Breaking the Mark

Cuz I have a paper due tomorrow. And I was reading The Huddle. I wanted to write about breaking the mark.

I personally love breaking force flick marks. Either with a low release backhand, or if the mark shifts over too much, an easy IO. For me, since backhands really require that arm/body motion, it's easy to make a realistic fake. Especially when you want to throw to the break side, shift the mark over enough/make them fall over, and IO flick. My personal break is being forced flick, step out and fake that flick throw, and immediately step back and low, nice easy backhand low release break.

I read somewhere that great throwers don't pivot. And I guess I agree with that (not saying that I'm great thrower but that fakes are often overused and abused). I rarely fake/pivot for the sake of faking. I fake when I know what I'm going to throw, and I use that fake to make space for the throw I plan on throwing, and if my mark doesn't react to that fake then I just throw it. But it's not always like that, there are instances where I fake constantly, usually when I have a huge mark on me and I need to fake for space and see what openings they give me. But in general, I don't fake much. And the best fakes are viable throws.

Speaking of not faking much, I'm not sure how big of a fan I am of thrower-marker drills. Because it is (in my opinion) completely unrealistic. I will never start faking from stall 0 until I throw. I don't think anyone does/should. In faking that much, you might be looking off open throws because you faked to the other side and cannot pivot back fast enough for those throws. But the drill is useful in that it really makes the mark react quickly to the fakes and quick releases. And making the throwers fake and throw quickly, and taking opportunity in anything the mark gives you. I find the offensive side of the drill is not directly applicable to the game.

I will break marks and hearts all day.