Love this and fully agree! I went to beach pickup in LA last week and bracketed a stack with a player I'd never met or spoken to before, right at the start of the pickup session. My mark was setting up at the back and I just looked up the open side, front of stack defender was already looking for eye contact so it was made instantly, I flashed two fingers (to suggest/confirm we're marking 2 people), we both nodded, and when the movement started we smoothly covered their respective deep and under cuts with a seamless switch.
In the recent GM Euros final I made eye contact with the front of stack defender, hand signal, nod, and when their mark cut deep they knew I had it covered so they let them go... I acknowledged the switch by moving out from the stack and pointing at my previous mark, but disguised the switch from the thrower by not rotating my body to face my new mark... Deep cutter pulled out of their cut at the same time that the thrower put the disc up, easy turn: https://www.youtube.com/live/Nt1syrY-tYg?si=Brg6MyHOuiCBJFTl&t=3631
Teaching beginners to look for eye contact with teammates is a good idea. A trigger for this is when things get crowded and you feel you might have to navigate between bodies - instead, get eye contact with your team mates, step back, and surround. At Sussex Uni we talk about stack a week or two before our first game/tournament, and only in the context of 'this is how we defend against stack'. After a quick bit of theory and a few reps in a drill or scrimmage, our beginners cause problems for experienced stack teams. The more organised / better disciplined the stack team is, the more effective the surround.
Love this and fully agree! I went to beach pickup in LA last week and bracketed a stack with a player I'd never met or spoken to before, right at the start of the pickup session. My mark was setting up at the back and I just looked up the open side, front of stack defender was already looking for eye contact so it was made instantly, I flashed two fingers (to suggest/confirm we're marking 2 people), we both nodded, and when the movement started we smoothly covered their respective deep and under cuts with a seamless switch.
In the recent GM Euros final I made eye contact with the front of stack defender, hand signal, nod, and when their mark cut deep they knew I had it covered so they let them go... I acknowledged the switch by moving out from the stack and pointing at my previous mark, but disguised the switch from the thrower by not rotating my body to face my new mark... Deep cutter pulled out of their cut at the same time that the thrower put the disc up, easy turn: https://www.youtube.com/live/Nt1syrY-tYg?si=Brg6MyHOuiCBJFTl&t=3631
Teaching beginners to look for eye contact with teammates is a good idea. A trigger for this is when things get crowded and you feel you might have to navigate between bodies - instead, get eye contact with your team mates, step back, and surround. At Sussex Uni we talk about stack a week or two before our first game/tournament, and only in the context of 'this is how we defend against stack'. After a quick bit of theory and a few reps in a drill or scrimmage, our beginners cause problems for experienced stack teams. The more organised / better disciplined the stack team is, the more effective the surround.
Thanks for another great article!
Felix, sorry I forgot to reply earlier but I loved this comment! Thanks for the video example, too.
I totally agree—disguising the switch for as long as possible is an awesome next-level subtlety here.