Ultimate Frisbee for dummies

To an outsider, it may look rather ridiculous. In fact, I'm pretty sure it does. People run haphazardly around a field trying to catch a flying disc that, when caught, means you can't move before throwing it to someone else.

Believe it or not, there's a system. Here's the basic idea: two teams of seven people play on a field, each trying to get the disc into their goal area on the opposite side.

To start the game, like football, each team stands on opposite sites and one side "pulls" (throws the disc really hard and far) to the other team, which takes the offensive. To move the disc up the field, players must complete throws to their teammates. Once the disc is caught, the catcher can't run with it; he or she must keep a pivot foot. That's right - only pivoting is allowed when trying to throw.

Now, once a person has the disc, his or her teammates try to get open, but don't just run all over the place (hopefully). They form a "stack": a line facing the thrower, lined up with the thrower and end-zone corner. They then "break" (run out from the line) from the back of the stack, one at a time, in angles toward or away from the thrower in attempts to get open (hence wearing cleats: cutting sharply can be quite difficult without them). This way, there is continuous movement and more attempts of getting a throw to an open player. It's like football in that you have to catch the disc in the goal area and trade sides with each scoring.

Meanwhile, the defensive team is guarding. Someone guards the thrower by staying a disc space away and can move their arms and legs to their heart's content in attempts to prevent or block the throw. They also count: the thrower gets 10 seconds to throw it or the other team gets possession. It's called a "stall count," and the guard counts "stall one ... stall two ..."

The defensive players not guarding the thrower generally play a man defense, each keeping tack of one offensive player. There's also a zone defense, but that's way more complicated and doesn't use a traditional vertical stack or man defense (three players form a sort of semicircle around the thrower and the rest have a sort of horizontal stack and break forward or backward in straight lines, which spreads out the play a lot more).

There's another aspect of defensive play: the force. No, there are no lightsabers battles in ultimate (sadly). The force refers to what direction the defense is "forcing" the thrower to throw toward. Example: if you force backhand, you stand on their right-hand side facing them (if thrower is a righty) to block the forehand throw, thus forcing a backhand throw (or probably a crappy forehand throw, what with the intense guarding) This comes in handy when a player is located by a sideline, has a superior throwing style you want to block, etc. It's a good way to synchronize your defense.

Meanwhile, the rest of the defense makes sure to stand on the corresponding side of the stack they're guarding. If you force "backhand" on a right-handed thrower, the defense will stand on the right hand side of the stack (which, remember, is facing the thrower). This way, they can better anticipate and guard against any run toward the thrower since this is the easier throw.

Remember: when guarding someone in the stack, you should probably stand a little to the corresponding side (depending on force) and pretty much parallel to them on the side; too far in front and they'll sneak around you and too far in back and they'll beat you to the throw.

If the person you're guarding in the stack gets the disc, you're the one to guard them as the attempt to throw (the disc-away distance while stall counting and arms out).

Ultimate is a non-contact sport, but that doesn't mean fouls don't happen. The game is self-refereed, which relies heavily on sportsmanship and honesty when calling out fouls and keeping track of scoring (games are measured by points, not time, and the points differ depending on league, division, etc.).

Naturally, with someone guarding you, having a variety of throws under your belt is very helpful. There's the basic backhand (assuming you're right-handed, throw from left to right in a big, horizontal sweeping motion) and forehand or "flick" (throwing from right to left, using your wrist to really flick it). There's also the hammer, which can be a bit of a "hail Mary": holding the disc like you would for a forehand behind your head and flinging it upward and forward.

Throwing a disc (Frisbee is technically a brand, so disc is the generic term) is easy when practicing, but is more difficult than you'd think when under pressure with someone guarding you.