Women's Draft: Rule of the Week #1

Rule of the Week: Ground Checks: When do I need to use it?

We first need to distinguish the state of the disc: "in play", "live", and "dead" (see rule 3.M).

"in play": players are allowed to move and play can continue without defensive acknowledgment (i.e. no check)

"live": players are allowed to move, but thrower cannot make legal pass until a ground check

"dead": play has stopped (i.e. no players can move) and can only resume once a check has been done; after check, the disc may be in play or live

To sum it up, if you had to move the disc to a different location on the field, including from out-of-bounds (e.g. disc is live, but not in play), the disc requires a ground check (and pivot establishment).

If the disc is in-bounds and there has been no stoppage of play, the disc is in-play and only requires a pivot establishment.

Scenario:

A pull rolls out-of-bounds without contacting a player or lands out-of-bounds: Disc is live, but not in play. So after being collected and brought to the central zone, it must be checked to be in play (see rule 9.B.10 and 14.B).

https://usaultimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Official-Rules-of-Ultimate-2024-2025.pdf 

https://mods.mb.ca/about/page-18/