USA Ultimate

The Double Flat Stack

by Andy Lovseth

It was late 2007, and Western Washington University was fielding an alumni team at the Sundodger Invitational. It was early on Saturday—round one or two, and I believe we were playing Simon Fraser University. A nice group of lads if ever I'd seen. They had just put a goal in, and I was trotting back to line with Dave Bestock, Ben Wiggins, and Aly Lenon, among others. 

When we arrived to the line, Aly tells me to call a line. Now, I've called hundreds, if not thousands of lines in my time. Calling the 1, the 2, the 3; flat or vertical; defense on the turn—it has become an intuitive discipline. That morning it was cloudy, yet bright. I looked to the sky above, and it struck me like inspiration from the Gods. 

"Alright boys, let's run the double flat stack." 

Now, no one on the line had ever run, let alone heard of, the double flat stack, including myself. I received confused looks and guffaws of incredulity. 

Like Motzart's pen to sheet music, the words from my lips were a seemingly divine revelation. Here's how I remember it best: 

"I'm the one, Ben you're the two. Dave you're the three. You and Reid are the deep stack. Start 50 yards deep. Aly you're the four. You, Brian, and Jack are the short stack; start 25 yards out. You guys are the wickets. You have to stand completely still—we don't want a Berkeley Pick Machine here. Dave, you gotta come screaming through those wickets—sprint as hard as you can—and as soon as you and your defender have cleared the wickets, make a sharp left turn and come across flat for the pass. 

"Reid you clear under to open up the endzone. Aly, as soon as Dave clears those wickets, your running a post route to the back right corner of the endzone. Outside-in flick huck from Dave. Score. Got it? Backhand on a turn." 

More confusion and incredulity. 

We signaled for the pull. My team sets up. It looks beautiful—a 2-3-2 formation. I bring down the pull, center it to Ben. Dave takes his man out and then comes in, busting through the wickets, and curls flat for the pass. Aly takes off and gets a good jump on his man who looks pretty confused. Dave laces a floaty huck out in front of Aly, which gives him an easy catch to run on to in the endzone. Boom, boom, boom. Score. 

If only that's how it actually turned out. Alas, I had centered the disc to Ben who had (somewhat predictably) jammed the pass to Dave as he was just arriving at the wickets, not after he had curled. Dave's defender got a hand on the disc, and we were on D. We ended up getting the disc back and scoring that point, but the double flat stack had failed. 

So what can we learn from this story? Well, first, never call Ben Wiggins as the 2. Second, creativity and experimentation should be embraced, whether in offensives sets or plays. We've all been running the same stacks and defenses for twenty years. Mix it up a little. You could have good idea, which might turn into a great idea, which could potentially turn into a championship idea. Hey, it worked for Furious George and the "single" flat stack. Three UPA Club Championships later, it's looking like one of the best ideas yet.