Mixed ultimate ratio rules: ABBA, end zone decides and pick each point

Mixed ultimate ratio rules decide how many women and men each team puts on the field for a point. In 7 v 7 the split is four women and three men, or three women and four men, and the ratio rule your league uses decides which split each point gets. The two you are most likely to meet are ABBA, where the ratio switches every two points, and end zone decides, where one team chooses before each point. Many rec leagues use one of these or a version of their own, so check your league's rules before the first game.

How the main mixed ultimate ratio rules work

ABBA is WFDF's Ratio Rule A, also called the prescribed ratio. After the usual flip for pull or end zone, the teams flip again and the winner picks the ratio for the first point. The second and third points use the other ratio, the fourth and fifth go back to the first, and the pattern continues in pairs until the end of the game. Half time doesn't reset it. If the first point has four women, the order runs 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3 women and so on.

End zone decides is WFDF's Ratio Rule B. The winner of the second flip names one end zone as end zone A. In the first half, the team at end zone A chooses the ratio before each point and the other team matches it. In the second half, the team at end zone B chooses.

Some rec leagues use a simpler local rule where one team, often the one receiving the pull, chooses the ratio each point. Who chooses varies, so read your league's rules.

WFDF and USA Ultimate have both used versions of these rules at their events, but a rec league can set its own, and the league's rules come first. USA Ultimate's rules call the two groups woman-matching and man-matching. This article says women and men.

Planning lines and playing time around the ratio

The ratio matters most when you set your lines. Each line needs enough women and men to play either split, so it helps to place the women first and fill in the men around them. A line built without the ratio in mind can come up short of women just as the next point needs four.

Most rec teams have fewer women than men, so the women play a larger share of points. With five women at the game, a point with four women leaves only one of them on the sideline, and under ABBA that happens on half the points. Rotate who sits on those points so the same players aren't on every one, and find out before game day how many women are coming.

Playing time in a mixed game is easier to judge within each group. Compare how often each woman has played with the other women, and each man with the other men, rather than across the whole team.

Under ABBA it is easy to lose track of where you are in the pattern. Keep a count of points as you go and call the ratio for the next point before the line walks on. If the teams disagree, counting back from the first point settles it.

If players leave during the game, check your league's rule on playing short. Under ABBA the points with three women come in pairs, so a team short of men may need someone to play two points in a row.

Tracking the ratio on game day

Playspedia's team tool can keep track of this for you. Mark each player on your roster as W or M and set your league's ratio rule in team settings. Game day then shows the split for the next point, checks each line against it and keeps playing time fair within each group. If the app gets out of step with the field, Flip moves the pattern by one point. You can set up your team here.

If your team is new to defence, how to force forehand in ultimate is a good first rule to teach.