Drills/Games for Defense.

I've been thinking a great deal lately about how to get better at playing defense.  Some would say, just play better defense.  In a way, this is correct.  Much more so than offense, defense is a state of mind.  Deciding to play better defense and sticking to that decision goes a long, long way.

The trouble with the "just play better defense" solution, however, is that it assumes that everyone has the same skills and knows how/when to implement them.  This is certainly preposterous as it goes against all experience on the field.  Some people are just better at defense than others.  Much like throwing, defense has its own skills and they can be practiced.  Here are a some ways to do it.

Games

As a rule, games must be fun and competitive.  If you aren't laughing at the start and puking at the end, you're probably doing it wrong.  Here are some of my favorites that have distinct connections to Ultimate skills.

1. 500.  This game requires at least 3 players. You should remember this one from grade school. A thrower tosses a single disc to a group of receivers and they all vie to come down with it.  The player who catches the disc earns 100 points.  Once a player reaches 500 points, he becomes the new thrower and the game restarts.  The practice version can be played 1 on 1 with a single receiver and a single defender.  Or with multiple receivers and defenders.  Or with multiple receivers and a single defender.  Or with a single receiver and multiple defenders. Etc. Playing this game helps players work on reading the disc, body positioning, timing the jump, communication between/among defenders, and catching.

2. Tag. This game requires at least 2 players. You should also remember this one from grade school.  One player is it.  The other players scatter around a given area and try to avoid being tagged by the it-player while also staying in bounds. This game translates to ultimate in that a defender needs to stay close to his receiver while the receiver working to get away from him. The practice version can be played 1 on 1 with a single defender (it) and a single receiver.  Or with multiples of each.  Playing this game helps players work on agility, reading other players' movements, acceleration, cutting, and field sense.

3. Leprechaun. This game requires at least 2 players. Leprechaun goes by many names, but is basically a variation of tag where the player who is "it" tries to stop the other players from getting from one side of a given field to the other. As players are tagged, they also become "it" until there is only one player left who is not "it". That player is the winner.  Playing this game also helps players work on all of the tag skills as well as working on defensive communication between/among "its".

All of the above games are really useful for field defenders and for receivers.  As a bonus, almost everybody has played them as a child and has an understanding of the objectives and the rules. Their simplicity, however, does not make them particularly easy to play well. They are all labor-intensive. And, they all require something that rarely gets practiced during ultimate practice, but always seems to show up during games: raw athleticism.  This "raw athleticism" is really just an amalgamation of agility, body control, and strength.  In other words, it can (and should!) be practiced.

What makes games great, is that they (along with drills) replace the need for boring conditioning work (ie track workouts, long runs, etc).  Games are better than conditioning work because games simulate the competition, randomness, and necessary skills that occur on the ultimate field.  Games, played in increments of as little as 5 minutes, should make up a substantial portion of any practice.

Players may object to spending practice time this way.  They may be very interested in a more traditional practice (ie a lot of scrimmaging with drills thrown in).  A traditional practice strongly emphasizes throwing-specific drills with a few catching-specific drills sprinkled in.  The trouble with this should be obvious, but let me point it out.  At any given moment on the field, 92.9% (only 1 out of the 14 players has the disc) of what is happening has nothing to do with throwing. This also means that at any given moment on the field, 92.9% of what is happening has nothing to do with catching either.  Put together, this means that a traditional practice only actively drills the skills that make up 14% of the game. The other 86% of the game is left to chance.

My point is not that we shouldn't work on our throws or our catches.  Or that throwing and catching don't lie at the heart of what ultimate is really about.  My point is that these skills have been way, way over-emphasized in the team practice setting.

Unfortunately, I haven't really come up with a game that is good for marking defense. Thankfully, we have drills for that.

Drills

As a rule, drills are mindless and repetitive.  Most people think drills help you learn to do a specific action or set of actions correctly.  This is wrong.  Drills, when done properly and often, make it so you are no longer able do a specific action or set of actions incorrectly.  Simply put, drills turn off your brain and train your body.

1. Hold the force.  This drill requires at least 3 players and takes 1 minute.  Player 1 is the caller. He calls out different forces (forehand, backhand, flat, no huck, no hammer) at random intervals. Player 2 is the thrower.  He pivots and fakes with the disc in an attempt to break the mark or get off an uncontested throw.  He does NOT ever throw the disc, however.  Player 3 is the marker.  He listens to the caller and marks the thrower accordingly.  He must count out the stall count. His feet must always be in motion, sliding back and forth to set whatever force has been called.  His hands must be properly positioned and be actively harassing the thrower.  This drill can be drilled with 1 caller and a single pair or multiple pairs of throwers and markers.  This drill helps defenders work on agility, listening, concentration, and aggression.  It helps throwers work on pivoting and fakes.

2. Breakdown.  This drill requires at least 2 players and takes 1 minute.  Player 1 is the caller. He calls out "BREAKDOWN" at random intervals.  Player 2 is the defender.  He must sprint (not run, not jog) in place until he hears "BREAKDOWN".  When player 2 hears "BREAKDOWN" he must throw himself on the ground and then get up as quickly as possible and continue to sprint in place. This drill can be drilled with 1 caller and 1 defender or with multiple defenders.  This drill helps defenders work on agility, listening, body control, and aggression.  It helps callers get a much needed laugh.

3. Shadow.  This drill requires at least 4 players and takes 1 minute or longer.  It also requires 4 cones set in a straight line.  The 2 end cones are 22 yards apart.  The 2 center cones are two yards apart (each one yard off perfect center).  The players line up in 2 lines facing one another between the 2 center cones. These lines are perpendicular to the line former by the 4 cones. Line 1 contains the cutters. Line 2 contains the defenders. The goal of the cutter at the start of line 1 is to reach one of the two end cones before his defender reaches it.  The goal of the defender at the start of line 2 is to beat the cutter to the cone he has chosen.  The cutter may fake as much as he likes in the area between the central cones.  This drill works on agility, fakes, cutting, reading the cutter, acceleration, and aggression.

4. Suicides.  This drill requires at least 1 player and takes as long as it takes.  It also requires 5 cones set in a straight line. The cones should be set up at 5 yard intervals (one at the start, one at 5 yards, one at 10 yards, one at 15 yards, and one at 20 yards).  The player lines up at the first cone, sprints to the second cone and knocks it down, sprints back to the first cone, sprints to the second cone and knocks it down, sprints back to the first cone, etc.  This drill works on agility, stopping, and acceleration.

These drills aren't particularly fun or easy, but they will make you better.  A practice that is punctuated by some of the different drills and games from above will be much more useful than one without.  Remember, don't just train 7.1% of the game. Train the 92.9% of the game that is happening to everybody at every second on the field.