Breaking the Mark

As a handler, your job is to keep the disc in the offense's possession and to allow for upfield throws or dumps that will keep the offense flowing; all the while looking for opportune spots and openings to score.

There is no way any defense can cover the entire field so the mark is set to cut off one half of the field so that the defenders down-field only have to cover 1/2 the area as opposed to worrying about all of it. Theoretically...

As a handler, the offense flows through you and the goal is to yes move the disc, but more so to put the offense in the most advantageous position to score. We all know that the best way to do this is to throw the disc where the defenders aren't, leaving us with breaking the mark.

A couple teammates and I would constantly play "break-mark" but more often then not, we would play a little game we like to call "douche the mark." Straight up force, start at stall 5, the thrower would do anything in his arsenal to get the disc to the receiver all the while being defended by the mark. We'd see upside down throws, throws with no spin, between the legs stuff, and fakes for the ages. Now I don't condone these things in terms of a serious ultimate game, but you get the idea. Essentially, when you break the mark, you do exactly what the defense doesn't want you to

To me, there are several key points that are important in breaking the mark.

1. The Fake
For all of you who've been point blocked, this is for you. The fake is as essential a part to the break mark as the actual throw itself. If you fake the open-side throw, chances are the defender is going to find himself cheating a bit just to (hopefully) get a point block on you, but when this happens, recognize and react. A break-throw doesn't require that much space. You need only an additional amount of inches for this to happen. Fake open side, your defender will bite or even just merely shift their weight towards that side, and then you bring yourself back over to the break side, and you do your thing. Low release, high release, whatever it is... a break is a break.

Standing there just using your arm to throw fakes isn't good enough. It might be enough to look off your receiver, but a good fake requires your entire body. This involves stepping out, or pivoting your hips or your shoulders, making your fake motion as close to your actual throwing motion as possible. We have a guy on our team by the name of KG that has turned people around and even had people turn around and run upfield thinking that he released the disc. His fakes are full body commitments, not simple arm motions. A good mark isn't going to buy cheap fakes. Settle for the best. Use your legs. Pivot Pivot Pivot!

2. The Throw
Against great defenders, chances are that you won't get many opportunities to break. But there are several things you can think about and if you work on them, you'll find yourself better equipped. Low release breaks are effective, pretty as hell, but difficult to throw. What you count on is that your throw will fly past your defender several inches below their hand or foot and rise up to the receiver at a catchable height. High releases are difficult in that they are probably the most easily blocked if not done correctly. Either you quickly release it over their heads or behind their off shoulder, or you throw a hard fake and catch the defender bending at the waist for a short throw and then pop it over them.

Defenders that are riding you on the mark I've found to be the easiest to break. Given the rules w/ disc-space, most defenders will ride your pivot foot, theoretically taking away that break throw. But if they are really close, all you need to do is step through and throw through. It's very difficult for a mark to defend that kind of throw and additionally, there will most likely be contact which will result in a defensive foul and a free throw. (Keep good spirit in mind). You step through and throw through, the defender will almost always be caught off guard, adjust and move into your path, contact, foul, free throw, etc. etc. You guys get the point.

3. Respect
A really important aspect is respect from the defender. Most of the time in ultimate, you're defended by someone you don't know. You don't know how they throw, how fast they are, how good they actually are. You learn more about your opponent as you play and adjust as you go. The flip side is that they don't know anything about you either. From experience, people look at me and think, okay short, asian, gotta be a handler. I'm not that menacing I must say but one of the first things I try to do when I handle against teams is the establishment of my throws. Let them know you have them. Let them know you have that low release break throw, high release break throw. Let them know that their mark is nothing against you. Okay you break their mark 3 straight times on the backhand side. Yea they're gonna be scared whenever you have the disc and they're gonna tighten up their mark even more by taking away more of the break side. On top of that, the mark's defenders are going to be thinking, man this guy can break our marks any day, I'm gonna play tighter on D "just in case" we get broken.

Now how advantageous is that!? The defenders are worried sick about your break throws, so they have to almost cheat closer to the break side to make up for it. The result? Easier open side cuts for the offense. The offense flows better, open side throws are a since, and you score in 4 throws. But also keep in mind that you will still be able to break their force and thus causing the wonderful and sexy sight that is a dump swing for the break side cut. Demanding respect is something as important as actually having the throw. You make the defense believe that you have those break throws, or that 40 yard hammer, they're gonna expect it and although THOSE options might be taken away via tighter breakside mark or a deep watching for the hammer, it opens up a lot more and makes the game SIMPLE and BORING. Boring Ultimate is efficient and methodical. And it almost always results in a score.


Break the Mark! Try it sometime! =)

-hammie

Pleasuretown Throwdown WRAP

This will be a pretty brief post, as it is already midnight and I have a 6:00am wake up call.

LA Metro went down to San Diego for the 3rd annual P-town throw down. We came ready to tear it up and in short went 4-0 the first day. The first several points of the game were very sloppy with multiple turns from both sides but we eventually cleaned up our game and closed out the team in the 2nd half. The next several games went well and our last game of the day was against Cowabunga, the 2nd seed in the Pool. This bunch was made up of players mainly from Last Call and Safari, San Diego open and women's teams respectively. The game was close most of the way, and saw a pivotal break from Cowabunga via Callahan goal. It was a pretty sick goal with Rookie running down on the pull and laying out for the score off our first throw. We eventually capitalized on several turns and took the game 13-10. We were 4-0 at the end of the first day. woo go metro!


The second day arrived and we played the last seed in our pool winning 13-0 in about 35 minutes. Sunday also saw the arrival of our captain and he pretty much rallied the troops and we responded. The next two games were pretty close in the beginning with teams trading scores. Both ended with our team pulling away with multiple goal runs and winning handily. Wind was definitely playing a factor as we stuck down our zone and were able to generate turns.

So our team has made finals in 2 of the 3 tournaments we had played in, losing to Mischief twice in the finals. This time however; we were faced with a rematch with Cowabunga, which beat blackout in the semis. The beginning was close again with points being traded but then saw our traditional 2nd half run and we raced out to a 14-7 lead. What happened next is something that we won't forget. Cowabunga started going nuts. Before we knew it, they had rolled off a 6-0 run and we were sitting at 14-13. We were downwind and finally put an end to the game with a downwind huck from Keegan to Barrs for the winning goal.

LA Metro wins the first tournament in its short history going 8-0. We are all really excited for our next tournament up at Discos in Chico, and then Labor Day in San Francisco. It's gonna be a sick-nasty club season. =)

Watch out... we're gonna be wearing some crazy jerseys this year!

-hammie














pictures courtesy of Amy "meeko" Chang. thanks meeko!

The Adventures of Lefty S

A Brief history to what has been the most reoccurring injury in my entire life.


Number 1
Early April of '06

Bunch of friends went up to Mountain High. LAST run of the day, going down the home stretch, sun straight in my eyes, didn't see a mini-ramp. Suddenly got airborne and tried to land balanced. Landed a lot harder than I expected and my upper body crashed down but I instinctively stuck my left arm down to steady myself. The result was about 200+ pounds of force onto it and it dislocated. But I wasn't done wiping out. The pain was incredible and I ate the snow and tumbled all w/ my shoulder out. I managed to pop it back in myself (I learned how to on TV somehow), and snowboard slowly back down to the mountain for Medical Treatment.

Number 2
Regionals 2006

Made a really hard cut during the game vs. New Mexico, and my cleats gave way on the cruddy La Jolla grass, left arm down to instinctively right myself. Second pop. LOTS of pain. This was the first one caught on video. lol gross.

Number 3
Club Sectionals 2006

I made an effort to play at sectionals with the Long Beach team, but this time while playing UCLA, i laid out for a D, almost got it and landed awkwardly and thus forcing a THIRD dislocation. This was the most severe one I had, and a doctor from Faded basically had to lay me down, stick his CLEAT into my left armpit and YANK on my left arm to get it back into the socket.


Number 4
Labor Day, 2006
Playing with EBAY at this Coed tournament. Long story short, laid out 2 feet up in the air to snag a throw, landed hard... POP. Right then and there, the pain was so great I almost passed out.

Time for some Medical treatment right?

I went to the doctor a 3rd time and he recommended Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, so I went to Pro Sport Therapy for 6-7 weeks and had exercises done to strengthen my rotator, as well as massages to even out the scar tissue. Apparently I was the first injury there from Ultimate Frisbee. I should seriously ask them to put my jersey up on their wall with all the ones from the Ducks and Angels lol.

Number 5
Southwest Regionals, 2007

So the therapy helped immensely and I was back playing without the pain. However, after our first round loss to UCSD in Arizona, we were running a cup drill where I was part of the cup. We crashed and with my left arm out, and a teammate crashed right into the back of my shoulder really really hard. The force was enough to knock me down as well as dislocate my shoulder the 5th time. This one pissed me off the most because it wasn't even in a game, and it was the first one after all that work trying to rehab it. That was it... I was out the rest of the season and for the club season.

Number 6
Irvine Invite, 2008

On the mark, shot my arm out really fast to block a high release... bad idea. This dislocation was the warning light... my shoulder is a lot more jacked up than I thought. It didn't even take lay out bids, or collisions to knock it loose... It was dislocating with my own motions and force. Surgery is definitely needed in the future.

Number 7
Yesterday

My roommates and I went swimming and were doing lay-outs into the pool. I ran really hard for one, but slipped on the tile near the edge of the pool. The force of my upper body going nowhere coupled w/ my lower body slipping contorted my body and my arms went in different directions. My shoulder was already being pushed to it's limit and by hitting the water at a very awkward angle, the shoulder popped. It hurt pretty bad but what was worse was that obviously I didn't have my shirt on, so my roommates were treated to what a dislocated shoulder looks like. Pretty gross stuff.


Anyway... the plan now is to finish up this season (carefully), and plan Arthroscopic Surgery on my shoulder in the end of 2008. I want to thank all of you guys who have expressed concern for my shoulder... all the scoldings, all the encouragement. Thank you, and does anyone have any ibuprofin?

-Hammie

Get up and FLY