Strategies

Offense -

Vertical Stack:

The vertical stack is one of the most popular offensive strategies in ultimate. In the vertical stack, there are two main positions, cutter and handler. There will be 5 cutters and 2 handlers. Once one handler has the disk, all of the cutters will form a vertical line on the field in front of the handler. The other handler will stay to the side or behind the main handler in case the main handler needs to dump the disc. The main handler will then call "break", and the cutters will one by one break away from the line in opposite directions. If everyone breaks sharply, someone will get open and catch a pass from the handler. The cutter with the disc will then toss the disc to either of the handlers, and the process repeats. The vertical stack is especially good against man defense.

For more info - http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/strategy_vertical.html

Horizontal Stack:

The horizontal stack is similar to the vertical stack, but gives more freedom to the cutters. In horizontal stack, there will be 3 handlers, 2 inside cutters, and 2 outside cutters. When the handler has the disc, the cutters will form a horizontal line across the field, with the outside cutters on the outside, and the inside cutters on the inside. The other handlers will line up to the side of the handler with the disk. In the horizontal stack, the handler will never call break, the cutters will automatically move without being told to. The inside cutters will mostly make shorter cuts, but can go deep if they want to. They must stay far away from each other to split the defense. The outside cutters will mostly run deeper, but can also go short quickly. The cutters keep cycling until one gets a pass from a handler. Once caught, the cutter will then quickly dump the disc off to a handler and go back to their original position, and the cycle will continue until a score.

For more info - http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/strategy_horizontal.html

Defense -

Man on Man:

Man on Man defense is the most basic form of defense in ultimate. At the line before the disc is pulled, the every player will call out the person they are going to defend. They will then cover that person until one team scores.

Zone 2-3-2:

There are multiple types of zones, with 2-3-2 being the most common and basic. The numbers following a zone determine how many people are in each position. The first 2 means that there are 2 people in the cup position. The cup position are the players always guarding the handler. They will both try and block the handler from throwing anywhere by "cupping" them off. The 3 in the middle represents the three middle-men in the field. The middlemen will form a horizontal line across the middle of the field, about 15 yards away from the handler. There are 2 wings in the outside of the middle, near the sidelines, and 1 main middle man, who stands in the middle of the field. The final 2 represents the 2 deep men who guard against any deep throw. To make the zone work, all players must be very disciplined and never leave their zone. The cup must stay on the handler at all times and prevent any good throws.

Zone 3-3-1:

The zone 3-3-1 is similar to the 2-3-2, but has one important difference. The 3-3-1 takes off one of the deep defenders and adds another player to the cup. The three middlemen still have the same position. The 3-3-1 is important if you need a quick turnover because having a 3 man cup is very hard to throw around, and holding if done right, will result in very quick turnovers.

Forcing Home and Away:

Forcing a direction is when the mark force the handler to throw in one direction. Before the game starts, determine which sideline is home and which one is away. At every lineup, make a plan to either force the handler to throw home or away. Can also be called forcing flick or backhand because most handlers can only throw 1 type of throw 1 direction. Using this strategy allows the defenders to not have to worry about guarding half of the field. Should be done in almost every defensive strategy.