Through the Zone: Popping by Lloyd Cheesman

Popping creates options to the handler in a variety of ways, but they really boil down to two main categories:

• finding a gap in defensive coverage so that a handler can directly throw to the popper by going through or over the zone
• finding opportunities to provide continuation options after a team mate has received a pass

Direct Throwing Option

When trying to get the disc directly, the key thing to concentrate on as a popper is to provide eye-contact with the handler as often as possible, this tells the handler “I am ready if you throw it to me”. Sometimes it can be helpful to point towards a space that the popper has identified as being easy to attack, or where they would like the disc thrown.

The simplest example of popping is for a downfield player to move into a position where they can receive an easy, uncontested pass to the open side. Zone offence doesn't have to be complicated.

The pop pass immediately followed by a throw over head is tough for the cup to stop

As the disc swings, a cutter moves into a gap between two defenders, allowing an easy throw through the zone

A popper finds a gap in coverage, allowing an easy open side pass

This popper moves laterally as the disc swings, then turns 180 and goes back the other way, creating a gap for the handler to throw to. A quick offload keeps the

Defenders in ultimate can get rather physical, they get their body in the way of your cuts, will jostle for position and scramble with you to protect space on the pitch, popping is one of the only times when offensive players can be physical with defenders. In the same vein that defenders can stand between a cutter and space he/she wants to get to offenders can stand in the way of a defender and where they want to get to.

For example this player seals of space for himself with the defender in order to provide gap for the handler to throw into which opens up a damaging opportunity against the defence.

Also notice the positioning of the white #28; he waits in space (potentially for an overhead or break throw), but is also positioned perfectly to provide a quick continuation option after the first pass, allowing the handler to run a give & go

A fake shifts the cup, creating a gap which she uses to hit a popper

Continuation

Once the hard work has been done of getting the disc past the cup, poppers should keep the disc moving to stay ahead of the recovering cup, especially against more “top-heavy” defences like cups where the majority of defenders are put near the disc.

Popping requires a lot of assessing the defence and offering options where there are opportunities, in this example the cutter has moved into a space before the force has managed to set giving the handler a Inside-Out window to throw within [pop4] and once receiving the disc this player does a great job of moving the disc forward immediately.

This is a great example of how positioning of cutters can be the big difference in your zone offence. The handlers swing the disc, but swinging alone doesn't beat the zone; it is the offence's ability to find a gap in the zone and then quickly move the disc that proves crucial (go into detail on popper positioning)

This next example shows two poppers in action; the first (#20) is standing in space to offer an option for an overhead, while the second (#17) quickly reacts to the overhead by giving a quick offload:

overhead / pop: providing continuation to overheads

Handlers make great poppers: putting strong throwers behind the cup makes it more likely they’ll find a continuation option, keeping the disc moving and therefore making it harder for the zone to recover.

A handler pops into the cup; notice how their momentum takes them right up to the cup players, allowing them to reach through a gap in the cup and throw behind without risk

Our final clip is a great example of how to pop effectively; one popper finds a gap for a direct throw through the cup, then another popper provides continuation. They then use a give and go to continue to keep the disc moving, not allowing the zone to reset: