Cutting Thought: It’s Stoppin’
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Loading ...It’s stoppin, it’s stoppin, it’s stoppin
What ‘chu know ’bout feet
what ‘chu
what ‘chu know ’bout feet?
Somebody asked about the mechanics of stopping. My thoughts on stopping:
- It helps to be strong, of course. Moreso with stopping than with most skills, the extra strength is the best way to stop more quickly. Deadlift. Train your hamstrings to function as extensors for your torso instead of doing leg curls (which are not ENTIRELY useless, but are mostly worthless for ultimate) to train them.
- Body mechanics. Obviously, the more traction you can get, the better. Ways to improve traction include getting better cleats, but good body mechanics can do a lot to this end too. I’m much more of a strength guy than a technique guy–being as light as I am (all of 5’8″ 136 lbs) with as much strength as I have (yes, this is a self-call. My legs are out of proportion with the rest of my body, it’s kind of ridiculous) makes for a much easier time changing direction. But there are some fundamental mechanics that work too.
See this link on ultivillage (account required) (EDIT: This clip no longer exists. Thanks for ruining my explanation, Rob). Before the hot layout grab, at the very start of the clip, you can see Zip make a good fundamental cut, mechanically speaking.
From accelerating hard off of his first step from when the clip starts, Zip cruises at speed for a step. As anyone who plays good defense is likely aware, you can’t really change direction effectively while accelerating. A basic tenet of cutting is to get your defender to accelerate in one direction while you are not. As a cutter, if you can be cruising while your opponent is still accelerating, you’re at the advantage in choosing when and where to cut. Note that as Zip cruises he’s already anticipating coming the other direction–he’s looking over his shoulder and assessing the space under he has to attack.
From there his third step prepares his body to stop. He’s already begun changing his direction slightly, and from this step his body goes in to stopping proper. The two important things to note here are the lowering of his center of gravity and the number of quick, short steps he takes. Lowering your center of gravity allows you to apply more force–think about where you are strongest in your squat, or of how you do a quarter squat before doing a standing jump. From this lowered position Zip is able to exert a large degree of force in a short amount of time–not trying to do it all in one step, he instead takes several chop steps which allow him to stop efficiently, with his hips already pointed towards his next cutting target. At one point he doubles the step rate of his defender! It’s no wonder he’s able to stop and explode into action so much more quickly than the other guy, who straightens up before he gets into his stopping squat (not to mention the fact that he has to turn his hips nearly 180 degrees).
This is a very skilled and powerful coordination of body parts–very obviously, Zip is Zip for a reason–but the fundamentals there can be applied to most cutting.
To recap, stopping:
- Takes strength
- Should be done from cruising speed, not acceleration (or get your defender accelerating more than you)
- Is greatly enhanced by choosing a direction to explode into after stopping
- Requires you to lower your center of gravity, applying force in front of your body (center of gravity) in the direction of motion you want to go in
- Typically requires several chop steps
Anyone have other thoughts/additions? Please chime in.
