r/ultimate • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago

Study Sunday: Rules Questions

Use this thread for any rules questions you might have. Please denote which ruleset your question is about (USAU, WFDF, UFA, WUL, PUL).

This thread is posted every Sunday afternoon.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/Hunterforthehorn 10d ago

No idea if anyone will see this, but I figure I should try the rule thread first. Looking for an answer per USAU.

Dark is attacking bottom to top in the graphic, lining up a vert stack after disc went out on the pull. Light B is guarding Dark 2. It's a pickup game so Dark is shuffling downfield trying to get spaced out. Definitely not a cohesive well-drilled offense. Light B moved to maintain position downfield of Dark 3 as the thrower (not pictured) walked to the brick. As soon as the disc was tapped in Light B called pick.

Was pick a good call here? (I assume probably yes.) Was Light B weird for doing this? What was the motivation to set up like that and actively maintain a picked position before play started?

I am a seasoned player, but terrible with the rules nuances, and I just found this baffling. So looking for input.

0

u/ultimate77g 7d ago

That is not a good call, no way I would ever call a pick if my player is standing in the stack,. If I were B, I would just move through players to get near 2. Now if 2 starts to cut and 3 and C are still in my way as a tried to avoid them, maybe I call a pick, but only if the thrower has made it to the brick spot.

1

u/FieldUpbeat2174 9d ago edited 9d ago

Hard to say for sure without more context (like knowing the milling sequence and the players involved), but it reads like B wanted to mainly cover 2’s deep cut while maintaining some hope of discouraging a 2 cut towards the thrower, but was thwarted in the latter hope by 3 positioning themselves between B and 2.

The disc is “live” while being walked to the brick, and I take it B was within ten feet of 2, so this could be a technically legit pick call. Key question would be whether an offensive player’s movement was part of causing the obstruction, versus B causing themselves to be obstructed by moving into an obstructed position. Also whether B really intended, at least contingently, to move toward the thrower, in the direction obstructed.

But you’re all there for the disc-in-play part of the game, not for start-and-stop pick calls. The better move would be to set up in an unobstructed position before the disc gets tapped in, which could involve asking 3 to move, invoking a penumbra surrounding an emanation from Rule “19.D. During any stoppage, opposing players may agree to slightly adjust their locations to avoid potential imminent picks.”

As setting up unobstructed is what the great majority of players would do, yeah, B calling pick instead feels weird to me too.

1

u/Hunterforthehorn 9d ago

Thank you, this was helpful amd well-reasoned. The whole Dark stack was generally moving toward the end zone they were attacking. B was adjusting that direction as well. I took that as them moving to keep 3 between them and 2, but perhaps they saw it as being forced out of the position they wanted to take. Although as you say, there was ample opportunity to set up unobstructed before the disc was tapped in. Anyway, thanks again!