¶ Drill 35: Confining zone cup
Skills Focussed:
Concepts to know before doing the drill:
- Basic catching and throwing
- Rules of Ultimate
- Low release throwing
- Catching high speed passes
- Basics of zone cup
Drill Focus:
- Defense: Uses a three-player cup designed to prevent any forward throws while allowing lateral handler swings.
- Offense: Use an offensive player (popper) in the middle of the field that tries to find holes in the cup. In general, whenever a thrower is able to throw the disc through the cup, there should be a popper ready to receive the pass.
Set-up:
- Players: 3 stationary handlers (in a horizontal line), 3 cup defenders, 1 popper (or 2 for advanced version) positioned upfield
- Field: Use a half-width area with enough space for swings and cup movement.
Drill-Flow:
- Handlers swing the disc laterally, trying to identify gaps.
- Cup moves together—expanding while shifting and contracting when set—ensuring no gaps allow a forward throw.
- Popper positions in potential holes, ready to receive a pass through the cup.
- Handlers exploit gaps by throwing to the popper when available.
- After 10–20 passes, rotate roles logically so everyone experiences each position.
Coaching points:
- As the disc swings across the field, the cup must fall back and expand into a wide wall away from the handlers. By being big, the cup is a lot less vulnerable while moving. Then contract once set, with the new sideline defender becoming the marker.
- Defenders must move as a unit, avoiding gaps between them.
- Poppers must stay balanced and ready, not making unnecessary fakes.
- Defenders should look behind only when the disc is in the air, to locate poppers without losing track of the thrower.
- When the cup collapses too slowly, encourage expansion first, then contraction to stay organized.
Progression/Regression:
- When a throw is made through the cup to a popper, many offensive players would immediately try to throw the disc upfield. However, there are usually other defenders blocking these upfield throws. A moment of confusion will ensue, allowing the cup to catch up. For the offense it’s often better, after a throw through the cup has been made, to pass the disc horizontally away from the cup. If this is done quickly enough, the cup will not be able to catch up and the offense can safely work the disc up the field. Practise this idea and engrain it in the muscle memory of the players if there are two poppers i.e. whenever a pass is made through the cup, the popper that received the disc should immediately pass it to his fellow popper.
Source: 140 & 141 UTM