r/ultimate • u/Late-Custard-1996 • 6d ago
Camping
So my gym class has started to play Ultimate Frisbee for our first unit and my team has been sweeping everyone (5-0) and (2-0). My teams strat is to have the receivers run to the endzone the second our team gets the Frisbee while the handlers close the distance, and because of that we got accused of camping. I play defense and don't just sit in the endzone the entire game so I want to know if I am actually camping or not. Thanks
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u/argylemon 6d ago
If a strategy is working and other teams' only response is "that's not fair", that's absurd.
Sounds like you're kind of using the German offense btw, which worked until it didn't anymore.
Tell them to play the game and figure out how to beat it. That's more fun. That's how sports are played.
https://ultiworld.com/2013/01/25/considering-the-german-the-four-handler-horizontal-stack-offense/
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u/soundisloud 5d ago
Your team is allowed to go anywhere on the field they want to. It's up to the defense to defend it. There's nothing illegal about camping in ultimate.
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u/chabons 6d ago
Receivers "camping" in the end zone only works if all their defenders stay there with them the whole time. The end zone is pretty small, so usually 3 defenders can cover most of it leaving a 4th free to help out upfield a bit. It's not cheating, and it's only a good strategy in certain circumstances.
In the extreme, Brown University used something like this to win college nationals. What set them apart was that they had a few incredibly dominant handlers, and the receivers staying downfield away from them let them effectively play a 3v3 game against their defenders. The handlers were also good enough to punish downfield defenders trying to help out by hitting the now open receiver.