times—got a shitty prompt for what the role entails.

Handling is about a few different things:

• Not throwing the disc away.

• Having solid throws.

• [optional] Being able to huck.

Although, the most overlooked parts of handling have NOTHING TO DO with the physical act of throwing, but rather their ability to:

• Make good decisions.

• Get open at will.

Good handlers protect the disc. They don’t throw into a sea of defenders. They don’t try shitty throws that don’t even work at indoors training. They seem to always find the open person. And that’s field-vision and decision-making. Which is a hard-earned skill built on years of experience.

Equally important, handlers have moves. Think about it. They’re more often saving the thrower than they are scoring the disc. Nearly every possession, especially at low(er) levels, is going to involve quite a few passes; possibly even quite a few turnovers. Throwers need help. Handlers are there to help. They can’t help if they can’t get open. In fact, if handlers couldn’t get open, they’d be only be useful picking up a down disc.

This entire video is gold, but check out this timestamp:

We’ll ignore the spelling-for-the-insane. For those of you who can’t even be bothered to watch 30 seconds of video, here are the relevant bits. See how the White cutter—a handler—abuses the hips of his defender?

And then, when the defender commits AGAIN, embarrasses him by leaving him in a different post code:

I mean, Dark is just SO LOST at this point that he could launch his own GPS constellation and still not find his man.

And, at the end of the sequence, the defender just FUCKING GIVES UP, because he’s hasn’t been going the right direction for about a week and a half, and is now tired of hearing Siri politely reminding him: “PLEASE RETURN TO THE ROUTE”.

Also, note in the screenshot above, the number of people who are clogging the space behind the thrower, to the sides of the thrower, and the space immediately in front of the thrower? That’s right. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ZERO other people lost and idling.

Just watch the video.

You know that ridiculous little movement drill we do with moving forward and backward? Are you using it? Because these guys are, at Worlds. Everything we work on, even if it’s not obvious, is a weapon. From knives to Kalashnikovs to B-2 stealth bombers. So, don’t show up to the global thermonuclear fight with this thing you’ve been carrying in your belt for the past 5 years:

Turns out Adam Levine was right:

“Gotta have moves.”