Marking the disc

Active evil is better than passive good.

-William Blake

Here's how most "markers" stand when they are playing "defense".

"Yeah, I can talk... I'm just forcing forehand."

Note the upright, yet relaxed posture, the feet positioned close together, and the hands near the sides.  As you can see, the man above is passive.  He has no intention of stopping that couch from throwing the green pillow into the street.  He is standing in such a way, however, that if you had never played ultimate before, you might think that he is stopping the couch from throwing backhand past him.  And, if the couch is a typical thrower, this marker's stance may indeed "prevent" the break.  Not that the marker is doing anything to actively prevent the break.  But, the couch is conditioned to "take the easy throw".  In fact, if the couch would pivot, the break throw becomes just as easy as the force thrown.  In short, the marker isn't actually doing anything and is wasting his time.

How do we mark the disc?

This guy is like a fire drill, get low and go.

Jordan's body position in this pic is close to perfect.  He bends his knees, spreads his feet, and is ready to go from side to side.  He is being actively evil (at least toward the offensive player).  He seems to be forcing forehand (to his left).  His left hand is out in the passing activelyharassing the passing option.  Active harassment of the passing lane does not mean that he keeps his hand stationary so the thrower can calculate the angles above and below it.  Active harassment means his left hand is moving, reacting to potential throws and trying to block them.  His right hand is raised to stop the high release backhand or scoober.  What the picture does not show, but what is probably most important, is that Jordan's feet are constantly moving, sliding, and readjusting, as he repositions his body to gain maximum defensive advantage.

This point is so important that it is getting its own paragraph.  A good marker is constantly moving his feet.  Even if the thrower is standing completely still, a good marker realizes that he must worry the throwers perspective on potential throws.  Now an important caveat, a good marker does not lunge.  Jordan in the picture above knows that in order to maintain solid marking position, he must keep his head above his hips.  If he were to lunge and the thrower were faking, Jordan would find himself wildly out of position.  

You might, at this point, be asking how I can contend that Jordan is able to actively harass the passing lanes without lunging.  Won't the offensive player just pivot and throw around him, you chide.  Well... just because Jordan does not lunge doesn't mean that he is stationary.  Jordan moves his feet, taking tiny side-to-side slide steps (almost like little hops on his toes), in order to stay squarely in front of the the thrower.

Why do we mark the disc?

Many people will tell you that the point of marking the disc is to force the thrower to make a certain throw (usually to the forehand side).  Unfortunately, in practice, this is next to impossible against a real thrower because a real thrower loves to break the mark with hammers, scoobers, and high releases.  Also because a real thrower will pivot, if you move to stop all possible breaks you will open his inside out throws which, if allowed, defeat the whole purpose of the force anyway as they are a break throw for good yardage.  

Against a mediocre or poor thrower, just forcing them to make a certain throw uncontested is really letting them off the hook.  It's not nice, but defense isn't supposed to be nice.  Defense is mean.  Get used to it.

Don't let this guy off the hook by forcing forehand.

The reason we mark the disc is to harass throws.  Ultimate is a game that is stacked in favor of the offense already.  On defense, we don't need to give throwers any more help.  We can harass throws (and even get some blocks) best by playing our thrower straight up or slightly shading to one side or the other, not by giving an entire set of throws (forehand or backhand) a free pass.

I think the notion of the "force" has been over-emphasized and has been used (like so many other principles) to allow players to be lazy on the mark.