Hey everyone!

Let’s dive into some of the trademark skills of Ultimate Frisbee which define a team and each individual’s style of play.  This will also give a glimpse of some strategy involved with this sport.

Throwing is an integral part of the game since you cannot run (besides pivoting on one foot) in possession of the frisbee.  As a thrower in possession of the disc, you ARE the focus of the defenders and your teammates; you have control of where the frisbee goes and movement of your players.  The throwers, often called handlers, usually have calm and cool personas because they are experienced players and need to make the best decision on where and who to throw too.  Each possession counts and should be valued.  

I am sure most of you are familiar with a pretty basic frisbee throw called a backhand which looks like this:

But unlike most sports, there are at least six very distinct types of throws that I can list just off the top of my head, and each one has some important variations.  As a player, I think of throwing as the artistic and aesthetic side of ultimate frisbee.   With throwing skills, an individual can unravel a whole defense by finding weak spots with accurate and decisive throws.  On the flip side, inexperienced throwers can become very nervous and clog up the offenses flow.  Seeing a pull (like a kickoff) hang in the air and hammer throws that twist and turn are some of my personal favorite feats of ultimate frisbee throwing skill, and never fail to amuse an audience your parents and friends.  Playing Ultimate can be a very creative endeavor, and I like it that way.  Each individual has their own throwing style which adds wrinkles to your team identity…..and some trick throws to show off for the ladies.

Since throwing is such a controlling part of the sport, one of the most important defensive positions is the mark which is the person guarding the thrower.  The mark's job is to prevent the handler from having a free throw to any part of the field.  Unfortunately playing the mark won't provide many highlight reel plays to impress your lady friends, but it's THE position that anchors the rest of the defense.  In a basic defensive set, the mark's job is to block the thrower from putting the disc to the right half of the field:

Behind #17 would be considered "right" half for my example

While the mark (#17) does his job, the down field defense will be on the left side of the field:

In a perfect world, the whole field is covered and you are unstoppable.  But like everything in frisbee, it is situational and there is always counter strategies to every strategy.  A handler with skill and quick pivoting can keep the mark off balance to throw to the right half of the field effectively breaking the defense; this is why a throw to the right half is called a "break".  Also, one of the offensive players can simply out run their defender in the spot they are trying to guard.  Frisbee is not a sport to be taken too lightly. 

I’m pretty sure a lot of you didn't think that any frisbee games could have much strategy, or even rudimentary rules.  Just a few years ago, I was no different than you.  Before joining a team, playing frisbee for me consisted of chucking the frisbee as far as possible, hoping someone would come down with it.  Ultimate frisbee however is much more elaborate than that and I hope I gave you a glimpse of the intricacies of the strategy used.  I feel like these schemes build a team’s identity, it definitely dictates how aggressive or passive or cool a team plays.