Let's Talk Zone

Week three of Townsville Ultimate Disc League is always abuzz with excitement and anticipation because this is the week where teams will begin incorporating zone offenses and defenses.

Are you tired of jumping into the stack every time a pass is made? Is chasing a player who seems like he has ingested the red blood cells of a million young puppies exhausting? If you answered yes to these questions, then you most likely will look forward to playing zone.

What exactly is "zone" you ask? Well put some ice in your shirt and cool your tits because that's what I'm here to do in the first place.

Let's talk about zone offense first. A traditional zone offense will have three handlers, two wing players, and two players in the middle.

In case you are confused, here's a really simplified diagram of a zone offense. Players 1, 2, and 3 are the handlers, players 4 and 5 are the poppers in the middle, and players 6 and 7 are your wingers. I could go on to tell you what the roles of each player is, what cuts each player should make and when they should make it but I think I will leave that task to your captains.

Defense is the best form of offense, or so they say, and having a good zone offense will all be for naught if your defense can't keep up. Zone defense has almost the same positions set up as zone offense in the sense that you will having three players running the "cup", two on the wings, one in the middle and one sitting deep.

Notice how players 1, 2, and 3 of the blue team are surrounding or "cupping" the handler of the red team. Their job is to prevent them from throwing to the "break" side, i.e. force them to throw to the side of the field that your team is forcing. As for the other players, I think your captains can explain their roles better than I can.

That's if for Let's Talk Zone. I hope everyone's fresh and eagerly anticipating Wednesday for another round of exciting Ultimate action!