The Mentality of Zone

Effective zones are great ways of putting lots of pressure on handlers. It puts handlers in precarious situations where they have small windows to throw through and will have to rely on some good fakes and good decision making to pull through. Inexperienced handlers will fail under pressure and will often make a mistake. They may try to bust the zone by trying the cross field hammer, or a scoober that's a bit too low, or a blade that catches the wind.

When I play zone defense, I tend to mark. With a tight cup (or a tight box if you will), handlers are left with the task of trying to break my mark for the dump or trying to work it through the gaps in the cup. Those who perform best against my zone, are those who will repeatedly break my mark the easy way. That is, they'll put the disc out to space for their dump and let the dump run it down. Then a couple dump swings later, the gap in the cup will open and suddenly we'll be on our own goal line.

When I play zone offense, I typically handle with Bob. Bob and I will handle while we have 4 poppers and 2 deeps. Our zone offense (when we set it up this way) destroys opponents' zones. And the reason is, Bob and I can both break the mark with ease, but we also are extremely patient with the disc (at least in zone). We know that we want the cup to run and we will take the simplest of throws. It may take us 40 throws to score, but every couple throws will make that cup work, make that cup run while we are completing the simplest of throws.

Zone acts in many ways, like a good marker should. It exerts constant pressure on the handlers. If the handlers are able to withstand the pressure, remain calm and avoid trying to do too much, then the zone will fall. If the zone can keep the pressure going, then the handlers will falter and the zone will get that D.