Captain's Corner Special Delivery #3

I once again went to Joel for this week's Captain's Corner. Mainly cause Dave's article will be a work of genius and he just needs a little more time to polish his masterpiece that will alter the course of Ultimate as we know it. Anyway, I asked Joel to do a "How-To" guide for effective poaching. With ultimate, learning through doing always works best, but here's quick study to help the "doing" look less embarrassing.

I was asked to write a little something on poaching because I have had some luck getting poach d’s during my career. I had a difficult time trying to figure how to explain it, but I decided that poaching can be broken down into 3 categories.

1^st Category

Poaching off handlers to stop an opposition’s set plays. This poaching is different from the other two categories because its intent is not to create d’s; it serves to take away viable throwing lanes. I think this is the easiest poaching to do, and with sideline talking it can effectively stop plays. So, I won’t go into details because most people already understand this strategy. [editor’s note: early in the stall count, step into the lane (force or break). As the stall count gets higher, tighten up on your man to prevent the swing or dump.]

2^nd Category poaching Deep

This is the second easiest poach to execute. The best way to poach deep comes from a weakside long defender. Now it is important to not initially give away your game plan to the opponent. If you let your man know you are poaching, smart teams will beat you with the under. However, if you disguise it, you can then read the thrower and primary cutter to get a d. The faster and quicker you are the closer you can play to your man and still be effective getting the d. I generally stay close to my man and try to tell my teammate that he has help deep so he can play the under. Then when I see the cutter take one step deep, I start sprinting deep. This way I can beat the offensive guy to his spot. Also, it shows my teammate that I am going deep and he can help with my guy under if the thrower decides not to throw the huck.

Another poach deep, happens when you are on the weak side of the field and you see a handler go up-line, then you can start going deep to help the long shot. Most handlers look for a big huck right after an up-line cut, so if you man is on the weak side and you see a handler go up-line, get ready to help deep.

3^rd Category Poaching on ineffective clears

This poach is tough to master because of the high risk of losing your man and the disc being swung. Poaching on ineffective clears is only a good option when the disc is trapped on a sideline. When the disc is in the middle of the field it is a lot easier for the other team to move the disc and exploit your poach.

An ineffective clear occurs when the guy you are guarding does not get the disc on his in cut, so he clears in a jog to the middle of the field or down the trap sideline. If you realize your guy is slowing down after not getting his in-cut you can float in the lane for an extra half second maybe to stop an up-line cut by a handler or another in-cut that is coming in behind you. You can not lose your man though or they have a quick look for a deep shot. [editor’s note: this poach works best if your man clears down the trap sideline. That huck is nearly impossible. We almost want them to throw that.]

I like to glance at the handlers and see if an up-line cut is happening. If that handler just sits there waiting for the swing, then I start to drift towards my man again.

With all of these strategies it is important not to look at the thrower for more than a second. You need to get good idea of what the thrower is doing with just a glance, and then rely on your sideline to help you with the rest.