Disc Hoops

AKA Goaltimate 2.0

I had the opportunity to play Disc Hoops today for the first time. It was actually fun to play, or so I thought. It also made me think about ultimate and the ultimate community. Another post on that later.

One of my thoughts is that disc hoops is different than ultimate, which is different from basketball, which is different from football, which is different from soccer. And that is ok. What I am saying is just because it is a disc, does not mean that the disc hoop rules must be the same rules as those followed in ultimate. Think about this, a basketball is round and a soccer is round, but each game has it's own rules. Hot box is different than ultimate, and people like to play it...so disc hoops is really just another disc game.

First, what things I did like. I liked that there were two hoops to play with and that after you score you attach the opposite goal. We eventually removed the clear line so that it became more like basketball in that as soon as there was a turnover you attacked the opposite goal with no clear line. This caused the game to be much quicker and faster than goaltimate.

You must catch the disc in bounds and not allow your momentum to carry you out of bounds. Again that means it is more similar to basketball, which means you must be more exact with your throws and body control, which I dont think is a bad thing. Another note is that we were rarely close enough for this to be an issue anyways.

I liked that you could stall the disc and that you could self mac the disc.

I liked that a travel on a throw is a turnover. (more explanation later).

Now for the items that I did not like.

I did not like that you could throw to yourself. You could be setting a mark and the offensive player could turn and throw the disc in any direction to your self. Of course the disc must be thrown to another person within 5 seconds, meaning throwing to yourself does not reset the stall count, so you can only do it for so long. But it looked pretty funny to watch that happen.

How I would change this is that if you catch a disc in stride you can throw to yourself. However if you establish a pivot, then you can no longer make a self throw. It was annoying to get a mark on and then watch the thrower make a 3 foot pass to themselves. It seems that more intuitive that as long as you are moving you could self-pass. I was talking to someone else, and they thought it might be a good modification.

Secondly, if you stepped out of bounds with the disc it was a turnover. Meaning you caught the disc in bounds and stayed in, but if you were to pivot out of bounds it is a turnover.

This never came into effect in our game, so it was never really an issue. I would modify the rule so that you must catch the disc and stay in bounds, but you are allowed to pivot out of bounds.

Third, travelling on a caught throw is a turnover. Ok, I can deal with it being a turnover when someone throws a disc and travels. I actually think that travels called on thrown discs would be GOOD for ultimate if they were turnovers (of course that would require observers to verify the travel). I did not like the rule because I would liken it to football in that you would never expect a football player to catch a pass and then stop within 3 steps. It is pretty much physically imposible to stop within 3 steps of catching a disc running at full speed. Much of the travel calls were made on goal catches where a difficult catch was made either at full speed or the receiver was off balance and took more than 3 steps.

How I would modify this is that travel calls on caught discs are not turnovers, but on throws are...simple enough.

I did not like that you could 'strip' the disc by knocking it out of the O players hand. I don't think there is any room or reason for that with a disc in someone's hand. I think there is much more chance for injury with a disc than there is with a ball.

All in all, it was fun. I kinda like the concept more than goaltimate, of course I would like to see the above modifications made. But it is what it is.

$

Marking (Where it all begins)

Marking is the most important aspect of any team defense.

There are a number of articles and even a book out there that can explain how to mark effectively. My goal is not to explain how to mark, but develop a team strategy based upon the mark and what the goal of a marker should be in that respect . Everyone on defense MUST be able to rely on the mark to execute the team strategy. If the team is unable to rely on the marker, you may have the best team strategy, but you will lose.

Before proceeding any further there are a couple assumptions and general thoughts that must be addressed.

1. There is always an open throw. The marker can not stop every throw, including every breakmark throw.

2. A good thower will always face up to the mark. This essentially turns your force flick mark into a straight up mark.

3. In general, there are 3 types of forces. For our excercises, we will always state that you force flick, backhand, or straight up. Each has it's own goals and objectives upon which a team defense can be excecuted.

4. The field can be broke up into thirds. Middle is the middle third of the field. Open side is the force side. Break side is the side you are protecting. For example, (for a right handed thrower looking downfield) if you are being forced forehand, the open side is to your right, and the break side is to your left.

Let's now break down marking and how it affects the team strategy. The first aspect of marking is based upon the location of the disc on the field. The second aspect of marking is identifying the types of throws available and what throws your defensive strategy is trying to force. Each of these will determine how the downfield defensive players should position themselves.

Scenario #1 - The force is forehand and the disc is on the break side. Ask yourself first how you should position yourself as a marker, secondly what what are the possible throws, finally, what throws does the team strategy want to force and what throws do you want to give up.

In general, when the disc is on this side of the field your positioning should be more of a straight up mark with the sideline as an eighth defender. The second part of the question is where your team's strategy should be developed and how the downfield players should position themselves. The throws that are available are a hammer, scoober, an open side forehand, I/O forehand, a dump, and an around backhand.

A team strategy may state that a marker is to protect the I/O. Now I know that that leaves a number of open throws available, but remember I already stated that there was always an open throw(s). However, let's look at the throws and why we may want to take away the I/O.

Hammer / Scoober - both throws go over the top (some might consider them low percentage) that can hang or take time for the receiver to catch and set up for another throw. This allows the D player to make a play on the disc, or set up the mark for the next throw.

Around backhand - Generally will be a somewhat difficult throw. The disc may float, the sideline is an eigth defender, and in general will allow the mark to setup for the next throw.

Dump - We will get to other strategies about defending the dump with the marker, but in this case, as a marker you want to allow the dump pass as you do not want to open up the break side of the field.

Open side - This is the responsibility of the downfield throwers.

The strategy then becomes that everyone on the field knows that the force is flick, and that the marker is taking away the I/O. The downfield defenders no longer have to chase their defenders in case of a break or stay on the O's hip. Instead, the D players can position themselves to take away the open side throws (which staying on the O's hip really does not).

Secondly, if there is going to be a breakmark throw, the defense knows the types of throws that are coming. This may seem minimal, but knowing the type of throw that is being thrown to the breakside allows the D to make a play on a breakmark throw as these throws will generally be lower percentage. Additionally, even if the throws are good and completed, each of those throws take time to complete which allows the D player to set up a new mark. In regards to bids on throws, in general, you want to be conservative with bids as you want to place the mark on immediately. College kids should read that last sentence twice. Making bids is great, but you don't want to bid on a disc you can not get as it is very important to get the mark on. I couldn't even start to count the number of bids i see made in college where the D has no legitamite bid...only for the O to catch it and have an open throw completed. That is a huge no no IMHO.

One of my other points from earlier is holding people accountable. As such, you must hold your players accountable for any I/O breaks as being unacceptable if that is your strategy. If an open side, dump, around back hand, or hammer/scoober goes up, then the mark has succeeded, as that is your strategy.

I can continue across the field, or move to the downfield defenders for scenario one. We'll see.

$

Defensive Strategy

One area that I noticed this year that could have been improved upon is the lack of a team defensive philosophy. We would hit on a few topics each year that would increase the amount of turnovers we generated, but on a whole it is "Shut your man down" or "Stay on his hip", etc.

The reason it is irritating is because this is not a team defense. If everyone is playing shut your man down defense that is a team defense, but not a team defense in the true meaning of the word.

I grew up playing basketball, football, other sports etc. Basketball is one where you need to constantly position yourself between the goal, the ball, and your man. The idea is not to take away every pass or shot, but to position yourself so that you are making the offense take the types of shots you want them to take and that you are in position to make them take those shots if your man has the ball. This is done by team defense and an understanding as to what the person on the ball is forcing, and the person guarding the ball understanding and where his teammates are and what they are protecting.

If I were to try and associate to ultimate a defensive strategy, it might look something like the following.

1. Eeach player knows which throw to expect from the O, and why.
2. Each player knows what throws they are allowing, and why.
3. Each player has positioned himself in a position to take away the trows the D is prohibiting,
4. If a throw is completed, the defensive player is in a position to place a mark on and continue the D strategy for the next throw

By doing each of those activities, you have decreased the throwing percentage of any given throw and increased the defenses ability to make plays.

The items listed above, are the results of a team strategy that does the following.

1. Plays to your team strengths and reduces your teams weaknesses.

2. Allows each player to be held accountible for their actions.

3. Is flexible based upon outside conditions.

4. Allows the defensive team to adjust, or not adjust

5. Have a gameplan.

That's the start. More to come on each of these items at a later date.

$

Welcome to Sorry 'bout it

After reading and reading and reading ultimate blogs...I've now decided to join the world of bloggers. I will preface this blog by stating I am not the worlds best writer but will do my best to convey the thoughts and ideas in a logical manner.

Welcome to $'s world of Ultimate.

Sorry 'bout it.

$