tips on beating out taller and faster guys?

[Guest]

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[wlflover]

so the problem is if you guard back they can get alot of incuts and jus tmove it upfield. and if you guard off to the side in the front they can just take off and already have you beat.
-another question i have is if someone has longer arms then you when you are markign them is there anyhing you can do to try to stop him from reaching around you. my team like to do force alot but sometimes when they swing around they are able to throw since their reach is longer. if we do force we get on the side of the person so they shouldn't be able to throw around us or swing but it still happens.
-th elast thign i was curious about is if there was any tips on not traveling. the indoor group i play with is very lax and fouls are rarely called. i have a HUGE problem with traveling now for my normal team. i'm starting to catch it adn throw more but i always get caught on my travels. i try to just say stick to remind myself not to move but is there any other way to fix the traveling?

[kryptonick]

As one of the taller players on my team, but not one of the fastest, I hope I can help here.

Basketball is my main sport, and as such I learn to use my height, reach and jump to my advantage. If a short guy is marking me and I'm receiving the disc, I want it thrown high, or to the side away from the defender. He wont beat me to it. If I have the disc I will step out wide and throw around him. All things being equal, if I am taller and can reach further then I will get the disc. What you need to do is work on things that might tip the balance, so that even if you don't stop the tall guy catching it you make it tougher, make it tougher for him and he will drop it a few times.

What can you do?

I'd start by working on positioning and reading the disc. Regardless of how much taller I am or how high I can jump, if you are in position to catch or D the disc before it gets to me, I can't do anything about it. An easy drill to set up needs a minimum of 3 players, but the more there are the better.

have 1/3 of the people stand in a line with a disc each, the other 2/3 pair up and stand a good distance away from the discs. Both groups are facing the same direction. The first person with a disc hucks it downfield, the first pair chase the disc down and try to catch, or at least make a serious bid for, the disc. The person with the disc then joins the other group, and pairs up with the person that doesnt get to the disc, the person with the disc joins the group with discs.

The receivers here should concentrate on getting downfield, timing a jump/layout to catch the disc at a moment where they have the best chance to beat the other man. After a few shots of this the pulling group will be bored and the receivers will tire of simply sprinting and catching, so the throwing group should add some IO, OI or other tilts on the disc to make it a more challenging catch. When this happens the receivers will need to learn how to read the disc.

When I first started using this drill, a small (and fat) team mate would always beat me to the disc, because I was so hot headed I sprinted after it whilst he watched the flight and anticipated where it would land. It can embarrass less experienced, but physically able players.




To deal with someone faster, again you'll have to try to use your head. Where is the disc, where is the endzone, where is your man, where are the other defenders? Using this information try to anticipate where the disc is going to be heading before it leaves the handler. You might get burned, but if it's a straight up match up and they are that much faster you'll be getting burned alot anyways.

Another option, particularly useful if your team is alot slower than the opposition, is to try a Zone defence. With the correct set up, a fast player will find that they are simply cutting from defender to defender, so their speed advantage is almost nulified.

[rrudnic]

Being one of the shorter players on all the teams I've played for I often end up marking taller players. It is my mindset to never get beat deep. I believe its better to give them an easier in cut and force them to throw again and its far less of momentum killer than a huck. I also try to be more physical a little body contact jockeying for position often isn't called its the foul in the air, if you can use your body to get him just a little out of position before going up for it that can make all the difference. Also work on your jumping and timing if you get the disc at the highest point you can thats all you can expect, if the guy your gaurding can go get it 6 inches higher then you theres really nothing you can do about that. But that brings you back to the first point of not letting him go deep in the first place.

[s0urce]

hehe, I'll call a foul on someone who tries to bump me out before going up for a disc... gotta be careful of that.  Of course it depends on the level you play, the higher the level the more contact is generally allowed.

You're making the right decision by giving someone taller than you the in-cut, especially if they're faster than you.  You have to give him one or the other generally, better to give the in-cut than to give them a point.

In terms of marking someone taller than you with better reach, the key is to back up.  Give them 2-3 disc spaces as opposed to one.  The further back you are from a taller person, the better you can cut off their angles. 

You MUST:

Stay low and on the balls of your feet and shuffle side-to-side to with their pivots, it's a lot more work but will usually result in them dumping the disc if you are on their pivots like a dog on a bone.

In short, covering tall, fast players is damn tiring.

[RayJ]

Get on a team with Tall, Fast players and let THEM mark them

Or play offense only. 

Personally, I'm medium height but slow and out of shape. I remember one time we were receiving the pull and after we stacked up I recognized that the man marking me was one of the fastest on their team. I immediately told one of my faster teammates that if we turned the disc I would need some help/a switch.

Sure enough, we turned it and my mark went deep on me. I called for the switch and got deep help and started to switch to the man he would be marking. They were definitely aligned on me on purpose as the person who picked up the turn immediately hucked it deep, but since I was moving across the field for the switch, I was able to knock down the low pass (if I was chasing my man I would have been beat down one side of the field badly).

The key is to recognize match ups and know when you are left on someone you can't cover. They intentionally put a fast player on a slow one so they could take advantage on a turn, but luckily we recognized it and were able to cover.

If you are forced to cover someone that constantly beats you because he is just that much better than everyone, you may want to look into a junk zone and have two guys bracketing him. Have one person play in front and force him deep and keep a guy in deep zone. Or have the man on him force him in and have someone poaching the lane.

[Tenk283]

Or man up and try harder.

Tall guys aren't neccesarily quick. They may have super top speed, but it takes them twice as long to get there.

Being on the mark with tall guys is great when you are shorter. Normally their pivots are alot slower than a normal sized persons because they have a higher centre of gravity. So long as you remember their reach is alot longer.

Playing D is about forcing the Offense to choose the worst option and forcing them out of their game plan. So if they look to smash it up the field to the guy you are marking, go stand in your endzone. Poach attrociously out the back and force him to either catch it over you (when you have a 20m head start) or go under and throw the thing for once.

On sunday I had the pleasure of being marked by a worlds player. He was looking for a cheap turn on D and proceeded to poach off me every second pass. I spent the entire point running up and down the break side keeping him busy. He never got a block and we scored without turning. I touched the disc once I think, but sometimes "beating" better players isn't about burning them by 10m into the endzone for a score. Sometimes it is just a matter of making them ineffective, especially when the other team is looking for them to dominate.

[Ash]

I'm a shorter player (about 175cm) and as for marking, as long as you are putting that force on and working hard and making them work your doing the right thing, you'll have players breaking you but your doing the team thing by keeping your force and working hard not to get broken. When marking deep or receiving deep best thing i think you can do as a shorter player is get position early and read the disc well, if you've read the disc well and gotten position early it makes the job soo much harder for the taller player to get the disc without fouling you or breaking some sort of rule. anyhoo, that was my 2c

[Az06]

I'm a shorter player (about 175cm)

Hey Ash, since when are you 175cm?

Last time i checked you are shorter than me and i'm 176. Nice try!

[s0urce]

sometimes "beating" better players isn't about burning them by 10m into the endzone for a score. Sometimes it is just a matter of making them ineffective, especially when the other team is looking for them to dominate.

great advice.

[Ash]

I'm a shorter player (about 175cm)

Hey Ash, since when are you 175cm?

Last time i checked you are shorter than me and i'm 176. Nice try!

175 is shorter than 176 Az, got my height measured in class today and it was 173ish... so im not that much shorter than you

[rrudnic]

Does anyone know how tall 173cm is? 

[griswol6]

I am the shortest player on my team and I am definately not the fastest. Almost every person I will cover is taller than me, so the art of body position is HUGE when playing defense. The most important thing is to not let them go deep on you. To stop the deep break, when you mark them you have to put your body directly on their deep side. If you can position yourself where you are on their shoulder, getting right up on them. You want to be almost pressing your body against the deep side of their body so if they try and break deep, they will run right into you (foul on them).

The additional perk of being right on the leg of the man/woman you are marking is that when they break for an in-cut you are in stride with them immediately. Just make sure you keep as close to them as possible without being called for a foul. If you can take away their chance for a deep break with your body, and are able to keep close to them on an in-cut thats the best you can possibly do. Get in their face, make them uncomfortable and force them to make the crazy plays, and just be STICKY

[RayJ]

Does anyone know how tall 173cm is? 

Not very 

[Tiger]

5"7?

[kryptonick]

a little over 5'9 by my rough calculations (2.5cm = 1 inch)