Session Goal

Why This Session

The give-and-go play style depends on two related habits showing up together: the thrower follows their throw without thinking, and the receiver in power position uses the window rather than wasting it. Most teams have one without the other — they give-and-go enthusiastically but never look deep when the window opens, or they read deep well but never produce power positions to read from.

This session puts the two habits in sequence: build the give-and-go reflex, then introduce the power-position read on top of it. By the scrimmage, players should recognise the pattern in live play.

See Give-and-Go Ultimate and Playing the Power Position for the system context.

Session Overview

Warm-Up (10 min) — Player-Led

Light jog, dynamic stretching, hip openers, lateral shuffles, A-skips. Resistance band activations on glutes and shoulders if available.

Coaching cue to open the session:

Throwing – 70s Throwing (10 min)

Standard 70-throw warm-up — 10 of each shape. Today specifically, watch the inside-out and roll-curve forehand sets — those are the shapes that produce break-side throws out of power position. If they feel off, spend an extra two or three before moving on.

Block A – Throw and Go Lanes (20 min)

Goal: Build the give-and-go reflex at pair scale before adding decision pressure.

A1 – Base Throw and Go (10 min)

Two parallel lanes. Pairs run the throw-and-go chain — throw, follow, catch in stride, throw, follow, repeat. No defenders, no decisions. The point is the habit: feet move on release.

A2 – Add a Continuation Cutter (10 min)

Throw and Go Lanes — Development 1. A third player downfield is the continuation cutter. After 2–3 throw-and-go exchanges, the next thrower must hit the continuation cutter in the Power Position Channel rather than play another short give-and-go.

This is where players first feel that the give-and-go chain is a setup, not the whole play.

Water Break (5 min)

Water and a quick reset. One observation called out — usually a thrower who is still standing after the throw, or a receiver who is catching sideways. Name it once, clearly, before Block B starts.

Block B – Power Position Continue (20 min)

Goal: Train the read order in power position — deep first, continuation second, give-and-go third — under live decision pressure.

B1 – Base Read (10 min)

Power Position Continue base. Handler delivers a leading pass into the Power Position Channel. Receiver has three live options — deep cutter, continuation cutter, give-and-go target — and must read and release inside two seconds.

The first reps will be slow. Players will default to the give-and-go because it is the most familiar. Reinforce the read order — deep first — every rep.

B2 – Add Defenders (10 min)

Power Position Continue — Development 1. Each downfield option (D, C, G) gets a defender. Initially passive, then active. The defenders' job is to make exactly one of the three options genuinely open per rep — the receiver must read which option the defence is gifting.

This is the rep that builds the habit of reading the picture rather than throwing what was pre-decided.

Rotation: Receiver → Handler → Continuation cutter → Deep cutter → Give-and-go target → Defenders → Queue.

Block C – Reset and Frame the Scrimmage (5 min)

Quick water and frame the scrimmage condition. One sentence — do not over-explain.

The condition: every time the disc moves through a power position, that score counts as 2 points. If a power-position window is wasted (caught and reset without the receiver looking deep first), the offence loses a point.

The condition is not perfect — coaches will make the call. The point is to bias the offence toward using the window, and to make the cost of wasting it visible.

Scrimmage – Conditioned 5v5 (20 min)

5v5 on a 60m field. Standard rules with the power-position scoring condition above.

Play to 5 points or 20 minutes, whichever comes first.

Coaching Focus:

• Are throwers following their throws, or watching them?
• When a receiver catches in power position, do they look deep first — even when they don't take the deep?
• After the final point, ask: "Where did your power positions come from? Where did they go?"

The goal is not perfect execution. The goal is the habit forming — players visibly behaving differently in power position than they did in the previous scrimmage.

Coaching Notes

• The give-and-go habit must come before the power-position read. Block A is not a warm-up — it is the foundation Block B depends on. If the chain is sloppy, slow it down rather than skipping ahead.
• The most common breakdown in Block B is a receiver defaulting to the give-and-go because it is familiar. Name it the moment you see it: "You skipped the deep read." Don't wait for the debrief.
• Watch the receivers' hips at catch in Block B specifically. Hips facing upfield = upfield throws. Hips facing sideways = sideways throws. The mechanic decides the read more than the read decides the throw.
• The scrimmage condition is a teaching tool, not a competition format. If players are gaming the rule rather than playing the game, drop it for the last few points and play freely. The habit is what matters; the rule is just the visible version of it.
• Connections: Give-and-Go Ultimate, Playing the Power Position, Power Position Channel, Move The Disc - Quick Ref, Throw and Go Lanes, Power Position Continue, 2 Second Window, Catch in Stride, Continuation, Flow, Playing in Flow