1-3-3 Zone Offense
Continuing from a previous post this describes how a 1-3-3 offense formation can be adopted to play against a zone.
As shown in the below figure offense (blue) again has an offensive formation based around two groups of three receivers and a single handler/dump player. Defense (red) has a standard 3 person cup, 2 wings, middle-middle and deep zone formations.
Unlike most zone offenses this approach does not rely on constant dump – swing disc movement. Why not? Well, the dump and swing uses up three offensive players but does not allow significant territory gain. Plus most defensive teams are expecting numerous dump and swings, and may be counting on the inevitable poor throw to get a turnover. Dump and swing is also vulnerable to a sideline trap.
Instead, this offensive approach seeks to hold the disc in the centre of the field. As shown in the next figure, 4 of the offensive players are positioned immediately behind the cup, standing still in the gaps. The handler seeks to pass to one of these receivers either through or over the cup. While this is a difficult throw, it may be less of a risk than the alternative of many dumps and swings.
Once the pass is through, over or around the cup two things happen. The group of three players with the disc seek to give-and-go amongst themselves to move the disc up the field. Meanwhile the other group of three players stream deep to keep the 2 wing defenders and the deep-deep defender from collapsing in on the disc. Hopefully, by setting up groups of three behind the cup it will be easier to get a give-go moving. Plus, as the cup is stationary in the centre of the field, rather than running across the field flowing a swing it is likely that the defenders will take a little bit longer to arrive after the disc has gone over, through or round cup.
Once the cup catches up the disc is passed back to the handler, the original formation is reset and there is another attempt to break through/over or round the cup.
What happens if the handler can’t break through the cup? The immediate priority is to reset the stall count so one of the 4 receivers behind the cup should crash through the cup and receive a short pass. Doesn’t matter whether this pass goes forward or backwards, as long as the stall is reset. In the longer run, if the handler can’t break through the cup they should watch for the double team, switch positions with someone more confident, switch back to dump-swing or just be a bit less timid and go for it!!