You’re certainly right that a lot of this is missing the big-picture view of the strategic context within which it’s used–you’re right that it’s tough to write about, and I made the choice to opt for a broad-strokes description of tools one can use and leave application up to the reader rather than imposing my views of how ultimate should be played.

I try to write actionable material as much as possible, so the fact that you’re finding this post worthless means I’m not doing my job(hobby) as well as I could. Are you finding similar issues with the post on dynamic adjustments?

I’ve been dancing around doing more bona fide strategy stuff for a while (I don’t consider it my strong suit); I’ll definitely put more thought into how I structure posts on it going forward.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond again and in constructive detail after what struck me as a rather trite attack; always good to get feedback of any kind. Thanks!

*like=look
*for=force
*link=long

There is a lot more to marking than what’s in this article. An advanced player knows there’s way more than what’s written in this article and therefore must disregard this. A beginner would like at this, not realize there’s way more, and think that marking is all about arbitrary preference. So it gives a beginner a false confidence that he has a complete picture of marking.

So, to be specific about what’s missing, is basically the strategy in deciding which mark to have, what the goals of the mark are, and what makes a successful mark. A lot of beginners think that it’s their job to stop every throw. After you play for a while you realize this is impossible without a major size or athleticism advantage. So you have to pick what throws to stop. You have to pick whether you’re trying to force a bad throw, get a handblock, get a footblock, for a certain kind of throw (dump, short, link, non-break, force break(?)).

I know you can’t cover everything in one article. But to be a good article all you have to do is define what scenarios youre talking about, what your goals are, and the best way to achieve your goals.

So perhaps the article says “This is the best way to stop the IO, here are 3 strategies” or “This is the best way to get a handblock” or maybe “Here’s why you should be trying to stop IO — and not worry about actual handblocks”. That’s where your creative license as a writer, and your expertise as a frisbee player comes in and decides what your focus is, and what kind of advice you want to give.

Well, good luck. I’d love to see a well written article on such a tough subject. They’re few and far between!

-FrisbeeMaster69

Could you be a bit more specific? Is your criticism geared around poor organization? Are the diagrams too unclear in terms of field orientation for you?

I like to publish information that a frisbee player on any level can read and use to make themselves better, and would appreciate your insight on how to improve.

Thanks!

I don't know the mark is necessarily at an advantage on its own–the thrower might have a bigger learning curve, but the thrower has the advantage of knowing where his targets are while the mark does not.

Of course, if the mark DOES know these things–as you allude to, if you trust the D behind you to take throws that you aren't–it becomes a force.

Bill,

I had forgotten about the huck-stopping factor; we definitely ran some marks last year that, while not fouling, were much closer in order to pressure the huck (most throwers are not fully comfortable throwing when it looks like they could follow-through into the mark or otherwise have to throw through somebody). I sure do love the step-through IO, though!

Have you experimented with staggering the mark at all? I've found you can still apply good pressure on long throws and step-throughs if you're blocking back.

ive found that just by being more perceptive, keeping in mind the thrower's tendencies (primary handler? inexperienced cutter?) and what they want to do with the disc, shuffling to cover more ground, reading their eyes and fakes (with many players its not hard to figure out what they want to do), you can shut a player down when they have the disc. i see too many players put on the same mark regardless of who theyre guarding, which doesnt make any sense.

what i started doing this year was to shuffle all the way over to the break side/almost slightly behind the thrower to take away the around break at all costs. if you trust your dump D to stop the upline, the only thing you have to worry about is a really difficult, big extension/low release around break or some sort of IO, often low percentage throws on stall 6+. ive also taken half a step off while doing this, and things get way difficult (ring ring)