to quote the violent femmes
learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, everything you can learn.
after my last post about the marks in college ultimate there was some requests for expanding on what makes a good mark. rather than get into the specifics of a good mark, i think one of the first concepts is that a good mark needs to learn throughout a point or game to become more effective. this was what i thought was missing at the college tourney i saw.
the college marks tended to start quite tight. however, the few good throwers at the tournament were easily stepping around these and either breaking the mark, or getting a free throw with the foul. at this point, these marks should have started learning, and stepped off these players who could easily step around these marks. by taking a half-step, or even a full step off the mark, these throwers would have been much less successful at breaking the mark.
i think every top defender does this, but maybe it's what separates the best from the next tier of defenders. if i get broken by a high-release, i'm going to be aware of that throw, and either have my hand up there near the release point or have it ready to jab up there. by slowly dialing in the throwers release points and 1st choise of throw i can force him to start going deeper into his bag of tricks to beat me. the hope is that by getting him to go to these less comfortable throws the odds of getting a turnover will improve.
it's a pretty simple concept, but as a marker if you say "this is how i mark" and refuse to adjust to the thrower you're really at a disadvantage. you've got to do everything you can to make the thrower uncomfortable, and that includes changing up what you do.
after my last post about the marks in college ultimate there was some requests for expanding on what makes a good mark. rather than get into the specifics of a good mark, i think one of the first concepts is that a good mark needs to learn throughout a point or game to become more effective. this was what i thought was missing at the college tourney i saw.
the college marks tended to start quite tight. however, the few good throwers at the tournament were easily stepping around these and either breaking the mark, or getting a free throw with the foul. at this point, these marks should have started learning, and stepped off these players who could easily step around these marks. by taking a half-step, or even a full step off the mark, these throwers would have been much less successful at breaking the mark.
i think every top defender does this, but maybe it's what separates the best from the next tier of defenders. if i get broken by a high-release, i'm going to be aware of that throw, and either have my hand up there near the release point or have it ready to jab up there. by slowly dialing in the throwers release points and 1st choise of throw i can force him to start going deeper into his bag of tricks to beat me. the hope is that by getting him to go to these less comfortable throws the odds of getting a turnover will improve.
it's a pretty simple concept, but as a marker if you say "this is how i mark" and refuse to adjust to the thrower you're really at a disadvantage. you've got to do everything you can to make the thrower uncomfortable, and that includes changing up what you do.
posted by greg at
4:30 PM
|
3 comments
