Face Guarding is Bad!

Whenever I used to play against UCLA in college, their players would always faceguard the dumps. I wanted to laugh every time I saw this. Newer players get freaked out by faceguarding. When a defender is looking directly at you and nowhere else, he will be able to react to your cuts very easily, but he will not be able to see the thrower at all. An experienced thrower (and dump) knows that a throw into space, or over the head of the defender will work well against this type of defense.

When guarding dumps, I have three options on how to guard them.

The first one is the most common and the one I used to use the most. I usually give them a small window (either upline or into the backfield) and hope for a slightly errant throw while giving them as little as possible. I used to attempt to "bait the upline" but realized that I have to give them a lot less room for the upline then for the backfield. This method is great at forcing the dump to only have on direction. It is the safest of the dump defenses in that it will usually completely take on dump cut away, at the expense of allowing the open throw.

The second option is to try to take away the dump completely by placing your entire body in between the thrower and the disc. When this is done, you are forced to face guard. The few times I do this, I make sure to glance back as frequently as possible and (if possible) to get sideline help. Ideally, I want to know when the thrower is looking at the dump and try to determine what the thrower wants to throw (over the top, bending flick etc.). As noted in my opening paragraph, I believe this to be the poorest form of defense. The cutter has the ability to be the defender both backfield and upline and the thrower can throw the simple throw out into space.

The last option is one that I am a little new to, but am quickly learning to respect. This method is similar to the first where you give the dump a small window in one direction, but you have to basically place your nuts on the dump's thigh (this image will forever be in my mind thanks to one Davin Lyons). By positioning your body like this, especially at such close a proximity, the dump is forced to either go the direction you are already facing, or to try to maneuver around you to get upline. This method is the most effective method, but it is one, if used incorrectly is liable to create a lot of fouls.

Of the three, I will stick to my original claim that faceguarding is bad. It is an inferior way of playing defense. A knowledgeable defender knows that you should try to watch both the disc and your mark as much as possible. Whether you position your body so that you can see both or maybe you take quick glances to see where the disc is and if the thrower is looking at your guy, you are better off than if you just faceguard.