Setting a trap zone

There are few things I dread more than being trapped on the sideline in zone with a strong crosswind. Add in a large mark and, yeah, I'm a little intimidated. First of all, I've only got half the field to throw to because of the sideline. Then add in 3 other people stationed around me, and pressure on the dump. Cap it all off with wind blowing into my face if I try to break, and it's a recipe for disaster.

That's the beauty of the trap zone. Sure, it's riskier than the normal force middle zone because you overload your defense on the trap side, but the reward is higher as well.

There are several different ways to run a trap zone, but the general principle is to force the disc towards the sideline, and then set the trap so that the offense has difficulty moving the disc back off the sideline.

To do this, the cup must adjust to a more flat orientation, enticing the thrower to take the easy pass towards the sideline, and denying any passes to the break side. We give up a small amount of yardage up the field in order to push the disc towards our largest defender - the sideline. Once there, the cup shifts into the trap formation, and specifically pressures the dump to make it difficult to break out of the trap.

The down field defenders shift towards the trap side as well: the trap wing acts as a fourth member of the cup and takes the sideline in. The short deep covers whoever is behind the cup, and has help from the off-side wing who pinches towards the middle. The deep shifts towards the trap side as well, because while the orientation of the cup allows trap-side hucks, break hucks need to be high and floaty to get over the cup, and therefore she has enough time to make a play if it goes up.

Now, what happens if the cup gets broken? It's just like man - because most defenders are on the trap side of the field, the entire zone needs to be sprinting to seal off the break and taking away the next throw. This creates a defense of 2 speeds - a steady solid wall pushing towards the trap, and if it gets broken, everyone sprinting to recover.

Lastly, trap is also vulnerable near the endzone, as it is not as stringent about denying yards up field as other zones. So make sure you have a vocal deep to call out the transition to man, and call it early.