Hello! Great article once more. The fact that there are no easy fixes is rather telling.
Several simultaneous causes are responsible for it. In most systems, all the cutters are competing for the same spaces (open, breakside, deep space) and God forbid them to enter the Sacred Handlers Space :). This state of intra-team competition is rather detrimental as it forces lots of artifacts to avoid stepping on one another toes. Clearing out (and the Pony VS Revolver exploit of this) and calling priority cuts are necessary to avoid the chaos stack systems are so fearful of. Moreover defense is already a burden, not fighting between teammates for a right to cut should be a priority.
Finally, there is a inherent vision problem. When driving or skying, the one with the best vision (the one at the back of the stack in ulti) should avoid creating collision. As most teams tend to value yards gaining cuts, you usually want cutter coming from as far back as possible. Thus, if you are in front of the stack you perpetually face the same dilemma cut. Do a small cut to ensure a small gainer (which will also maintain initiative) at the risk of stopping an exhausting run from the back cutter right in their tracks. A small, look behind is a great solution but it implies leaving the disc/eye contact with the handler as the spaces and your vision are compartimented in Silo systems. We included in our book the infamous riddle of the 4 prisoners and their white/black hats. The situation is strikingly similar, and I would seriously suggest reading this part at least.
That leaves us with the motion systems and spread offenses. Each player becomes responsible for their one space and that avoid most of the aforementioned issues as well as reducing picks!
Thanks again for this article highlighting one of the most underrated problem in ultimate!
> the one with the best vision (the one at the back of the stack in ulti)
Yes, this is an interesting question, and something I was talking about with a friend recently. If we value players being able to see as many teammates as possible, is it better then to have players in a ring (hexagon?), mostly near the sideline so they all have a better vantage point to see where their teammates are? Then everyone can "play towards the middle"? (Potentially this also makes it harder for the defense, who might now be the ones who have trouble seeing the whole field?)
I think most players can learn to take quick looks around if that's what's expected of them. But it's also useful to design an offense that makes it easy on your offensive players.
Hello! Great article once more. The fact that there are no easy fixes is rather telling.
Several simultaneous causes are responsible for it. In most systems, all the cutters are competing for the same spaces (open, breakside, deep space) and God forbid them to enter the Sacred Handlers Space :). This state of intra-team competition is rather detrimental as it forces lots of artifacts to avoid stepping on one another toes. Clearing out (and the Pony VS Revolver exploit of this) and calling priority cuts are necessary to avoid the chaos stack systems are so fearful of. Moreover defense is already a burden, not fighting between teammates for a right to cut should be a priority.
Finally, there is a inherent vision problem. When driving or skying, the one with the best vision (the one at the back of the stack in ulti) should avoid creating collision. As most teams tend to value yards gaining cuts, you usually want cutter coming from as far back as possible. Thus, if you are in front of the stack you perpetually face the same dilemma cut. Do a small cut to ensure a small gainer (which will also maintain initiative) at the risk of stopping an exhausting run from the back cutter right in their tracks. A small, look behind is a great solution but it implies leaving the disc/eye contact with the handler as the spaces and your vision are compartimented in Silo systems. We included in our book the infamous riddle of the 4 prisoners and their white/black hats. The situation is strikingly similar, and I would seriously suggest reading this part at least.
That leaves us with the motion systems and spread offenses. Each player becomes responsible for their one space and that avoid most of the aforementioned issues as well as reducing picks!
Thanks again for this article highlighting one of the most underrated problem in ultimate!
> the one with the best vision (the one at the back of the stack in ulti)
Yes, this is an interesting question, and something I was talking about with a friend recently. If we value players being able to see as many teammates as possible, is it better then to have players in a ring (hexagon?), mostly near the sideline so they all have a better vantage point to see where their teammates are? Then everyone can "play towards the middle"? (Potentially this also makes it harder for the defense, who might now be the ones who have trouble seeing the whole field?)
I think most players can learn to take quick looks around if that's what's expected of them. But it's also useful to design an offense that makes it easy on your offensive players.