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Redistribute Their Resources
by Greg Husak
I believe that it is impossible to design a zone (or any defense for that matter) that takes away everything. If I knew that zone I would never lose a game. I think the important thing about a zone is to make sure that everyone is clear of what the zone's objectives are, and when they are forced to make a decision on the field, they do it within the context of that zone.
For instance, there might be a zone that encourages the other team to move side-to-side, swinging the disc but is stingy about the upfield. There might be another that really plugs up the short stuff and forces a huck. The defense only has a limited amount of resources (defenders) and so you have to decide how to distribute those resources throughout the field. The best zone is one that all the players understand and run well together.
The zone I would choose would depend somewhat on the other team's strengths, but also on the best zone in our team's arsenal. Typically this has been a zone which puts resources up front, at the expense of fewer people helping on deep hucks. We might allow the disc to move side-to-side, even for short yards, but primarily stopping mid-range (10-20 yards) shots directly up field to receivers. Hopefully frustration will set in and the offense will decide to let one go on an ill-advised deep shot that we have a good chance at pulling down. If there is a bit of tricky wind, we may even get lucky with a relatively unforced error, brought on by the fact that the offense is throwing a lot of safe passes.
Patient offenses may be able to wear the defense down and chip away up the field to score, or even exploit a seam and then have an advantage behind the defense (again, with resources put forward if the disc gets behind the wings there is a lot of open space). A good team should have a zone to complement their bread and butter, one which redistributes those resources on the field to take away something else. Typically though, if there is one position which could be easily adjusted to take away a different option it is the mark. By making the mark tighter/looser or having him shift to prevent/allow a swing the defense can take a different shape with some ease.
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Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 |
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