Aim of the zone:
- Take away any easy short-field handler movement common to breaking a zone.
- Apply aggressive pressure to handlers when the disc moves to a sideline.
- Leaving players available in high risk spaces to force low percentage shots.
- Take advantage of very Male Matching Dominent teams
Set up:
When the disc is in the middle portion of the field, the main function of the zone is to play passively and prevent any set plays or any aggressive downfield movement.
When we play this with 4MMP and 3FMP we have
- 2 MMP FSU Marks
- 3 FMP in a Screen
- 1MMP in the middle
- 1 MMP as a deep
When we play this with 3MMP and 4FMP we have
- 2 MMP FSU Marks
- 4 FMP in a Screen
- 1 MMP as a deep
How we adapt between the two set ups is explainted loosely below
The following Pictures are designed playing with 4MMP [1,2,6&7] and 3 FMP[3,4&5]
Playing with 4FMP
At Mixed Imperial we got a lot of success playing with a 2 2 set up, this gave us more flexibility for one of the screen to push out and cover additional threats.
Alternatively as shown below it may be beneficial to run as a 3 – 1 set up especially if they are being aggressive with handlers or the conditions are severe
Playing Positions:
Handler Marks [1&2]- Flat force preventing hucks | non-disc marks plays like a “sag”
Screen [3,4&5]- Preventing players coming into the middle space ahead of the disc. Screen should hand players on and off with the handler marks
Middle (Short Deep) [6]- This is a tough position to describe as it takes on many roles. The middle should be handing players on and off with the players in the screen. The middle also must protect downline shots from the threatened sideline. Crossfield shots are encouraged to be thrown
Deep [7]- The deep must be working to communicate with the middle as well as handing players off and collecting players from the middle,
Purpose of the screen:
The ‘screen’ is designed to prevent the disc moving forward in the “easy” space.
The screen has 2 main jobs, preventing the upfield throws from the handler and picking up players entering the space infront of the disc.
Key Roles of the screen players:
- Prevent Upfield passes by acting as a physical obstacle to the thrower
- Pick up players crashing into the near-side channel
- Cover the IO angle to prevent throws into the middle of the field
- Push forward to deal with aggressive handler movement
- Cover any additional handlers the offence pulls back to help.
Phases of Play
The zone plays with 2 FSU handler marks who act differently depending on the “phase” of the play
Phase 1 – In the centre of the field
In the centre of the field the zone is designed to play passively, similar to an arrowhead and allow the offence to make sideways and negative passes to no positive gain.
Phase 2 – Near the sideline
When the disc moves to the sideline then the focus of the defence changes. The FSU marks play as a trap with one handler setting a tight no around force, and the other playing an assasin on the nearest threatening dump.
In this phase we are attempting to get a block or to tempt the offence into throwing a lower percentage option.
In phase 2 the screen is crucial to limiting the movement of the disc. The screen must close off the IO angle to compensate for a tight no reset force on the mark.
A member of the screen may also need to push across to cover another reset option but this shouldn’t be done at the detriment of guarding the open space.
When to Apply Pressure
An awkward thing to try and demonstrate by animation but an indication of what the situation might look like when we move from the “Passive Phase” to the “Pressing Phase”
Initially the primary focus of the zone is to prevent quick and easy moves forward in front of the disc. The handler marks will prioritise taking away the easy shortfield passes and allow some lateral movement with the disc.
Why not apply pressure always?
If we attempt to play with aggressive handler marks in the centre then we have committed a lot of players to the central portion of the field and we cannot cover the space on both wings easily.
By playing passively in the centre we can encourage teams to not take their “normal” offensive options and move to less familiar positions.
By pressing on the sideline, this allows our downfield defenders to have a clearer picture of the good and bad space which makes our team picture stronger. It also gives a defensive advantage using the sideline to limit the easy space
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