Zone Popping

There are a lot of people out there who say "I don't know how to teach popping, but watch so-and-so and do what he/she does." While it's true that popping is very intuitive, there are basics that every popper can and should do. The difference between good poppers and great poppers is just like good and great throwers or cutters or anything else: trial and error and lots of practice. So I may not have the perfect teaching method, but here's a not-too-shabby way to teach people how to pop.

For getting the disc, the poppers should find a spot so that there is a straight line* of space between themselves and the thrower (whether that's a handler, another popper, a wing, etc.). The line will constantly be moving as defenders move, but a popper's job is to recognize the angles and attack them. Sometimes those spots are in the cup, sometimes they are just behind it, and most often they happen as the disc swings, but the key is to find those straight lines.

Once a popper has the disc, the job becomes that of a quarterback - check down your list. The primary look is the other popper (again, only if there is a straight line to the disc), then to the wing/deep depending on what zone offense is in play, then back to the handler. Just like a quarterback, the popper check down shouldn't take more than a couple seconds, just as a popper shouldn't be holding onto the disc for long periods of time. Once a popper no longer has the disc, it starts over again, with getting into a position where the popper get into a straight line of space.

* - The straight line can be over the top if the thrower has that, as long as the popper is stationary with space around them.

This works for poppers in any zone system (2, 3, 4 handler, etc.), but like my thoughts on zone O, I think it's most effective when there are only 2 handlers. I'll write something up on the rest of zone offense in the future, but in the meantime, maybe people can start teaching popping.