The Basics There is a principle I want to start with here that transcends the position on the field that you’re making your cut (downfield, handler, whatever). This is probably the most important cutting principle anyone can learn: take what the defense is giving you. If my defender playing off me 5 yards to contain …
The Playspedia drill of the week is called 3 Cone Speed and Catch. This drill is executed with full speed, it works on agility, change of direction, speed and catching on the run. Setup Sprint from 10 to 11 Hard cut to the right, sprint to 12 Hard cut to the left, sprint into the open field; …
The drill of the week is called the Lane Cutting Drill and comes from Playspedia. This is a great drill to work on cutting, recognizing open space and defending a cut. Along with this week’s Drill of the Week from Playspedia comes a huge feature update. You can now add a video to a play you have …
The drill of the week from Playspedia is all about Timing Horizontal Cuts. I find this drill especially useful since running the horizontal correctly is all about cutting to space and this drill will help your players understand where the space exists and how to move there. Set up in 3 lines. 4 sets up …
Thanks to Bobby Pinkston from the University of Kentucky men’s team for breaking down this offense during the November 2011 USA Ultimate Level II Clinic in Hardinsburg, Kentucky.
This tutorial video for the Calgary Ultimate Association talks about how to cut into space. The key points are: Know where the open and break side are, cutting to the break side is easy space for the cutter; requires a break from the thrower, cutting to the open side requires the cutter beats their defender; …
Years ago a friend of mine linked me to a blog post where the author was speaking to an ultimate team about their strengths and weaknesses. One of the players highlighted “cutting with flow” as their primary strength. Unfortunately I can’t find the original post but since reading it I have often thought about cutting …
In my previous post I highlighted the importance of connections within ultimate. I’d recommend having a read of the full post. As a recap, the interactions between throwers and receivers is an example of where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By recognising that there are two people involved in any …
Last example for now. Give Go. Handler’s at the brick with the disc. Ho-stack setup with 2 dumps and 4 across. A few cuts get looked off, open side dump’s defender sags into the lane. Handler swings to the poached dump and immediately runs up line for the give go. Give go handlers in this …
This drill is designed to simulate coordinated cutting by 4 cutters in a horizontal offense. Cutters move from point to point among three lines of cones forming multiple diamonds. Being careful not to run into each other and cut in coordinated fashion, the cutters make their way across the field.
Ok, another example. Check your shoulder on buttonhook cuts. When cutting away, look back at the thrower (aka “check your shoulder) before you plant to come back or even start to slow down. You see it all the time when you set up a drill that involves a buttonhook cut that cutters run toward a cone …
Dan Cogan-Drew shares a great drill with us that works on not only defending a cutting, but also on beating the cutter to the disc. The way the drill works is that it’s focused on practicing defender positioning and agility as well as the cutter juking and working on the quickness of their feet/cuts. Link to …
There are a few things to keep in mind going from a cutter to a handler: As a handler, it’s important to throw leading throws to the cutters. As a cutter, you know what throws you like and what you don’t like – so keep that in the back of your mind as a handler…throw the …
Cutting is the art of getting free from a defender at a time and in a position that enables the cutter to be thrown to. There are a few fundamental points that a cutter should remember: Firstly, a cutter should ‘know the thrower’. This means knowing what the thrower likes to throw and what they …
This is a great drill for the beginning of practice since it gets everyone working on all of the basics – throwing, catching, cutting and marking. You can also set goals in this drill (i.e. 10 completed throws in a row before switching to a different throw). Number of players – unlimited number of players; …
A cut is a simple movement on the field but it’s often done poorly since most people have never learned how to cut. This article contains tips that will help you become a better cutter, that will help you think smarter on the field, and that will improve your foot speed, improving your overall game. …
