Zone O, Huddle-Style
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My favorites (Ryan Morgan’s assertion that wings are not just a throwaway position for rookies is worth repeating, too); again, they put things a lot more succinctly than I.
I don’t see a ton of revolutionary (compared with my experience) information there, apart from the number of endorsements of the two-handler set; this says to me that zone O really comes down to a good, solid fundamental approach/understanding.
On the skill spectrum, a quick catch-throw turnaround and composure with the disc in your hand are great for any zone handler (and by extension, all players) to have–the former can be worked on pretty much anytime, while the latter would come with more throwing experience/confidence, both under pressure (ratchet it up in practice/drills) and in conditions (find it, and do it).
Knowledge goes hand in hand with skill. Recognizing what kind of zone you’re facing and where the weak points are, along with knowing what your own team’s assets are, likewise will do a lot to prepare for success. Insert Sun Tzu quote about knowing your enemy and yourself.
I definitely had the same revelation about wings when I went from coed to open, that one was spot on.
I would have liked more thoughts on how to practice it. I coached my first season this year, and had some difficulty with it; our team played man D all year, so when I had them put on a zone D in practice it was craptastic. College seasons are so short!
Yeah, I started recognizing the utility of the wings when we started using a 2-handler set at Dartmouth a couple years ago; finding space became a lot easier when the wings and poppers worked together to spread and switch, forcing the defense to constantly adjust and opening holes.
There really doesn’t seem to be a lot of wisdom out there on practicing it, does there? I had similar difficulty coming up with anything–outside of a general game plan and getting your reps applying it, or a broad base of experience to evaluate and pick apart a D, straightforward solutions are still mysterious. I think this is due in part to the varying nature of what a given zone D will give and take away; in effect, you’re never practicing one zone O, like you do when you work on a vert or horizontal stack O, but need to develop a skillset that can transfer–so, keeping with the man analogy, learning how to make dumps and cut effectively, regardless of vert/horizontal setup.
Perhaps we need to break zone offense down more discretely–there’s some of it with allusions to practice on beating a trap; other related skills might be flooding a space (the conventional wing/popper flood on a swing), spreading the defense/keeping it busy to create holes, making over-the-tops to space. The popular “make a circle and make three people run around it as a cup while you pass back and forth” drill probably has some carryover too.
Those seem to be more the sort of thing you can design drills around and practice discretely.