The Zipper – Your fly is open, and so is your teammate

The zipper Ultimate Frisbee play is extremely simple yet very effective. It is a variation of Vert Stack so be sure you are familiar with Vert since I am going to jump right into this play.

The zipper works best when the disc is in the middle of the field. The handler will call out “zipper!” and everyone will get into a vert stack. But instead of the team forming a diagonal line as talked about in the other post, they will form a straight line parallel with the sidelines of the field. The opposing team will most likely have no clue what’s happening because this play is not too common. They will guard as if it was a normal vert stack. The first guy in the stack will be in the spotlight for this play, so make sure they can catch and run.

So let’s get to the cool part. The 7th player in the stack, the 5th player, and the 3rd player will cut to the right sideline of the field. At the same time, the 2nd and 4th players in the stack will cut to the left of the field. The team is essentially splitting down the middle like a zipper. The first player in the stack will run as fast as they can through the little opening the team created. If everything goes right the spotlight player will gain a significant lead on his/her mark. The handler will lead their teammate by throwing the frisbee into the end zone. The runner should have plenty of time to catch the frisbee in the corner of the end zone. The runner and the thrower should be on the same page as to what side of the field to throw the disc.

I was going to draw out an absolutely beautiful diagram showing exactly how this play works. Fortunately, I found a video on YouTube instead which explains the zipper even better. The video shows how powerful this simple play can be. Click here to see it.