Clearing, the BEST Cut in Ultimate

When an individual gets his or her first taste of ultimate, they usually fall in love with the notion of being the “go-to” guy. They have dreams of cutting up and down the field, shaking defenders out of their cleats and touching the disc every other throw. I know this because I too wanted the glory. In fact, in my one-on-one interview with Pappy at the end of freshman year, I explicitly told him that I wanted to be the next Pat Stephens. Oh, how ignorant I was.

Making the right cut that burns your guy for a score is great, but that opportunity is rare. The opportunity to make an effective clear; however, happens 90% of the time. A good clear helps two ways: one, it opens up the throwing lane for your teammates and two; it often causes a defender to lose superior positioning.

Offensive strategy in ultimate is based off constant movement. Once the offensive longs become stagnant, the defense gains the advantage. Think about it: even if you’re ten times faster than me, I can still guard you if you aren’t moving. The clear cut makes constant cutting possible even if you aren’t open on the initial cut. Also, a good clear provides the opportunity for a break throw and a run down the break side. Make sure you keep your eye on the handlers as you’re clearing. It does the team no good if you’re wide open and aren’t looking for the disc.

The key to good defense is positioning. When the offense continuously moves, it becomes harder for the defense to maintain their positioning. As a defender, I hate it when my long clears hard to the break side. I don’t get to drift in the throwing lane, and I have to chase him around the field instead of getting into a position where I can anticipate his cuts. (don’t get me wrong though, I still know how to maintain my position when a good clear happens. I’m good at this game, I swear)

Making the clear is only the first half. Once you get out of the throwing lane, you should be sprinting to get into a good cutting position. What is a good cutting position? That’s a spot, slightly on the break side from which both a deep and in-cut are viable threats.

So, the next time you’re waiting in the stack and you think your cut will be worthless since your defender has the better of you, remember that a good clear will give you the advantage. And the next time you think you can sit out in that throwing lane and make seven cuts to get open, remember that you’ve just shut down seven continue cuts that would have been open behind you if you had only cleared.