Thur Feb 26

Focus: ho-stack D, clam, marking.

Ho-stack D notes from practice:

1. We decided to play poachy/switching D on the first pass and then collapse into hard man D. We'll see how our defense works at Stanford Invite and will make necessary further adjustments.

2. If you are a sideline defender and your offensive player cuts in, you can encourage your teammate on the inside to pick up the cut. This does not mean that you can assume that she will pick them up and just stay back. You should start following your offensive player but at the same time you can communicate with your teammate. Only switch off your player, if you see the inside defender pick up the cut!

3. If you are an inside defender, you should position yourself (if possible), so that you see both cutters on your side of the field and the disc at the same time! Pick up the first in-cut, whether it is your offensive player cutting or the offensive player on the sideline. If you are picking up the offensive player from the sideline, yell to the sideline defender to switch and point out where the other cutter is. If for some reason you don't pick up an in-cut coming down the sideline, you will have to drop and play even with your offensive player. It no longer makes sense to front her, since our deep defender is gone (they followed the sideline offensive player in) and she is basically open, w/o even having to cut.

4. Overall our defense looked good if we stayed heads up! Remember to keep in mind where the disc is and where it'll likely be thrown. We often had a player within inches of the disc but with her back to the disc and so were not able to generate a D!

Notes on Clam from practice:

1. Our clam looked really good. Most throws were made on stall 8 or 9.

2. Our clam often got broken with a stall 9 throw to a dump handler entering the inside-out space. We can adjust our dump D to prevent this throw. Try to force the dump to receive the disc backwards and really protect the inside look. We have a mark guarding the around throw and a poach in the lane protecting the up-the-line cut. It is the responsibility of dump defense to cut off the inside look to the dump handler!

3. Our poacher in the lane worked really well with a floating defender who would either play in the front of the stack or towards the back!

Notes on marking from practice:

1. We did the ladder drill where each person goes through and marks everyone on the team!

2. We played McFlugal!

3. We need to be more active on our marks and challenge our throwers! Our handlers can only get better if we challenge them at each and every practice. Really work on bending your knees, staying on your toes, and moving side to side, while keeping your balance:).