Basic Defense: The Force and Marking

In ultimate you are expected to be able to play both offense and defense when you take the field. At any point, the disc can turnover from a mistake on the offense or a good defensive play from a defender. The offense then switches to defense and the defense switches to offense. As a defender, you will use this to slow down the offense and hopefully get a turn. As an offensive player, you should be aware of defensive strategies to find holes and take advantage of exposed weaknesses. Therefore, if you want to make an impact on the field you need to understand defensive positioning and strategy.

Use the Force

Defense is Red, Offense is Blue, Disc is Yellow

In Ultimate, the mark, the person guarding the disc, orients themselves to “force” the offensive thrower to throw to only one side of the field. In the above diagram, the mark is forcing the thrower to the “away” side which is also a right-handed flick throw. This is called the force side of the field. The mark is not letting the thrower throw to the lane outlined in red on the “home” side of the field. This side of the field is called the break side as the thrower would have to “break” the mark’s force to throw on the red part of the field.

As a result, the defenders downfield who are guarding cutters can use this to their advantage. Downfield defenders in red can position themselves on the force side of the person they are guarding knowing that the mark will pressure any throw to the home side. The downfield defenders are responsible for blocking any throw made in the green open lane or throw made on the force side of the field.

In this way, the mark and the other defenders on the field work together in tandem to close off all parts of the field.

Setting a good mark

The mark is the basis of a good defense. If the thrower can get a throw off around the mark to the break side of the field, then the mark has let down the rest of the defenders downfield. The downfield defense begins to break down because of a break throw. Cutters have an open lane to cut to because the downfield defense sets up on the force side of the person they are guarding.

To set a good mark one should always be conscious on which side the defense is forcing. Keeping this in mind, the mark must not bite too hard on throws made to the open side of the field by the thrower. A common mistake many rookies make is to try to block every throw. This is not possible, and a good thrower can fake enough to eventually get around any defender, no matter how good they may be. The mark must always remember to stay at an angled defensive position with quick shuffling feet. Never reach or lean too much because a good thrower will be able to fake around and break you while off balance.