Marker Movement: Straight Up by Brummie
2+
A good drill to practice the fundamentals of good marking
Setup:
All we need is a thrower and a marker.
Rotation:
A > D1
Step 1
- The thrower slowly pivots back and forth and makes a slow, deliberate fake each time
- The marker moves with them, staying in an athletic position, and must touch the disc on each fake (note: we are not encouraging fouls, just making sure that we get our hands at the right position to actually block the throw)
- After 10 touches, switch positions
- Once the marker gets comfortable, speed up the pivoting motion, add some shoulder fakes, high and low release points, etc... But just move in one plane for now.
Pre-Requisite Drills:
None
Tips:
Brummie says:
When marking a thrower, the best tip is to only move your feet when the thrower moves theirs. This will enable you to adopt a position which is able to prevent (or at least make difficult) the “shown throw” (i.e. the throw that they are able to immediately or most quickly release).
Try not to fall for head fakes, shimmys, or other fakes where the thrower doesn’t move their feet.
Stay on your toes, and keep your weight above your feet; if you over-balance, you won’t be able to react quickly
Small steps are faster than big lunges
Move around where possible; a moving mark is harder to break.
Caroline Ma says:
A great cue in this is keeping your body in line with the throwers throwing shoulder. Therefore it should be harder to get faked out, and requires moving the feet properly.
Marks often use their arms as a crutch when they aren't actually covering options as well as they could be, and they lean their body instead of moving their feet. Move - Your - Feet!
When done properly, this drill is quite exhausting. It will show participants that marking should not be considered a rest if they are to do it properly.