Ultimate: Why everyone should play as ‘deep-deep’ at least once

In India we don’t have a Women’s Division, every tournament experience has always come from playing Mixed. Over the last two years Chennai Ultimate Frisbee has been playing host to Free Spirits, an all women’s tournament which has done phenomenally in improving the quality of ultimate and the role of women in a team.

This year, I had the opportunity of playing on a team that decided to play a Zone D. My team decided to play me as the Deep-Deep, which is a very rare position to come by when playing Mixed. They are usually of above average height or make above average jumps, and not the slowest on the field (not making any statements regarding gender inequality/discrimination).

Why should everyone play Deep at least once?

1. Read the disc better.

I found that I started reading the disc better, on Defense and Offense. I got to implement things I learned in practice more, boxing out, picking the ideal position et cetera. Playing Deep means you get to handle loads of hospital throws, floaty discs, and the disc always has someone on its tail, and in the deeper half of the field there is more at stake when you don’t win the disc over the opponent.

2. Ability to communicate improves (hopefully)

As a Deep Deep, you’ve got the best view of the game, and therefore, more responsibility. I got beaten a number of times because I didn’t recognize the need for my teammates to fall back and help me out. I’ve also gotten beat because I forgot to call the man transitions close to the Endzone (heart-breaking to see 3 guys free in the endzone).

At the same time, there were times when we forced turnovers because of better communication, recognition of man switches and smart plays.

3. Ability to React

This follows the previous point because it is also important to communicate smart. You don’t want to be lecturing your teammate on the cup with regard to which side they should move to avoid a reset.

I’ve been told to communicate smart while playing short deep on a Zone D many times.

Instead of yelling “Hey blah blah, popper coming in”, or calling out to your teammates on the cup randomly in a panic, it helps to say “Blah Blah, to your right”. I still find it super hard to give precise and quick instructions.

4. Think in advance

You cannot afford to think just about what is happening. Along with reading the disc, you also need to give some thought on what you are going to do after you get it. For most people, this is instinctual. I know my options always (the execution is not so definite, sadly). I guess it’s easier for people who’ve played other team sports, but it’s a skill that can and needs to be honed.

This is not about thinking in advance only when you have the disc, it’s also about understanding the options the Offense has. It involves baiting, choosing to defend a certain play that would do the most damage, or allowing a certain pass.

Playing Deep does this exactly, simply by increasing the number of such situations where you are forced to think ahead.

5 . Handle pressure better.

Playing deep involves making big plays on the disc. You get away looking really cool or you get owned. Deep has the final chance to get the turnover, or you pay the price, regardless of which players messed up. You have to come back from that every time and not be afraid to make those big plays again and again, regardless of the result and not give up.

Personal learning:

Playing Deep once obviously didn’t make me a better player overnight, but it gave me an insight into to all the things that I need to focus on during training. It helps one understand the game better, it changes the perspective.

I play better Zone D, previously often clueless, now I understand the functional necessities of the positions. My boxing out has improved because of having gone up against players one on one, even if I don’t get the disc I can theorize about what I should do the next time.

It’s made me think about the function of a play, rather than the right ‘structured’ way to do something.

It’ll be great to hear some more thoughts on this.