Thoughts.

As I alluded to earlier, relative positioning of the disc (to receiver and defender) is a key consideration not just for the thrower, but for the receiver in situations where the defender is close.

This notion should affect a receiver a few ways:

1. When setting up one’s cuts, have a mind for where your defender will be when you finally pick a direction to move in. Some of the most frustratingly effective cuts that have been made on me (and which I in turn started making) are set up very simply by moving until the cutter is between the defender and where the cutter expects to receive the disc. In this way, a quick movement gives the cutter the innate advantage of a well-positioned throw without requiring a ton of effort on the part of the thrower.
2. As soon as the disc goes into the air, a good receiver will not move simply to catch the disc as soon as possible–she will also move, perhaps laterally somewhat in addition to the direction she’s already running in, to position her body behind the the disc’s trajectory. In so doing she will put her body in the way of the disc, making a play more difficult for a defender (picture a football receiver shuffling to catch the ball rather than reaching, allowing them to take a hit while receiving the ball without fumbling).
3. Along with 2, a good receiver will catch the disc such that a defender cannot make a play through his body without fouling him. This means either attacking the disc as soon as possible in front of him, or, if pancaking the disc (this is seen with some frequency at the elite level), will position his arms such that the lower arm is on the side of his body that the defender is likely to bid from–a good layout D comes from a low angle (high, gazelle-style layouts (hi Watson), while impressive looking, contain a lot of wasted motion in the up-down plane and are less likely to get to the disc as quickly), so using your arm as a buffer (catching with your arm under puts your elbow in the way) in addition to your already well-positioned body makes a clean D nearly impossible.

Feel free to comment if you have additional thoughts here. Certainly the case is such that sometimes you need to lay out for the grab, but that falls under “exceptional” rather than “good,” in my opinion.

Related posts:

1. Catching Thought: Layout Grabs
2. Cutting Thought: A Mind for Adjustments
3. Catching/Defensive Thought: Layout Technique
4. Catching Thought: Focus on the spin
5. Catching/Throwing Thought: Head Stability