Vertical Offense
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[edit] Vertical Offense
The Vertical Offense is the most fundamental and most used offensive play in Ultimate. It is also known as a "stack" as all the players are in a line up the middle of the field.
[edit] The Reasoning
Offense in ultimate is all about space. You must have space to run into and to throw to. You cannot throw effectively, with a high completion rate, over defenders. The idea of a stack is to maximize the space and prevent absolute chaos. Chaos on offense means bad things. When the offense becomes unordered, the disc normally is turned over. Or the flow is stopped. Either options are bad.
[edit] The Stack
The Stack stands 5 - 10m upfield from the disc, slightly on the break side. The offensive recievers then make cuts into the space.
There are three main cuts to make. All others are variations on that.
1. The Wing Cut The wing cut is the primary option on any situation. It looks to get the disc moving. The reciever fakes deep then runs short, towards the disc.
2. The Deep Cut The deep cut is made when a strong thrower gets the disc with some time. It looks to gain big metres or possibly score. It is important to the time the deep cut off the other cuts. A mistimed deep cut will mean the offensive reciever is clogging space until they can return to the stack.
3. The Break Cut The break cut is a tough cut to stop when done correctly off a strong thrower. It starts with a cut towards the disc, then flares to the break side. If your defender is playing off you by a few metres, you are normally running into alot of space. The break cut is one that will give the reciever alot of time to set and throw as the defender is often metres away.
There should always be a deep cut coming off a break cut. Especially if the break cutter is a strong thrower. Its normally an easy score for the deep cutter.
The huck from the break cut should go to the break side space. As the deep cut's defender will be on the open side, there will be a massive lane to throw into. It is almost impossible for an evenly matched defender to beat a reciever once it is thrown to the opposite side of the field.
[edit] Faking
Faking when cutting is important. The defender will try to read the movements of the reciever and guess where the rout is going to go. It is important to mix up what you are doing. So they don't beat you there every time. Faking deep then coming short won't always work. A good defender will merely stay under you while you go deep, then when you come back they are already in position.
As always, mix it up. Make the fakes believeable by actually making that cut occasionally. Fake two or three times in one cut to try and confuse the defender and shake loose. Combine different fakes. A body fake whilst in the air is interesting (see "Benji Marshall Step").
A few fakes:
1. The Fake. Run in one direction, turn around and go the other. Its as simple as that. The faster you do it, the harder it is to stop, therefore the better it is.
2. The Drop Step A Wide Reciever move in American Gridiron. Sometimes known as a Double Move. The reciever runs upfield, then turns as if to come back, then continues deep. This is a good fake if your defender has been covering your under cuts well. They will bite on the fake, and put themselves out of position.
3. The Body Fake As the reciever is about to commence the cut, the recievers seems as if they are about to go long, then run short past an unbalanced defender.
4. Head Fakes. Used by experienced players on hapless rookies that are trying to stop them. Head fakes are all about illusion. They are not a physical fake. A head fake is getting into the defender's head and fooling them as to where the reciever's route are going to go. The most famous is the 747 fake.
Like most head fakes, they are used when the defender is face marking the reciever. The reciever acts like he has just seen a massive huck go past and takes off after it. The defender responds, taking off a full speed whilst trying to locate this errant disc (that is, looking up into the sky trying to track down the throw). The reciever then cuts under, normally with a lot of time to set and throw. Said hapless rookie just got beat, again.
[edit] The Future
The future of the "stack" is dynamic. Currently, the stack hangs in the middle of the field, as one big unit. It rarely moves much. However, if the stack moved with the play, the space could be increased. More space means a better chance of passes being completed. When the disc is moved to the open side, the stack moves slight break side. When someone makes a wing cut, the stack adapts and accomodates to increase the space for the reciever. If a reciever cuts deep, the stack pulls shorter, to maximize the space upfield. A dynamic stack would also decrease the amount of poach turnovers from aware defenders hanging on the edge of the lane.
If the stack moves to increase the space, the offense is able to have free reign of the open side (provided the defense does not have some really fast players). The Dump-and-Swing method becomes an emergency tactic as the offense can jam the disc all the way up the open side without the stack clogging the space and dragging defenders into the lane.
