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Cater to Your Team's Particular Skills
by Gwen Ambler
Any offense is difficult in the wind, so when conditions are windy a team should play the offense that it has practiced the most. Both vertical and horizontal stack offenses have advantages and disadvantages in the wind and the decision to play one over the other depends on how well your team can be on the same page while running it's O.
When my team first made the transition from vertical stack to horizontal stack back in 2005, we struggled in the wind and often would switch back to the vert stack when it was windy and we were having difficulty scoring. However, that was comparing a vertical stack offense at which we were very experienced to a horizontal offense that we were just learning. At the time, I was convinced that a vertical stack was better in the wind because the emphasis on the lateral disc movement of dumping and swinging made it hard for the defense to overplay the open side, allowing opportunities for cutters to get open with timing and handlers to generate movement with break mark throws. It seemed to me that defenses were able to easily front cutters in our horizontal stack when it was windy and handlers were often left without many options.
As my team's horizontal stack has matured and become more dynamic, I now think that it offers more possibilities to advance the disc confidently in windy conditions than the vertical stack. A horizontal offense allows more flexibility for handlers to aggressively attack and get the disc upfield. This not only serves to catch downfield defenders out of position, but it also provides an easy way to advance the disc down the field as the short throws and dishy passes to handlers remain largely unaffected by wind. Additionally, lots of handler motion combined with the coordinated movement of four cutters filling and vacating multiple cutting lanes can find holes in a poaching defense and isolate defenders without help deep. I have found vertical stack offenses to be less effective at breaking down the poachy and clammy defenses that wind invites.
While I would rather play a horizontal offense now, I recognize that its strength lies in the complex combination of coordination and improvisation. I think this may actually take longer for a team to practice before it can effectively execute the offense in any condition than it does for a vertical stack. However, the rewards are greater.
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