Offense! Sweet.
That’s what the game’s all about, isn’t it?
The chance to burn some poor hapless defender with your blazing wheels, mad hops, or sickening hucks. What other sport lets you QB like Flutie, sky like Jordan, and sprint like Homer after the Duff beer truck, all during the same point? It’s this mix of action that transforms ordinary couch potatoes into ultimate addicts, and as the army of players has increased over the years, so too have the styles and flavors of offense. With so many choices, what’s a team to do? And at the end of the day, will it really matter?

These days you have to, at the very least, run an offense that has a fancy name. Take your pick: Flood, Handler Iso, Horizontal, Box, German, Swedish, Finnish (Why is there no Canadian or American offense, by the way? Maybe it’s only taught in Europe…) and so on. Choose your own adventure. Even if all you know how to do is ‘stack’, it’s best to at least whip out a different label for the O. You can call it ‘vertical, implying that in the blink of an eye your team just might spontaneously transform into something very “un-vertical”, or maybe come up with a name that’s a little more frightening, such as Blitzkrieg or Richard Simmons. Even teams that don’t run any offense whatsoever have caught on to the importance of using a sassy name for the O. The favorite title for this inevitable clog-fest is ‘free flow’, an ever-popular strategy, and a definite one-way ticket to the consolation pool.

Regardless of the kind of offense you choose to run, there is a fundamental concept that they all rely upon which cannot be (yet often is) ignored: POSSESSION. Simply put, if you don’t have the disc, you’re not going to score. The importance of maintaining possession seems rather straightforward, but all too often a game of ultimate takes on the “dump and chase” style of a hockey match. In this scenario the disc is piped with great fervor and little thought deep into the rival’s zone where it is then turned over, only to be fought for on D again. Unless this strategy is being intentionally implemented so you can huck and zone, it should probably be avoided like the mayo at the food tent. In fact, as one player put it, this strategy is “exactly wrong”. So what drives people to such folly? Why are teams so content to toss the precious plastic away? Here are a few theories.

Glory Shots
This one’s a no-brainer. We all want to be the hero and it’s often hard to resist the opportunity to launch the disc full field for the score, even if it means looking off the open lane cutter coming under for the 20-yard gainer. Hucks are all well and good, but like naked points and karaoke, there’s a time and place for them. Until you know where and when that is it’s best to keep your big hammer locked away somewhere safe.

Dumps like a truck…
It doesn’t matter what kind of offense you run; each one requires the use of a dump at some point in time. Too many players suffer from some kind of dump-phobia and it kills their teams. The earlier you get this through your head the better: Dumps are good! Use the dump, keep the disc alive, and learn that it’s better to lose 5 yards on a throw and maintain possession than launch a swilly huck downfield.

So you’ve got your offense decided on, the glory shots are kept in the pants, you’ve reigned in the ego-maniacs, every second pass is a dump…surely victory is within your grasp! Now if you could just get your teammates to learn how to catch…
— Ryan Nichols
Vancouver Furioius George