A brief thought about defensive position.

You have been called to hold a high position, but not a safe one; a sublime position, but not a secure one. How terrible, how very terrible is the place you hold!
-St. Bernard of Clairveux to Pope Eugenius III

I know that nobody, with the exception of football d-backs coaches, cares about defensive coverage angles.  And I'm not suggesting that you care deeply about them either.  But, if you decide that you care about shutting your man down every time you are on the field, your coverage angles are going to matter TO YOU.

Angles are hard for everyone.

So, let's talk very simply for a moment about what we mean be defensive coverage angles.  If it's a dead disc and you are 1 of the 6 defenders on the field who is not engaged primarily with the thrower, then you'd like to find a place to stand where you can see your man and the disc in its current position.  The place wherever you choose to stand will determine your defensive angles (IE whether you're likely to move to your right or left and whether you're likely to move in or out).  

At the risk of being overly simplistic, the reason you'd like to see both your man and the current position of the disc is because those two factors determine everything about where you choose to stand.  Taking your eyes off of your man is a great way to get beaten both deep and in.  Taking your eyes off of the disc is a great way either to watch your man very closely as he catches a goal or catch a quick glimpse of the disc just after it flies within an arms length of your head.

Given the choice of watching 1 or the other, you'd choose to watch your man and pray that somebody is calling the "ups".  The thing is, there's no reason to make that choice because you don't have to.  You can figure out a way to spend most of your time watching, IF you make the decision to work 2% harder.  That 2% harder isn't a sprint and it's not a layout.  It may not even be a jog.  At times, it's constantly having your head on a swivel, checking on the thrower and checking on your man repeated ad infinitum.  At times, it's deciding to walk 2 or 3 steps to a slightly different position on the field.  But, those 2 or 3 steps are the difference between you getting beat and you getting your hands on the throw.  That head swivel and those 2 or 3 steps are a big part of your defensive position.

There is no magic formula for defensive positioning in a dynamic game like Ultimate.  And even if there were, each individual match-up you have will be different as far as speed, quickness, cutting ability, and anticipation.  The best thing that I can communicate to you about improving your defensive positioning (and therefore improving your defense) is that you have to constantly make it a priority (it = the location on the field or the body position where you can easily see your mark and the current position of the disc).


A friend suggests that as the game moves to a higher level (elite or nearly elite), you need to become more and more comfortable with the head swivel positioning rather than a complete body positioning shift.  His reasoning is that, at the elite/near elite level, even 1 step farther downfield than your mark (allowing you to more easily see the mark and the disc) makes it too simple for the receiver to punish you with an in-cut.  I agree with this because, at the level he's talking about, it is too much of a disadvantage to move your body away from your mark. 

The glasses you'll need if you DON'T want to get in good defensive position, 

but you DO want to see both your man and the disc.

You will want to rest during points.  You will have every reason why it doesn't matter that you get yourself to that position.  Even if you don't think you will, you will.  In a match-up against a formidable opponent, you will look for spots to rest.  I don't mean rest for a while.  I mean that you will look to get 1/2 a second of rest because you've just controlled your man for 3 hard cuts down the field followed by 3 hard cuts back while you have shadowed his every movement.

And I don't fault you for wanting to rest.  I don't fault you one bit.  In fact, all that I want you to is rest in a slightly different position so that all of your previous hard work isn't wasted because you lose sight of the disc for a moment and your man catches a goal on you.  In that moment where you really want to get 1/2 a second of rest, just take 1 extra second to swivel your head to check on the disc or to finish in a position that allows you to see your man and the disc (you may end up slightly upfield in this position).  Then, rest all want, provided your head is constantly swiveling back and forth.  You'll know exactly what's happening from that spot, at least until the disc moves.  When it moves, you'll take a 1/2 second to adjust your position and then continue resting.

Here's an important point that I've mistaken for finding good position before: do not just assume that by forcing in and taking away the deep, you've put yourself in a good defensive position.  This little shortcut nearly always goes wrong because receivers simply don't cooperate.  They're happy to catch uncontested in-cuts.  And when you least expect it, they fake in, catch you leaning, and cut deep.  

You don't have to give anything to the receiver (and you shouldn't).  Getting in good defensive position does not mean you give up the space that you control.  It, in fact, means you give yourself to control all of your mark's field space.  If you're facing a good receiver, good defensive positioning has everything to do with you constantly swiveling your head to check on the disc.

Good defensive position won't make the plays for you.  But, it will give you the chance to make a lot more plays and see how a lot of things setup.