Cutting Footwork: Brake, Plant and Go with a Catch

Dynamic warm-up focused on Ultimate cutting technique: stopping in a few steps, planting the outside foot and exploding the other way. It ends with catches after the change of direction to link the movement to the game.

How to play

1. Easy group jog and dynamic hip, ankle and knee mobility around the field (2 min).
2. In six lines, 8 m sprint to a cone, brake in three steps by lowering the center of gravity, then walk back (2 min).
3. V-cut: 8 m sprint, plant the outside foot and break at 45 degrees toward another cone (2 min).
4. V-cut with a catch: the first student in line acts as thrower and passes the disc as the cutter breaks (3 min).
5. Each student tells a neighbor which foot they plant when braking (1 min).

Rules

• Braking is done with bent knees and the trunk over the feet, never suddenly on a straight leg.
• Lines are at least 16 feet apart and all run in the same direction.
• Wait your turn: the next student does not go until the previous one has changed direction.
• Shoes must be tied; on wet grass, slow down.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: does the direction changes in a wheelchair with two cones closer together and receives chest-height passes.
• Overweight: brakes in five steps at jogging pace to protect the knees.
• Visual impairment: uses a high-contrast disc, and the thrower claps before releasing.

Learning goals

• Learn a braking technique that protects knees and ankles.
• Perform the V-cut as the basis of getting open in Ultimate.
• Time the break of the cut with the moment of the pass.

Equipment for a class of 25

• cones: 20
• flying discs: 6

Teacher tip

Watch for knees caving inward on the brake and correct them on the spot. This works well before any stack work.

More activities like this

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