The Rule Report - Traveling

MODS will be releasing a series of news stories over the next few months to help explain the changes to the rules of Ultimate which have been adopted by the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) and Ultimate Canada (UC). The monthly stories are here to help understand the new rules and will be vetted by Operations Director Corey Draper and Manitoba's top Observer, Josh Drury.

Rule Update #4 – Update to Traveling

One of the more significant changes to the rules is in-regards to the resolution of a travel call. The text from the substantive changes document is quoted below…

“When the disc has not been thrown, a travel call does not stop play. (17.K.3.b) [wfdf, stoppages]”

The new update adjusts how the call is resolved when the disc has not been thrown. Play does not stop in such cases but continues live (the disc is subject to turnover if thrown or dropped) but with the stall count paused while they return to the proper pivot spot.  The player that called travel points to the correct spot the pivot should be reset.  After properly replacing their pivot, the thrower must tap the disc to the ground before attempting to make a pass.  The marker then immediately resumes the count at the next number before count was paused, but WITHOUT saying the word stalling (i.e. they just say the next number).

Example:

A thrower is faking and slides their pivot foot just after the marker has reached a stall count of 3.  The marker sees this and calls the travel; the thrower has not released the disc.

Marker: “Stalling one... two... three... travel!” [points to where the pivot should be and pauses count while thrower resets]

Thrower returns pivot to spot where marker is pointing, and taps the disc to the ground making the disc in-play.

Marker: “Four... five...”

In cases where the disc was released the resolution would be the same as before following the continuation rules. This generally means if the pass following the travel is completed, play stops and the disc will return to the thrower.  If the pass is incomplete, there is no stoppage and the turnover stands; players should call “play on”. Note that if travel is called before the throwing motion and the thrower does not resolve it by returning their pivot, but makes a pass anyway, these continuation rules still apply.

Below is the relevant sections of the Traveling rule, to view the full rule including the unchanged areas visit this address - https://www.usaultimate.org/resources/officiating/rules/2020_2021rules.aspx#17 and scroll down to find section K on traveling.

 17. Violations and Fouls

K. Traveling: The thrower must establish and continually maintain a pivot at the appropriate spot on the field until the throw is released. Failure to do so is a travel and is resolved according to K.3, below. [[Resolved according to 17.K.3 only if the travel is called, otherwise play continues uninterrupted.]]

3. Resolutions:

b. If the travel occurs and no pass has been attempted:

1. Play does not stop. The defense (typically the marker) points to the spot where the travel occurred, and the thrower returns to that spot without delay. The thrower must touch the disc to the ground before attempting a legal pass. [[Play does not stop, but the disc is live, so it is still subject to a turnover (for example if the thrower drops it).]]
2. The stall count is paused until the thrower sets a pivot where the travel occurred. The marker is not required to say "stalling" when resuming the count. The thrower must touch the disc to the ground before attempting a pass. [[The marker must initiate a stall count with the word "stalling," but resuming the count does not require the marker to say "stalling" again.]]
3. If the thrower wishes to contest the travel call, they announce "violation" and play stops. Upon checking the disc in, the stall count resumes at the count reached plus 1, or 6 if over 5 (15.A.5.a.3). [[If the defense does not indicate to the thrower where the travel occurred, or the thrower wishes to contest the location of an indicated spot, the thrower should announce "violation", stopping play, and explain that the spot was incorrectly/not indicated. After setting their pivot in the correct spot, and checking the disc in, the stall count resumes at the count reached plus 1, or 6 if over 5 (15.A.5.a.3).]]

This will likely take some time to bring everyone up to speed so please be patient and helpful in educating your teammates and opponents.