Why everyone should pick up the disc

Yes, I teach this

I believe fast-breaking after turnovers is the optimal strategy in ultimate frisbee (see Why I like fast breaks for why). Not many teams fast break. And relatedly, not many teams let everyone pick up the disc after a turnover. I think that's wrong, too. I encourage everyone on the team I coach to pick up the disc after turnovers.

In fact, I think everyone on all teams should be encouraged to pick up the disc quickly.

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Here's how I think about it:

Logically, every frisbee team can be put in one of two categories. Let’s call them teams that are serious and teams that are non-serious. (Notes: 1. I'm a believer that "everything is a spectrum". But simplifying our spectrum into serious and non-serious teams shouldn't change the results of my argument. 2. Please don’t attach any negative connotations to either of those terms, they’re just names I’m using for convenience and both are valid ways to play frisbee. I like analyzing “serious” frisbee but the only frisbee I actually currently play is “non-serious”.)

By serious, I mean teams that are trying their hardest to win the biggest tournaments/championships at their given level. Non-serious teams are more focused on either having fun or developing their players. A team is also non-serious if they would theoretically like to win the big championship, but have no realistic chance because the skill level of their players isn't high enough.

I believe both of these categories of teams should value having everyone pick the disc up quickly. Let’s look at each case.

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Serious teams

If you're on a serious team, all of your players should be skilled enough to pick up the disc and throw a simple pass. Your college women's team isn't beating UNC if you have players you don't trust to throw a 5-yard backhand. Your club team isn't beating Boston Brute Squad if you have players you don't trust to throw a 5-yard backhand. (Picking the disc up quickly does not mean throwing difficult passes! Almost always the best first pass is the super easy option.)

And if you're a serious team, you need every ounce of advantage you can get. So if you believe, like I do, that fast-breaking is a competitive advantage, then your team should fast break. (What are those advantages? Defenders out of position, defenders not mentally ready to play defense, more open space since there are more players behind the play, etc. Again, see Why I like fast breaks for the full argument.) If only certain players are empowered to pick up the disc after turnovers, your team’s ability to start fast will only be a fraction of what it could be. If your team is trying to win, they should fast break, and thus they should let everyone pick up the disc.

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Non-serious teams

If you're not on a serious team, it should be even easier to convince you that everyone should pick the disc up. Is your goal having fun? People have fun when they touch the disc—let them pick it up after the turnover. Is your goal development? Every time someone picks the disc up they're getting one more throwing rep. Why restrict those throwing reps to only certain players?

Do you want your team to be a serious team but it’s not quite there yet? The best path to the next level is a culture that inspires players to want to improve. Players will want to build their throwing skills when they’re on a team that wants and expects them to have the disc in their hands. Yelling at your team’s weaker players when they try to pick up the disc isn’t the best way to inspire them to continue working on their throwing skills, and so neither is it the best way to get your team to the next level.

In my experience, one of the least welcoming moments in frisbee is when a player gets told not to pick up the disc. It sucks to go to a game with the goal of playing frisbee and be asked not to touch the frisbee. You can avoid all of that by having a culture where people don't get told to not pick up the disc. Choose positive vibes instead.

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Counterarguments

A common objection to everyone picking up the disc is "I don't trust [Player X] to start the offense". (I’m not sure how much I’ve actually heard someone say these words out loud, but I think the implication is pretty obvious from the way some teams arrange their offense). Included in this category is players who don't trust themselves to pick up the disc.

One of my answers to that objection is above—if there are players on the team you don't trust, you're actually on a developmental team and everyone should embrace development.

But I'd like to make one other point. I'm sure there are serious teams with players who aren't comfortable picking up the disc. But that's because they haven't been practicing it, not because they're not capable of it. If they spend all season picking up the disc after turnovers, they'll get good at it. If they spend all season blindly jogging back to the stack after turnovers, they'll get good at that instead.

So if what you see on your team now is players you don't trust to pick up the disc, ask yourself whether that's because they haven’t had enough reps picking up the disc.

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Another objection to the "everyone pick up the disc" argument that's semi-appealing to serious teams is something like "well, [cutter X] is an 80% thrower and [handler Y] is a 90% thrower" (I suppose this is really just a more sophisticated version of the previous objection).

To this objection I'll say three quick things:

1. The player picking up the disc is often doing nothing more than throwing a 3-5 yard pass that gets things moving. Your best hucker can still be the one who throws hucks.

2. The benefits of fast-breaking more than make up for the difference in skill of the initial thrower. (This statement is opinion, yes. But I feel pretty confident about it.)

3. If you're a serious team, the difference will be much smaller than 80% vs 90% (For example, last year the DC Breeze had 18 players between 93% and 98.4% completion rates).

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It’s worth stressing that picking the disc up quickly is an important part of the argument. Often the easiest time for a less-skilled player to complete a pass is when the defense isn’t yet set. I don’t think it makes strategic sense for serious teams to have everyone pick up the disc if they’re not going to be quick about it. But, in terms of expected outcomes, I’d rather have a random player picking up the disc against an unprepared defense than the team’s best thrower picking up the disc against a fully-prepared defense.

A friend asked me recently whether I really think you should always pick up the disc quickly. I'd say almost always. I think it makes sense to have a trustworthy thrower pick up the disc when a turnover ends up far enough in the endzone (or far enough out of bounds) that the defense will be set by the time the disc is put in play. In a situation like this, having a weak thrower picking up the disc is a recipe for a quick turnover, which is not good if you care about winning and also isn’t good if you care about everyone on your team getting throwing reps.

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QED—everyone should pick up the disc. If you disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What's the best argument I haven't discussed for only having certain players pick up the disc?