The PICK RULE

 

Ok, the situation is Hazels marking Christina, keeping up with her, however Phil (in trying to keep up with the man he’s marking) runs between them, blocking Hazel and allowing Christina to get completely free.

 

So it’s obviously not fair on Hazel.

 

The guiding principle of the rules is that if something unfair happens, play is returned as closely as possible to what would have happened if the unfair event hadn’t happened. Its trusted that no player would intentionally break the rules (i.e. in the situation above, Phil wouldn’t have crossed Hazels path to intentionally block her), and there are no penalties for this happening.

 

So what do the rules say in relation to the situation above?

 

If a defensive player is closely covering an offensive player and they are

prevented from moving towards/with that player by another player, that

defensive player may call “Pick”.

 

Once play has stopped, the obstructed player may move to the position they

determine they would have otherwise occupied if the obstruction had not

occurred. The disc is returned to the thrower (if the disc was thrown) and any

stall count restarts at maximum nine (9).

 

So, Hazel calls Pick loudly, everyone stops where they are (there are exceptions to this – see the continuation rule below). I think the rules are a little ambiguous and you can either interpret them as Christina going back to Hazel, or Hazel catching up to Christina. Either way there is a break in play and the disc needs to be checked in (i.e. the person marking the person with the disc (forcing them) touches the disc, shouts out ‘disc in’ and resumes the stall count from when the pick occurred – note that the defence therefore have control over when play restarts). Before the check in everyone needs to go back to where they were when the foul occurred (people inevitably will be mid run and may not have heard the pick call), so the person checking in the disc needs to look round and make sure everyone is ready. If your fellow defence is not ready, you’re giving the offensive a massive advantage to get free once you put the disc in play.

 

So that’s the pick rule (with a few others thrown in). There’s an extension of all the foul or violation rules called the CONTINUATION RULE which states that:

 

Generally: if a foul is called against the offence, and the offence stand to get an advantage from the foul and they throw it away anyway, its still a turnover. If they complete a pass, then it goes back to the thrower.

 

Specifically:

 

If a foul or violation is called:

against the thrower and the thrower subsequently attempts a pass, or

when the thrower is in the act of throwing, or

when the disc is in the air,

then play continues until possession has been established.

 

Once possession has been established:

If the team that called the foul or violation gains or retains possession as a result of the pass, play shall continue. Players recognizing this should call “Play on” immediately to indicate that this rule has been invoked.

 

If the team that called the foul or violation does not gain or retain possession as a result of the pass, play shall be stopped.

 

If the team that called the foul or violation believes that possession has been affected by the foul or violation, the disc will be returned to the thrower for a check (unless the specific rule says otherwise).

 

If the team that called the foul or violation believes that possession has not been affected by the foul or violation, the play stands, they make up any positional disadvantage caused by the foul or violation, and restart play with a check.

 

So we can see that if the pick was called whilst a pass to Christina was being made, or whilst the disc was in the air to Christina and Hazel gets picked, if the disc is not caught, or goes out of bounds or is intercepted, the disc doesn’t go back, and there is a change of possession. This is especially important if a long/high/floaty pass is made, Christina still has to make the effort to get it to keep possession, even though the pass will just have to go back to the thrower. If Christina doesn’t bother and thinks she has to stand still because of the pick rule, then the offence will loose possession.

 

Note that often the thrower doesn’t hear the pick call, and may throw the disc after it was called. You can see this situation isn’t mentioned in the continuation rule, and the offence would retain possession whatever the outcome.

 

Great practice Tuesday

All rules can be found here : http://www.ukultimate.com/about_ultimate/rules_of_ultimate

Sam

 

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