Learning Layouts
credit to John Kofi for the photo
This isn’t an introductory how to layout post. There’s already a lot of useful guidance on this topic on the internet - I particularly like this reel from advancedultimatecoaching as a concise summation of learning good technique.
However I think laying out (particularly learning how to) has a few myths and gaps that hold players back and that’s what I’m writing about.
You either can layout or can’t
One of the biggest mental mistakes you can make is treating laying out as a binary state, where a person can layout or can’t layout. This implies that there’s a magical threshold you can cross where you move from incapable to expert and that’s not the case.
You think you can’t layout
Laying out is a trainable skill. How easily it’s acquired depends on the individual, some people need a LOT of quality reps. Since laying out is quite tough on your body those reps can only be built up slowly so consistent work over a long time is needed if it doesn’t come naturally to you. You’ve probably seen lots of people do one session of practice on the technique and then immediately apply it in games and that’s frustrating to see - but I’m getting to those people.
There’s plenty of fairly good resources available online that go through gradual steps on how to build up your technique, but I think they all skip steps that would be useful to some players. I have seen a lot of players get stuck in situations where they are trying to make a leap in technical exercises that’s too big for them - leading to frustration and quitting. I’ve also seen the opposite where a player knows the next exercise they’re aware of is too big a jump and they endlessly practice a lower level exercise past the point where it’s useful.
To help combat that here’s a more granular progression I have used for teams in the past*.
Once you’ve mastered the technique uncontested you probably will need to practice in some controlled dynamic situations before you’re able to bring them into games. For example:
You think you can layout
It’s important to understand the distinction between technique and skill. Technique is the ability to perform a physical task, in this case laying out safely. Skill is the ability to apply that technique in a game setting.
Even players who are very good at laying out and do it frequently are unlikely to be good at laying out in all circumstances. Even players with good layout technique leave lots of opportunities to save discs or - more commonly - get blocks behind.
The majority of players that learn to layout stop practicing new techniques once they think they’ve learned the technique, but would benefit from instead analysing the situations they don’t bid for the disc (or bid for it but don’t catch it) and working on those scenarios.
I recommend you think about 4 different elements to a layout to figure out where you’re good and where you have improvements to make.
Height - how far off the ground is the disc. Pretty much everyone has a limit on how high they are willing to bid. This is limited by your explosive ability as much as your technical ability - if you can’t jump high you can’t layout high either. This can be a very hard aspect to improve and probably needs you to go back to your technique training to get comfortable.
Position - if we take height out of the equation and looked at a layout from a topdown, two dimensional perspective where you are moving straight north, the disc will be catchable for you at various positions depending on the direction it’s moving.
Most players have a distinct preference for how far east/west they are comfortable catching. This is because you have a preference for which leg to jump off, and which hand to catch with. If you like catching with your right hand then discs out to the right of your body are easier to catch.
Similarly players will have different comfort levels catching discs to the north (requiring full extension) and south (requiring an ability to extend after the catch).
Speed - how fast do you need to sprint to catch the disc or get a block. The faster you’re moving the harder it is to coordinate and the more force going into the layout so the scarier it is.
This is the primary reason why it’s usually easier to teach handlers to layout than cutters - the most common reasons to layout as a handler are to save errant reset throws and you’re generally not near top speed. For cutters, most layouts are going to be when you’re moving near top speed so there’s a bigger barrier to transfer to games.
Time - how much time do you have to think about the layout, and/or get your feet set properly? Some players have an incredible ability to trigger a layout with almost no time to react while others need to have a long lead in to recognise that they need to layout and get their feet set. This is generally the easiest aspect to train of the 4.
Scenario Based Training
What I hope you took from the above is that pretty much everyone has certain in-game scenarios where they are comfortable laying out and probably loads that they aren’t comfortable in.
No matter what stage of your layout journey you are on you should be figuring out the next scenario to learn - that could be your first one or your 50th. You’ll need to watch film of yourself and note where you had a window to bid for a block or for a disc that hit the ground. If you don’t have film then ask a coach or a teammate where they’ve noticed you not bidding when you had a chance.
Backchaining
One of the areas that holds players back from improving their in-game layouts is that they ‘see’ the opportunity too late. For example: you’re running down a disc and just as it hits the ground you realise ‘I could have laid out for that’. Instead of beating yourself up for missing the chance and hoping you do better next time - lay out now! You are building a mental association with that scenario and laying out. You may feel silly but you aren’t. You’re very smart.
as long as you do if safely of course
Supportive Environment
The environment in your team is critical. If you have these two elements you’re setting the team up for success.
Consistently Applaud effort - this should go without saying but if your whole team gives positive feedback to someone who is trying to learn it’s going to make it significantly easier. It still happens that players criticise others for laying out and dropping a disc - why??? Think ahead to when they’re going to come up clutch laying out to save your throw in a big game.
Role models - Have you ever noticed how a layout is often quickly followed by more? Once one person lays out it seems to free everyone else up mentally to follow. So it’s incredibly important that those that can layout, do.
(PS: If you don’t layout for something at practice and say ‘I’d lay out for it in a game’ stop lying to yourself. Add it to my list of pet peeves!)
Nuance
I hope all that was helpful. Really it was a lot of words to say that laying out is a more nuanced skill than is generally discussed. I particularly hate seeing people get caught in a trap of thinking that they can layout so they don’t need to practice it anymore. A little bit of thought on what scenarios you can add to your bag along with consistent effort and you can turn yourself into a highlights machine.
*I also have a video that is not high enough quality to be published