Cutting Thought: Create Space
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Loading ...There are two kinds of cuts in ultimate:
1) Cuts where you attack space to get the frisbee
2) Cuts where you threaten space to create attackable space elsewhere
The second is referred to by some as “a clear,” but this category also includes set-up cuts, which is what I’m focusing on in this post.
What do I mean?
Cutting, simply, is creating space and attacking space. The sooner you can stop thinking in terms of “beating your man” and can start thinking in terms of “getting to space first,” the more effective a cutter (and defender) you’ll be.
When I cut, my first motions are always of the two categories above. If my defender is behind me and is behind me by a step or two (such that he won’t catch me in a straight sprint), I won’t bother with setup and will take the opportunity cut in if the situation is appropriate (ie, player with the disc is looking upfield and there’s enough space for me to run into).
If the situation is not appropriate, that’s where things get more interesting. Instead of just running to space, now you have to run with a purpose–you run deep to set up space to attack underneath, for instance. The finer points of ensuring your man is out of position to defend both options is something I’ll flesh out over time, but fundamentally, if you don’t like what you have right now, then you need to cut to get somewhere you DO like and can attack from. We often talk about “7 hard steps” as the rule of the day for setting up your cuts and it’s no lie–if you run hard in one direction for 7 steps you’ll be setting up space for you to attack in the opposite direction.
Also, note that category 1 cuts can quickly become or can overlap with category 2 cuts. If I make a hard cut in and get looked off, my cut attacking space has just created space deep which I can now attack. This is the principle behind butterfly cutting–as you run hard in one direction (in) you’re a threat to get the disc and you’re also setting up space to go the other way and be a threat (the “butterfly” term comes from the fact that you don’t just do this on one side of the field, but switch from open to break side as you go). Threatening more than one area is key to good cutting–when you’re making a cut to create space, you should almost always be moving in such a way that you can threaten multiple directions at once. If you’re only a threat one way (you’re too deep, for instance, so all you can do is run in) a smart defender will take it away and leave you with nothing.
This is a lot more talky than I envisioned starting out. Think about space and how you can create it, for yourself and for your teammates.
