Dump swing drill for ultimate

A dump swing drill in ultimate gives handlers the timing of a reset without the rest of the team. Three handlers stand in a triangle with one mark. The thrower is marked and counted, and at a set number, here stall five, they must throw the dump. The dump swings it straight away to the third handler, and the mark has to run across to pick up the new thrower. You need four players, one disc and a small patch of field.

How the dump swing drill works in ultimate

In a game, the dump and swing is a way of moving the disc off a crowded sideline when the count is getting high. The dump and swing article shows it with a full offence and defence. This drill takes out the cutters and keeps the three parts that depend on timing: the dump moving early, the thrower not waiting until the last moment, and the dump letting the swing go at once.

Setting the dump at stall five takes the decision away from the thrower. It is earlier than most throwers would dump on their own, and that is the point. The dump learns to be moving into space by the middle of the count, and the thrower learns to pivot and throw a calm, short pass rather than a rushed one. In a game the number can come later, but a thrower who is used to dumping early rarely ends up stalled.

The swing is about speed. The dump catches with the mark still running over, so the throw across is open for a moment. If the dump turns and looks around first, the mark arrives and the throw is gone. In the drill the mark sprints after every swing, so the handlers see straight away whether the swing went in time.

Spacing matters too. Keep the dump far enough behind the thrower that the throw clears the mark, and the swing far enough across that the mark has a real run to get there. If the triangle is too tight, the mark can cover two handlers at once and nothing works.

Step by step

The drill is shown for a forehand force, so the mark stands on the thrower's backhand side, toward the top of the picture. O1 starts with the disc, O2 is the dump and O3 the swing. D1 is the mark.

D1 marks O1 and starts the count. O2 starts deep and cuts in toward the space behind the disc as the count reaches the middle numbers.

At stall five, O1 pivots and throws the dump back to O2, past D1's reach.

O2 swings it straight away to O3, before D1 can get across.

D1 runs over and sets a new mark on O3, on the same side as before.

O2 drops back behind O3 to become the next dump, and O1 moves across into the swing spot.

The triangle has turned round and the drill runs again: D1 counts, O3 dumps at stall five and O2 swings to O1.

Start at walking pace, with the mark counting slowly, so the dump can find the right spot and the thrower can practise the pivot. Then speed up until the mark is running at full speed after every swing. Change the mark every few rounds, and after a while call a backhand force so the handlers work the other way.

The full play

You can take this playbook into your own account and change it for your team, for example adding a second defender on the dump, or moving the dump number later once the timing is there. The force drill works well next to this one, since it practises the mark that the dump plays around.

Playbooks can also be saved as a PDF if you would rather bring the drills to practice on paper.