Zone Defence
Zone defences are characterised by one or more players on the defensive team not marking a player on the opposing team, but an area. By this definition, any defence which is not entirely man-to-man, including poaching, would be regarded as a zone. For the purposes of this article, we will only be looking at defences with a consistent zone in the defensive pattern.
Zone defences are mostly used when weather conditions are less favourable for passing, or against an offence with few strong throwers. A zone usually forces many more passes to gain the same amount of ground and relies on the offence making a weak or reckless throw in that period.
Instead of trying to block passes altogether, a zone tries to block all of the easy and ground-gaining passing lanes. The zone allows passes backwards and sometimes sideways because they do little harm to the defence. The zone also allows throws over the top because these throws are generally high risk and have a good chance of being intercepted or dropped.
One advantage a zone brings is that in the event of a turnover the opponents will usually find it difficult to mark up quickly, and set up for their own defence. This can lead to easy scores, as there will be a number of people open for throws.

1. Three Man Static Cup Zone Defenc
eWhen people say “zone defence” this is the zone they are usually referring to. This is a full zone defence, where no-one apart from the marker has a player to defend. The positions in the zone are as follows. The Points (Left Point (LP) and Right Point (RP), together with AX – The Axis, form a defensive cup around the thrower.
One of the Points (strong-side) will mark the thrower, and the other Point (weak-side) and AX will stand on the force side trying to prevent any throw forward on that side. In theory, this set up will prevent throws through the cup.
The area just behind the cup is marked by MD – The Middle. The areas on either side of the field are marked by LW & RW (Left Wing and Right Wing). Anywhere behind that is marked by DP (Deep Player).
This form of zone defence is usually played in windy conditions and often only when the offence will be running into the wind. There will always be men free, so the defence is relying on an errant throw to get a turnover.

Positions
The Points
The job of Point requires a fair amount of fitness and good marking skills, as they are the only defensive players that should ever be marking the thrower. The three players in the cup (LP,AX & RP) have to decide which way the cup is going to force the thrower. This will often be towards the middle of the field, although there are instances when always forcing to a particular direction (eg. into a cross-wind), or forcing line is good.The point marking the disc at any particular time is called the break-side point and the chaser not marking the disc is called the open-side point.

The Axis
AX has the task of coordinating the cup, defending against throws through the cup, and marking any receiver that runs into the cup (known as a popper). Coordination involves telling the points who will mark a particular thrower, how wide the cup should be spaced and which way to move. AX should also listen to calls from MD as to where poppers are. The AX can turn around a lot of the time and cover any man who is near the cup. MD should usually alert AX to warn them when a man is near the cup by saying “coming in”.

The Middle
MD covers the area directly behind the cup. This usually involves marking man-to-man on anyone that comes into this area, until they leave it or they run through the cup. Once a receiver enters the cup, they are the job of the Points or AX, and should be ignored. The other job of MD is to talk to the cup. If a receiver is coming into the cup, AX needs to be told to close the cup up on that side. The cup may also need to be told if it is too open or too close together.

The Wings
Conceptually, the Wings have the simplest job on the field. They each have one side of the field to mark, and the aim is to stop passes up either of the sidelines. Usually, if a throw gets around the edge of the cup, the thrower will be looking up-field for the next pass. The Wing’s job is to find and stop any cutters to that thrower. This may involve going man-to-man for a short while. If the player gets the disc, the wing should drop back (contain!) and let the points mark the thrower. It is not the Wing’s job to mark the player with the disc.

The Deep
DP has the task of intercepting any long throws put up by the offence. The job is usually not hard since if there is any wind it is difficult to huck accurately, and thus it is not often that the deep comes into play. As a result, the main job of the deep is to talk to the other players, primarily the middle and wings, and tell them where to go and who to cover.

Communication
Defender-defender communication
As mentioned above, it is the job of some of the defenders to talk to the others and let them know what is happening. In fact, all of the defenders should be talking to other ones. The most important thing to know in a zone is when a receiver enters and leaves your area. Any time a receiver leaves your area, you should let the person whose area the receiver enters know that the receiver is now their responsibility. It is important that all the defenders know who they should be responsible for.

The lines of communication are as illustrated in the accompanying diagram. Clearly, MD & DP have the biggest communication burden, and so often the most difficult & important jobs on the field. Remember, a breakdown in communication often precedes a breakdown in the zone – keep talking.

Middle & Axis
There must be strong communication between MD & AX, since they are mostly responsible for stopping poppers and short throws through the cup. Generally, MD will tell AX to cover left or right, and the MD will cover the other side.

Sideline-defender communication
Because the defenders already have their work cut out for them on the field, players off the field can help by talking to the defenders. Ideally, each player on the sideline should select one defender, and help him. A defender needs to be told when a receiver moves into his area, when there is a free man in his area, when to move in, when to drop back, when the disc is up and so on.

2. Man-on behind
This is a slightly simplified version of the above zone, where the cup is the same, but the other four defenders take the back four receivers man-to-man. One player, a good defender and preferably a tall player, is selected to always take the deepest man, and this involves switching with the other defenders as the deepest man will often change.If the back four receivers change, say one of them goes into the cup, then the defenders must pick up whoever is free behind the cup.

3. Four Man Dynamic Cup
This zone is also similar to the basic zone presented above. The main difference is that the wing on the break side of the field becomes part of the cup until the disc is passed back to the other side of the field.

Details
The zone is as described above, with the following differences :
AX is further away from the marking Point. The gap left by this move will be filled by the strong-side Wing, creating a four-man cup.
If the cup changes the direction of the force, say if the disc moves to the other side of the field, then the break side will become the open side and vice versa. The new strong-side Wing will move into the cup, and the new weak-side Wing drops out to play a standard wing position. In this way, the cup is Dynamic.
It is important that before the new strong-side Wing moves into the cup they cut off any up-field pass to a receiver on their side of the field.
Moving one of the Wings forward into the cup leaves holes further up-field. The MD must be prepared to drop back and across a little to cover the gap. DP should talk to the other wing and MD to let them know if there are receivers open who should be picked up.
The marking Point must not let the thrower break the force, as the Wing is not in position to cut off the up-field throw.
MD will usually be further back than in a standard zone.

Assassinate
If there is a particular danger player on the offence who is the crux of their offence, then it is often a good idea to have MD mark this man. This generally throws the offence into disarray. The wings must come in and cover for MD, however, since he will be all over the field. Generally, the on-wing should shuffle across to cover the MD’s position.