The article is presented by Five Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author. Please support the brands that make Ultiworld possible and shop at Five Ultimate!
One of the most basic offenses in ultimate is the vertical stack. Because of its simplicity, it is frequently used in league play, where teams and captains have little time to delve into offensive details and intricacies.
For many new players, especially those entering league play for the first time from pick up, the vertical stack is absurd: It seems weird to stand in the middle of the field, completely covered, and wait.
However, the basic vertical stack is a crude but effective offensive system. If ultimate was a toolbox, the vertical stack would be a hammer – simple, straightforward, and effective in a surprising number of ways. Understanding the vert, its goals, and your role in achieving them as a cutter will go great lengths in your personal development as a player.
Ultimate 101 – The Vertical Stack
Basic initiating cuts from the back of a vertical stack.
In its most primitive form, the vertical stack makes the game very boring. There is one cut. It comes from the back of the stack. It goes into the force side. If the defender makes it difficult to go deep, the cut goes under. If no catch is made, the cutter cycles into the front of the stack.
Rinse.
Repeat.
There are variations, of course, just like there are different models of Toyota cars. What you just read, however, is the Camry of the vertical stack – the basic model that lots of people use and which tends to get the job done.
The Goal Of The Vertical Stack
The main point of the vertical stack is to isolate a match up and play one-on-one in an open lane. It relies on the fact that, in ultimate, it’s impossible to defend every possible offensive opportunity.
The vertical stack is structured to create an isolation play at the back of the stack.
When everyone else stays still in the middle of the stack, it isolates the player at the back of the stack – the active receiver or the initiator – against his or her defender. The initiator can either go deep or go under, in a lane where the thrower should theoretically have an open throw. That single defender gets put on the spot: They’re unlikely to be able to take away both cuts, and have to make a choice. If they choose to prevent one cut from happening, they’re usually opening the door for the other to happen easily.
The vertical stack is all about pushing the defender at the back of the stack to make that choice, and then taking advantage of the option that they left unguarded.
Know Your Role in the Stack
Where you are (and where you’re about to be) in the stack will determine what you should be doing.
Back of the Stack
If you’re in the back of the stack when the handler has the disc, you’re the initiator.
Cut.
Cut hard.
People will care if you don’t get open. But people will care an awful lot more if you don’t cut. By not cutting, you’re creating confusion in the rest of the stack, and putting the handler with the disc in a position where they’re forced to make a play with a throw.
This is not how the vertical stack is structured to run. It’s supposed to be a flow of cutters, coming from the back of the stack, into the force side, and cycling back into the front of the stack. Like a whirlpool. By not cutting, you stop that whirlpool, and the whole system comes to a crashing halt. So cut.
Second From the Back of the Stack
If there’s one teammate behind you in the vertical stack, your job right now is to do nothing.
However, remember that the player at the back has one job – cut. When they do, you’re at the back of the stack. Get ready, because you’re about to be isolated against your defender very soon.
Pay attention to whether the initiator gets the disc or not. If they do, your job is still to cut, but how you cut is very different. Instead of the disc being stagnant, the disc is now in flow, so your defender doesn’t know where it is on the field of play. This will often open up lanes for you to attack that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Exploit them.
Third or Fourth From the Back of the Stack
Your job is to create space. When you’re in the middle of the stack, the best way to do that is by standing still. Pay attention to how many teammates are behind you in the stack, so you can anticipate when it will be your turn to cut.
Also pay attention to your defender. A great way for the defense to stop a vertical stack is by poaching out from the middle or front to stop under cuts. If you see your defender doing this, make them pay: Cut into the break side of the field, away from your poaching defender. This gives your handler a quick opportunity to hit you with a devastating break throw that creates huge flow in a vert. If you’ve taken three to five strides into the break side and not gotten the disc, turn your cut deep. The defense will be confused, you will be open, and you will be starting your cut from the break side and close to the handler, making you a great target for a huck.
Defenders near the back of the stack will be forced to either prevent the huck or cover their own player. Either you’ll get thrown to, or you’ll peel off defenders so someone else will have an easy catch and be set up to make a great continuation throw.
Front of the Stack
The front of the stack is generally reserved for handlers, to create lateral movement and swing passes. If you’re a newer player, unfamiliar with the timing of these cuts and the throw progression that you should be making, you should avoid putting yourself in this position. If you need to clear back into the stack after making a cut, clear to the spot behind the handler in front.
The Break Side
One of the vertical stack’s powers is that it splits the field down the middle. If the offense can move the disc into the break side, the flow is quick, easy, and powerful because all of the upfield defenders are suddenly three steps out of position. If you’re cutting in the vertical stack, keeping several things in mind will help you get your team access to the break side of the field.
Know your thrower. Some handlers make a priority of attacking the break side, especially early in the stall count. Provide that opportunity by making a cut out of the stack and into the break side of the field.
Also know the matchup on the disc, and note the mark’s positioning. If the mark seems out of place, or is taking away a lot of the force side, consider making a break cut and giving your thrower a chance to exploit the mark’s aggressiveness or oversight.
Also know your team’s cutting preferences. Some teams only want break side cuts to come from the handler at the front of the stack. Other teams have a more relaxed, “take it if it’s there” approach. Ask your captain. If your team doesn’t have a preference and you see an opportunity, take the initiative.
How To Know You’re Doing It Wrong
Providing real-time feedback is often difficult in ultimate. Too much happens on the field for every mistake to be corrected properly off the field, and many players yell at newer players on the field when they do something wrong.
Cutting Too Late
If you’re in the back of the stack, you’ll know that you took too long to cut if you see an experienced player busting out of the middle of the stack and cutting you off. Experienced players or captains will often see that the stack has stopped flowing, and take it upon themselves to right the ship. You may have been just about to make your cut when this happens, and get discouraged that you got cut off. Next time, anticipate when it will be your turn, and start up a little earlier.
Cutting Too Early
If you make a cut when you’re not at the back of the stack, you’ll likely cut off the initiator, as they make their move from the back of the stack. There will be groaning – you’ve just brought your defender into the throwing lane so that you could try a cut in limited space that would net fewer upfield yards. Get back in the stack and wait for it to be your turn.
Being Too Stagnant
If you’re in the middle of the stack, but your defender manages to get a poach block on an under cut, that’s on you. You were too complacent, letting your defender take advantage of you and jump into the throwing lane. Just because you’re in the middle of the stack doesn’t mean that you’ll never cut – just having the aura of someone who’s looking for every opportunity to get open can keep your defender on their toes and close to you.
Conclusion
Cutting out of the vertical stack is often the first thing that new players will have to learn how to do on offense. Learning what the goals of the vertical stack are, and how you can help your team achieve them, will make you a much better teammate to have, get you the disc more often, and make competitive play much more enjoyable.
Yes, sliced chocolate is now a thing in Japan! The Japanese brand Bourbon had the idea to take the concept of sliced cheese used for hamburgers, and to apply it to chocolate. The result ? Flexible and soft chocolate slices to use directly on toasts or sandwiches, but also to decorate pastries or cakes, pancakes and so on. A funny and original idea, but if this Japanese chocolate looks like real chocolate as much as sliced cheese looks like real cheese, I’m not sure to be a fan! :)
Are the 8 biggest technology firms in the world finally starting to realize that women have something to offer the technology industry as well? In 2015 LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, Ebay, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are collectively hiring women at a rate 238% faster than men. A new infographic from Coupofy explores this data and the current women in tech landscape as a whole, with some surprising and not so surprising results. Although it’s above the global average, Silicon Valley is not the most female-friendly [...]
The Korean singer PSY has just unveiled his latest music video entitled Daddy! In this explosive new video, the singer is staged in three versions of himself: child, adult and grandfather. Does this new music video from PSY will be as successful as the famous Gangnam Style, the most viewed Youtube video of all time?
A short animation that compares the size of all the spaceships and vehicles from the original Star Wars trilogy, based on the size of a single Stormtrooper. From the Landspeeder to the Death Star through the X-Wing, the TIE Fighter, the Millennium Falcon or the Super Star Destroyer, an amusing video created by Sploid with the illustrations by Scott Park, an illustrator we have already talked about many times.
One of the largest and most popular franchises is coming to a bittersweet end, but Willow Shields — who plays Primrose Everdeen — knows that The Hunger Games will continue to live on through its dedicated fans. The star stopped by BuzzFeed New York to help build this ~very important~ quiz and celebrate the conclusion to Katniss Everdeen's story. Let us know which character you get in the comments!
Get to work, Tom. I specifically want to see the cow move.
Life is a Dance is an awesome video that mixes beautiful images of breakdance, breathtaking scenery and a great mastery of the hyperlapse techniques! An amazing video directed by Linda Sebastian as a tribute to the German collective of dancers THE SAXONZ.
Because a lot has changed in 20 years since the song topped the charts back in 1995, Alanis stopped by The Late Late Show With James Corden to give the song a ~modern~ update.
When the legendary Harlem Globetrotters meet the band of percussionists STOMP! An awesome performance between basketball and music, which combines choreography and technical demonstrations following the rhythm of the bouncing basketballs. The perfect video to start the week with a smile! :)
In case you missed the news, USA Ultimate (USAU) announced last week that it is partnering with Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to bring ultimate to young scouts as part of the SCOUTStrong® Healthy Living Initiative. BSA will feature ultimate as one of the sports available to scouts in its program, and USAU will provide its Learn to Play kits (which include discs, cones and a rulebook) to BSA Leaders who want to teach ultimate to scouts. As a member of the ultimate community and a former Boy Scout, I’d like to share with you why this is such great news.
According to the official Boy Scouts website, the BSA aims to provide “a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness”. Scouting starts as young as six or seven years old with the Cub Scouts, and continues for some people the rest of their lives as they earn the rank of Eagle Scout and eventually transition to leaders within the organization. Throughout their scouting careers, the boys learn a variety of skills including knot tying, fire building, cooking and leadership techniques. Scouts earn merit badges, with a minimum of 21 required to earn Eagle Scout. Each badge “gives Scouts the opportunity to participate in activities and study subjects that prepare them for life” (Merit Badges). Some boys work their way up to the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout, which only 2% of all Boy Scouts earn. Notable recipients of the award include President Gerald Ford, Neil Armstrong and Steven Spielberg.
I would argue that a large part of who I am stems from my experience as a Boy Scout. Some of my best friends grew up with me in scouts. For my best friend’s bachelor party we all went hiking together. My only tattoo, which my mom hates, is a play on a patch from my old uniform. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout while receiving several merit badges along the way, including the Athletics badge and the Sports badge. And, perhaps most importantly, I was introduced to ultimate in boy scouts.
Some of my best memories from my years in BSA are simply playing games with my buddies. Sometimes it was football, sometimes it was capture the flag, and sometimes it was ultimate. We never had anything organized the way USAU has it planned now, but those days playing ultimate introduced me to a sport I didn’t get a chance to play anywhere else. From there, it was a simple step to start playing officially in college, and then with the Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance (PADA), where I’ve met friends I know I’ll have the rest of my life. Now here I am working for a professional ultimate league. You don’t always know where life will take you, but a 16 year old version of myself probably would have scoffed at the idea I would be so involved with a sport I only played casually in Boy Scouts.
It’s a proven fact that youth ultimate participation has grown significantly in recent years. While the NFL and NCAA deal with concussion issues, more parents are deciding the risks are too great for their kids to play football. I, along with other people across the sport, believe ultimate is in a prime position to dominate youth sports, and eventually, gain a larger following in spectator sports in America as a whole. USAU has done a nice job prioritizing a focus on growing youth ultimate. The MLU has also taken part in youth outreach programs, partnering in clinics across the country. From my personal experience growing up playing ultimate, as well as watching some of the clinics players have run before MLU games, I know that young kids from all walks of life will eat up the sport. It is easily accessible, easy to learn, a safer alternative than football and most importantly fun!
This latest venture with BSA is a great step forward for ultimate across America. It’s great to see that USAU has already received over 250 requests for kits since the announcement. I hope ultimate organizations everywhere, not just USAU and the MLU, continue to connect with youth organizations like BSA and encourage youth ultimate. I am excited to reach out to my old Boy Scout troop and see if I can volunteer as a coach for them. Maybe then I can give back to the organization that gave me so much, and instill the same sort of passion in ultimate that I found when I was growing up.
Despite a desire for parity, the world of politics remains a male-dominated environment. To highlight this disparity, the ELLE UK magazine had fun removing all the men in the pictures of politicians, leaving the meeting rooms and assemblies almost deserted. An experiment created by Alex Holder and Alyssa Boni.
Super excited to have some local teams! I will definitely be attending some games.
The AUDL will be launching new franchises in Austin and Dallas in the 2016 season, expanding the number of teams in the league to 27.
The Dallas Roughnecks and Austin Sol will compete in the South Division against Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville. The expansion is not a surprise; that two Texas teams would be coming on board in 2016 was reported over a year ago.
The Sol is owned by Patrick Christmas, an active member in Austin ultimate leagues. He also played for Tejas, the 2014 Men’s Masters first place club finisher.
“My vision for the Austin Sol is to work with a community of people that I love,” Christmas said. “Together, we will create an experience for Austin that grows ultimate’s visibility in our town and inspires the next generation to play this great sport.”
The Roughnecks franchise is owned by Jim Gerencser, a familiar name already within the AUDL. Gerencser runs the charity E.R.I.C. (the AUDL’s official charity) and helped start a new video streaming venture with Kevin Minderhout. There are already rumors that the Roughnecks are actively pursuing big name signings in Texas.
“We will have a group of tall guys that can play a trap zone and keep the pressure on the offense,” said Gerencser. “The Roughnecks will be all about defense.”
The battle for talent recruitment should be fierce between Austin and Dallas. Austin has the more prominent club team (Doublewide), which has players from all around Texas (and often the country). Dallas has a much larger metro area.
The addition of these two teams finalizes the South Division for 2016. The AUDL says that changes could still come to the East and Midwest Divisions.
Salt Lake City, which played host to a Western Division team two years ago, will not return to the league. The AUDL purchased the franchise rights back from the original owner.
