Boxing Out

I've always loved skies in frisbee. There's nothing as exciting as watching two guys with an equal shot at a disc go up high for it, and seeing one come down with it. When you make a sweet sky, a wave of adrenaline instantly floods your body. And when you're on the receiving end of a sky, it's miserable--you want to get it back with every fiber of your being.

The first year I was on the Georgia team we made Nationals ('05-'06), and the time between exams and Natties challenged this exaltation of the sky. Over those three weeks, I probably spent a total of around ten hours playing 500 with Dylan Tunnell, Noah Eden, and Peter Dempsey. Two guys would line up at one side of the field, two guys on the other, and one side would toss it up high and long for one-on-one skying. At first I tried my normal "strategy" for catching it deep--read the disc and try to get it at my highest point, ignoring my opponents. The problem was that the three guys I was playing with were all noticably more athletic, taller, faster, and could jump higher than me. Soon, I realized that I HAD to take into account where they were; otherwise I might as well just drink a Coke and watch them.

So, despite the undeniable electricity of skies, I now have the opinion that skying is an overrated skill to have (especially on offense). More impactful (to me) is the ability to BOX OUT--to put yourself in between the defender and the frisbee. When a deep shot is put to me now, when I'm one-on-one with a defender, I have a very specific post-up routine:

1. Find the disc and take several sprinting steps to where I think it's going to land.
2. Find the defender and put myself between where he is and where the disc is headed.
3. Body--slow down my pace to long strides so that I'm still able to catch the disc but that now, if the defender wants to d it, he has to run through me. When the defender gets closer, I change to shorter, choppy steps to help keep balance, letting the defender bump against my back. If he tries to go around, I shuffle over to keep myself between him and the frisbee. It's best to keep your back to him when you seek this contest, because you can't use your hands to foul from that position.
4. Make a play on the disc as late as possible, so your defender has the lowest chance to also have a play.

Often, this strategy results in catching the huck around chest level--the defender loses his footing trying to get around/through you, and is therefore in no position to make any play. That has replaced skying as a play that jacks me up when I make it. It doesn't look as cool, so you might want to do a little dance to make up for that.

Sometimes, your defender will foul you by trying to go through you, then lose his footing, and then you catch the disc anyway. That's pretty tight, too--to call foul as a receiver and catch it anyway. Chants of "and one" ensue.

In general, if you get a good initial read on the disc, you will either get an uncontested foul or you will have a vastly better play on the disc than your defender. Ultimately, concentrating on boxing out seems to utilize the receiver's initial positioning advantage better than just trying to out-jump somebody.

Amble