Marking 101

Marking is by far the most powerful defensive position on the field. There is no more important duty than to apply the force and not get broken. A break is any throw to goes to an area protected by the defense. A throw needn't go 'around' a marker to be considered a break.

- Your feet should be bouncing. A body in motion, tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. (Newton's First Law)
- Keep your feet directly under your center of gravity. If not, you will get schooled.
- Keep your hands low, real low. No, lower. Low hands are key to preventing the inside out to the break side.
- Use your eyes. Soak in all the information, watching their eyes, the disc, their hand position, their feet, their hips, their chest.
- Use your ears. Listen for your teammates. Your teammates are the eyes in the back of your head.
- Listen for the word "Strike!" Immediately shut off their up-the-line lane for 1 second. Then resume your previous force, all the while never forgetting your stall count.
- Listen for terms like "Coming In!" or "No Break!" or "No Deep!". This information will help you to tighten up your mark, shift your weight and hands to close off the break side, or switch to a straight up mark.
- Know and communicate the force to your teammates. Yell it and point to it.
- Be deceptive. Show the thrower a force and then switch to the real force 1 second later.
- Stagger your feet. It will allow you to control the forward/back motion, preventing a foul.
- Stagger your feet. Position one of your feet between the thrower. Get in there.
- Prepare for lateral movement, by engaging your leg muscles. Stay low, balanced, with your feet slightly more than hip-width apart. Stay on the balls of your feet.
- Apply pressure. Keep your hands back "blocking back" to prevent from fouling.
- Keep your head up and back. Observe the data, give yourself the benefit of a wide field of vision.
- Between you and the thrower, you are the one to control their actions and not them.
- Always begin your stall count by saying "Stalling One" Continue to loudly inform your team as to the stall count.
- You may begin your stall count when you are within ten feet of the player and the disc.
- If your opponent steps out of bounds with the disc, they are not granted a reprieve from the stall count. Start counting immediately after they catch the disc.
- Immediately after the pull, put the mark on and begin your stall count.
- Absolutely, do not wait for the other team to hover over the disc or check it in. Starting counting!
- When a disc is swung wide, you may need to "stop the bleeding" and prevent the up-the-line pass. Do this by over committing to the outside for 1 second. After you have "stopped the bleeding" you may resume your regular force. You should already be one second into your stall count.
- Once the disc is released, always, yell "Up!"
- If you get broken, yell "Broken!"
- Occasionally scan the field with brief glances over the force-side shoulder.
- Above else, markers must know and remember the force. Even if fatigue sets in, know and apply the force.
- Use a drop-step on the force, stepping back from the thrower
- Feet staggered, one forward, one back
- Shuffle laterally, but don't commit.
- To get a hand block, you'll need to go lower than appears necessary
- A markers responsibility is to reduce the choices, not to prevent every one of them.
- A break mark occurs when a thrower is able to get a pass off to the area on the field that the marker is trying to take away. The thrower needn't go around the marker for it to be considered a break.
- Head and torso are upright, leg muscles activated
- Load the springs by bending at the ankles & hips, activate your leg muscles.
- Position hands at or below knee level, palms facing the thrower
- Mark low, center of gravity
- Keep the force-side hand lower.
- Do not lunge out of position
- Be laterally explosive, improve core strength will help.
- Best not to reply on foot blocks. They're showy but usually risky and even detrimental. More acceptable at higher stall counts (7,8,9)
- Look at eyes, go ahead and glance occasionally at the force side.
- Sidelines to remind D of the force.
- Stay with the force for the entire point. Exceptions: Sideline for 1, Fire!, No Huck!, Strike!

Here are some of the forces your team could use and their purpose. From http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/basics_defence.html:

* Force Middle: This force requires dividing the field into two equal sides (left and right). When the disc is on the right side you force left, when the disc is on the left side you force right. In the cases where the disc is in the middle, like off a pull, your team should just make a default force to avoid any confusions. Lastly, it's imperative that you call out the direction you are forcing every time you mark up. It's better to force the wrong way and have your teammates know, so always yell out the force. Forcing middle is a good way to confuse the offense, and can be very effective against vertical offense. On the other hand, forcing middle against a horizontal offense is usually not the wisest choice.

* Force Line (Trap): Forcing in the direction of the line is usually done when the disc is near the sideline, although you can treat it as a reverse force middle and force sideline at all times. Forcing sideline is especially useful when the offense is near the endzone and close to the sideline. Often, teams will neglect the dump and swing approach and will try to throw into the small opening.

* Force to a Particular Side: This is the most basic idea, as was discussed initially, force one direction so your defense can control the offensive flow.

* Force Wind: Forcing wind is similar to forcing to one side, except you force the team to make the "harder" throw. That is, if the wind is blowing hard left to right, the defense can make it harder for the offense to throw by forcing them in the direction of the wind (left). The direction you chose to force is really dependent on the type of wind, sometimes throwing into the wind is easier, so it's not a golden rule to force into the wind.

* Trap For One: Trapping is another word for forcing sideline when the disc is near the sideline. So, Trapping for One implies you force sideline until they get the throw off, and then you switch back to your original force. Trapping for One is often used in zones where you want to push the offense to the weak side (the side where the wind is blowing strongest). In a zone, this equates to giving the handlers the free throw to the weak side, and then switching the force and putting on a trap once the disc is on the sideline of the weak side.

* Force (Straight) Up: Forcing up, or straight up, means you don't force to the flick or backhand side but stand perpendicular to the sideline. This should cut off the hucks and force teams to make more modest gains by throwing shorter passes. Since the handler will have both sides to throw to it will be easier for the offensive cutters to get open, so the defense must adjust by "fronting" their checks. In most cases, forcing straight up is done on the first few passes to stop any huck plays, or in situations where the wind is blowing very strong.