Before we talk about how to attack a zone, we need to understand what a zone is trying to accomplish. Some zone defenses try to force the disc to the sidelines and some try to force to the middle. Some zones allow the disc to swing while denying yards up the field whereas others will try to cut off the handlers and force the disc into the hands of weaker players.

Our zone focuses on denying upfield throws and then trapping the disc on the sideline. Usually we will try to trap based which on the wind is blowing to or where the weakest handler is located. Its also a good strategy to trap female handlers simply because a 5'0" girl will really struggle to throw through a cup of 6'0" guys. Lets assume that player 3 is a weak handler for blue.

We are forcing towards the right sideline. Each player has a specific position. Player 1 is the mark, responsible for stalling and not allowing break throws. Player 2 is the apex, usually a tall player. Player 3 is the off-mark. 2 and 3 should be 10 feet away from the disc. Player 4 is the mid or short-deep, and is responsible for the middle of the field. Players 5 and 6 are the wings, who defend the sides of the field, and player 7 is the deep who is the last line of defense.

The offense moves by having blue 5 and 6 (called poppers) come in to reset the stall count and by swinging the disc to make the cup run.

So to stop this, when a popper cuts into the cup, the apex is responsible for covering them. The mid will yell "crash left/right" to indicate which side the popper is coming in on.

The apex then cuts in with the popper to cover him and deny the disc.

When the popper goes out, the apex should backpedal out to 10 feet again.

Now the disc is swung. The next few steps should all happen at the same time, but for now it's broken up into smaller steps.

The wing (player 6) locates his man and cuts across to the sideline to prevent any upfield throws to player 7 and enters the space that a popper may want to shift into. The deep also shifts over to contest a big throw to the offensive wing.

The mid (player 4) finds the popper on this side and plays man to man until the cup catches up in order to prevent any quick throws.

The cup (players 1,2,3) all move as a unit. First, they cut off any throws up the line and then they settling into their positions. It should look something like this. Player 6 will also back off once the cup is set up and player 7 may drift back into the middle

Player 5 will pinch in to contest any throws to the middle, though the cup will prevent most of these.

Now let's swing the disc back and watch how the defense moves as a unit.

Real pretty. Now, it's important that the mid and the wing on their side really work to cover their men on the swing because a big throw will allow the offense to get behind the defense. As you can see, there are 6 defenders in the front of the field with only one player deep. If the disc gets past the cup, it's really tough to catch up. It's therefore very important to prevent this from happening.

There's one more element to this zone. If the disc is within 3 yards of the sideline, the apex can call "trap!" Observe what happens in the next step.

The apex marks the disc straight up, with the other two members of the cup taking away throws up and down the line. The mid drops into the gap where the poppers try to cut and is now responsible for their movement. The wing on the far side drops down to contest any big hammers or throws over the cup. This is a very effective trap that uses the sideline to take away all good options for the thrower.

The only throw that isn't really covered is straight back. So if this happens, the trap just slides back.

Like so. The offense is in the same position, but now further back. This often forces back throws over the top of the cup..

Like so.