All the cool kids want to bracket with you

Don't let them down!

[Inspired by a recent conversation.]

I'd like to let some of you in on a secret. All the cool kids want to run a bracket with you. Many of my ultimate-playing readers are in the "cool kid" category already (and thus this article will be nothing new). I hope this post can inspire more of you to reach that level.

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What's a bracket?

Presumably most-to-all of my readers know this already, but for completeness let’s start by explaining bracketing.

A bracket is a technique used by two defensive players to guard two offensive players who are located close to each other. Instead of playing "strict matchup" defense (one defender is solely focused on the one offensive player they were previously "assigned", no matter what), the two defenders can each guard one of the areas that those offensive players are most likely to cut into. Whichever of the two cutters runs towards that area will become their responsibility.

The name is, hopefully, self-explanatory. The defenders surround the offensive players like a pair of bracket marks surround the phrase inside them: [ O O ]

The most common bracketing situation occurs when playing defense at the back of a vertical stack. Often, the first cut will come from the player at the back of the stack. The deepest defender will stay on the deep side, and guard against deep cuts. However, if the cutter cuts back towards the disc, the next closest defender will guard them.

The two defenders bracket the two deepest cutters — one defender staying on the deep side of whichever cutter is deeper, the other defender staying on the underneath side of whichever cutter is underneath.

The following diagrams show how two back-of-the-stack defenders bracket a cutter:[Orange is on offense, trying to score at the top of the screen]

Figure 1: The deepest defender brackets on the deep side of any deep cuts.

Figure 2: The second defender brackets on the underside of any under cuts.

Once the offensive players are no longer near each other, the bracket is complete, and the defenders (temporarily) return to playing a simple 1-to-1 matchup defense. Hive Ultimate's videos (linked below) take bracketing to the next level, but this basic version is incredibly common and straightforward. One defender takes the deep space and one defender takes the under space.

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Cool kids shut down bad offenses

It's no coincidence that all of us who create frisbee content online are fans of switching, bracketing, and generally playing defense as a team. For example, here's Hive Ultimate on Surrounding Stacks and on Switching.

A simple cut-from-the-back vertical stack offense is embarrassingly easy to disrupt. If you know that the person at the back of the stack will be cutting first, and you know that they're going to either cut deep or cut under...why not just stop both of those options? Other players are not making themselves threats to catch the disc, so the people guarding them don't need to expend their full energy to stop them from catching a pass.

If you can predict what the offense is about to do, don't stand there waiting for them to do it and then chase after them! Use smart positioning—bracketing—to shut down their first few options and make them work.

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We want to bracket with you

Given how effective brackets are against bad offenses, all smart frisbee players are looking for people who are smart enough to play bracketing defense with them. They're trying to create brackets with you at pickup. They're trying to set up brackets with you at summer league. And they're certainly trying to run brackets with you on your club team (hopefully in this case you've talked about it explicitly with them!).

Every time I'm guarding the cutter at the back of a vertical stack, I get a little sad when none of the defenders in front of me try to make eye contact to set up a bracket.

Every time I'm guarding the cutter who's 2nd or 3rd from the back of the stack, I get a little sad when the defender at the back of the stack is too "focused" on their "assignment" to make eye contact with me.

But sometimes my attempted eye contact isn't in vain. My heart warms every time I find a like-minded soul who's ready to play switchy defense. Making eye contact is key. Hopefully it's obvious by now that looking at your teammates on defense is an important skill that many beginner-to-intermediate players are never explicitly taught about. Chatting on the sidelines about setting up a bracket is never a bad idea: hey, I always like to bracket at the back of the stack. You down? But as much as I value verbal communication, I still want you aspire to the "cool kid ideal" of not even needing to talk about it beforehand. It shouldn't take more than eye contact and a nod.

You don't need to play on the same club team as someone to learn to play bracketing defense with them. The good players can do it with nothing more than a glance, a nod, and perhaps a quick hand signal. I can run a club-ultimate-level bracket with people I've never even met before. You can too. All the good players in your city will reassess their estimation of how good you are when you start trying to bracket with them. They've been out there this whole time trying to make eye contact with you. Don't let them down!