Introduction to Offensive Schemes

There are several offensive schemes that teams could use. Most teams, however, use the Stack Offense. New teams or pick-up teams find this scheme useful since all players know it. There has been a growth of new schemes over the past few years. A partial list of these includes: a) German Offense, b) Swedish Offense, c) 3-4 (or Handler Iso) Offense, d) Victoria Offense, e) Spread Offense and f) Finnish Offense.

Usage of the German Offense, in particular, has seen notable growth (especially in Germany, oddly). In 1999 at the Rimini, Italy beach tournament, the two finalist teams were German teams.

We will discuss the Stack Offense, the 3-4 Offense, and the Spread Offense in some detail. Hopefully, you will decide that offensive schemes other than the Stack Offense have great potential, and deserve a key role in any team's offensive package (i.e., several schemes could be used during a game).

The Stack Offense

This basic, default offense has its merits but it also has many drawbacks. Among them are:

  1. It's very predictable. The defense usually knows when, how and by whom cuts will be made.
  2. Multiple defenses are designed to counter the Stack Offense's strategies.
  3. Usually, a person receiving a pass does so after making a cut back toward the Handler. After a catch, the receiver is facing away from his/her endzone and the next potential receivers. Also, the defender has a chance to catch up to the disc and is automatically able to block at least one passing lane.
  4. As play nears an endzone, the amount of space for each offensive and defensive pair drastically decreases. Empty space into which to cut becomes very limited, and poaching by other offensive players' defenders is the norm. Many turnovers per game result from this.
  5. Mismatches in favor of an offensive player are often unable to be capitalized upon.

We will provide suggestions to improve the Stack Offense, plus describe alternative schemes which include:

The 3-4 Offense (Iso Handler)

This very simple scheme uses a lateral stack rather than a vertical stack. It is designed to open up the playing area by moving 4 of the players (and their defenders) at least 20-25 yards from the Handlers, and to let the Handlers do Give & Goes most of the way up the field.

The Spread Offense

This offense offers a much greater set of strategies than the 3-4 Offense, while possessing the same intent: open up the field, reduce poachability, give the receivers more room to cut, and set up subsequent throws from an endzone-facing position.

Techniques and Plays

We also discuss different techniques and plays which may be used by any offensive scheme. These include the Dump/Iso technique, the Break Trap Play, the Endzone Play, and the Fly Play.

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