Tuesday Practice Handler Cuts and Defending Them

At practice last night we discussed making and defending typical handler cuts.

The four basic cuts for a handler are:

1. upline, also chainsaw (fist)
2. dump (thumb up)
3. vee, also composers (two fingers)
4. flare (open hand)
-------------I realize there may be different names for these cuts, but we will use the above for uniformity.


Each of these cuts are available on most field positions, even when we are trapped on the sideline. We can even evolve to using some hand signals () to improve communication between the thrower and the cutter. Practice these cuts! Use fakes--these cuts work because of the threat of the other cuts.

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For defending these cuts, remember the most important thing--positioning! The first rule of defensive positioning is to put yourself in a stance that enables you to see your mark and the disc. Seeing the disc is vital to defending handler cuts (think about how many dump passes you see that some defender just misses because they did not see the disc soon enough), and it increases your overall awareness of the flow of the game.

The second rule of defensive positioning is to put your body in a position that takes away one of the cuts/open areas that a handler can cut to. Generally, the best position is one that takes away the upline cut. The upline cut is typically the most dangerous, giving up the most yards and an open throw. Use your body position to deny the upline cut. If you take away one of the areas they can cut too, it is much easier to defend a handler.

The dump cut is typically the least dangerous, because it is negative yardage, and you should NOT allow the swing pass, and keep the force on. So our opponent dumps the disc, lost five yards, and is still trapped on the sideline. However, we do not want to casually allow the dump pass, especially when most teams look to dump when the stall is high or just to get the disc back to their best thrower. DENY and CONTEST EVERY PASS! If you do allow a dump to go to your mark, make sure you establish your mark positioning by stopping the break force swing pass as you approach the disc. (of course, when we are on offense, that is exactly what we want to do on the sideline, dump, and a break force swing to open up the field!)

The second most important aspect of defending a handler is teamwork. To emphasize the irony of the Santa Barbara video"if win we our individual battles....."--you cannot win your individual battles without help and support from your team! When you are guarding a handler, and they are making a cut you MUST shout out to the marker for help (the sideline should also being doing this). Strike for the upline cut, no dump for the dump, no break for the flare. The maker then MUST shift/shuffle/move to stop the pass to the handler.

As a tactic, I would rather deny the disc to a handler (i.e., the BEST, most experienced thrower on the other team) by temporarily losing our force, and even allowing a break force throw to a less experienced thrower on the other team. In the college ultimate world, this can work to our advantage. They can throw to their freshman all they want :). If we deny the disc to the other team's main handlers, we will win the game.

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As counterpoint point to good positioning, a poor position to take as a defender is to stand directly behind your team mate that is marking. Making a short throw threw a maker is difficult! There is no reason to stand there! Especially if you are playing off your mark a few yards, trying to poach. If you are going to poach when we are trapping, then get all the way in the throwing lane up the line. Or just get back on your handler and deny the dump.

This is also true for cuts that we make on offense. If your cut ends up behind the other team's mark, and you are poached, and wondering why your team mate is not throwing you the disc--it is because you are standing exactly where they cannot throw it to you! MOVE-make a cut upfield or go for the dump/swing. Do not stand behind the mark yelling 'poach'.

Another tactic we use on defense against a hozo stack handlers or a split stack handlers (what long beach used against us in Vegas), is to have the defender on the force side poach off their mark into the upfield throwing lane. This is what Issac (and others) did successfully this weekend. When we poach into the lane, we are denying an upfield pass, and allowing the swing. However, the swing is in the direction we are forcing, and if completed, narrows the amount of field we have to defend. Further, our defender we be in position to approach to deny a break force swing, especially since the break force swing pass would have to be right back to the opponent that just threw it--who should be well covered!

Ironically, in this defensive set-up, the handler we need to most closely guard is the one on the break force side. We must not let them get open, slashing across the handler in the middle for an upfield/upline cut, or a break-force dump cut. Deny all passes to them! Make them throw to the force side, where we can trap them and have less field to defend.

As a final note on defending handling cuts, it is an art. It takes a lot of heart, fitness, intensity, awareness, experience and anticipation to guard a good handler. You will also over the game have to learn how each different handler cuts, where they like to get the disc, and even how they throw (if you are unfortunate and you let them catch the disc). Even beyond one game or one tournament, you will face these players again and again over the years. If you are good, you can learn how to shut down a team's main handler one tournament--and the next time you face them you can mentally take them out of the game before it even starts! LENNY IS IN THEIR HEADS!!!!!

Coach Pat