Tenacious D?


A few months ago, a good friend of mine, and a coach of mine at Santa Cruz asked me, "Geoff, how come you get D on guys that are better athletes than you?" He actually commented on this a few years before when we played on the same club team. I've been thinking about this off and on for a while. I think I have at least a partial answer.

The offense has such an advantage in ultimate that invariably when you are on defense you will get beat by a cutter. Many people concede the pass to this now to open receiver too easily. There are two people involved in a pass that can make a mistake. The thrower can make an errant throw, and the receiver can miss read or have some other sort of lapse. I think that I get some of my Ds because I don't give the thrower and receiver too much credit. You also have to be willing to get skyed. Only concede the pass at the last possible moment. At the very least you will be in excellent position to put the mark on. Beyond the required physical skills to play good defense, mentally you need to put your ego away, be tenacious, and a little indignant.

Another guy I had the pleasure to play with for a few year who was a sick sick defender always said, "Play defense like you're on offense." If you have good field awareness, you can anticipate the type of cut the receiver can make.

Posted: Sat - March 26, 2005 at 09:38 PM          

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