Who's to blame for break throws?

"NO BREAK!" - We have all heard this a million times on an ultimate field. "The force" is one of the foundation of the game.


I think that a lot of players assume (wrongly) that the only player resposible for holding the force is the defender marking the thrower and that, when the thrower "breaks" the force by making a complete pass to a receiver on the closed side, the defender on the mark is the only one to blame.

Every time the force gets broken, someone shouts to the marker "no breaks!", "hold the force", "don't get broken!". He gets all the blame.

Some team even have a system whereby someone who gets broken has to take some form of punishment. Like sub off for one or two points, do one lap of the field, ten push-ups, etc.

This is usually completely wrong: All defensive players are responsible for holding the force. A defender marking a receiver is just as responsible for preventing a break pass as a defender marking a thrower.

A successful break throw often occurs, not because there is a bad mark on the thrower, but because there is a bad mark on the receiver.

A defender marking a receiver often assumes that his only job is to stop deep cuts and cuts on the open side. When an O player makes a cut to the closed side, the D player often runs only half-heartedly after him. He probably thinks that the cutter is not supposed to get the disc on the closed side. Isn't this what the force is for? And if the cutter does manage to get the disc, he never gets blamed, the defender on the thrower always gets the blame.

In reality any decent handler can hit a loosely marked cutter on the break side. Even if the force is good. If the receiver is two or three meters free from his defender, he can catch also a less then perfect throw. He can jump, slow down, slightly change direction. The thrower has a good margin of error.

On the other hand, it takes an exceptionally good handler to hit on the break side a cutter running at full pace, who is free, but only slightly, maybe by less then one meter. In this case the thrower has very little margin of error. Any throw that is less then perfect will probably result in a turnover.

In fact, an exceptionally good handler will probably not take such a low-percentage option. He will look for another cut on the open side, or for a dump. That's how the D team successfully holds the force.