Let's Talk Timeouts

In the pro leagues. I will leave club timeout discourse to a future issue

Feb 14, 2025

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Timeouts In Pro Ultimate

One of the biggest differences between club and pro ultimate is that in pro ultimate, teams are allowed to substitute their players when a timeout is called. Across all three professional ultimate leagues (UFA, WUL, PUL), their rulebooks state that each team gets two timeouts per half and that each team may substitute any number of players on and off the field during a timeout.

Anecdotally, teams take advantage of these subbing rules all the time. The most common scenario I see is a team gets a block, calls timeout, subs in their O-line to get a break, while the other team subs in their D-line to get the disc back and hopefully punch in a hold.

This is what the gameplay “meta” or leagues-wide standard has looked like, especially over the last few years: teams prioritizing their timeouts to substitute in offensive-minded players to convert breaks.

And, unfortunately for me, I hate it. Look, I like that there are a few extra wrinkles to pro ultimate compared with club. But this is not one of them. And my complaints stem from a “that’s not how the game is supposed to work” opinion that your grandparents share about these “newfangled dribbling moves” in basketball and from a genuine concern that this is making the product on the field worse and less interesting.

First, for my old heads and purists out there, I don’t like that we are not making D-lines play offense to win games. I want the game to reward players who can get blocks and punch the disc in on offense. I like when everyone shares responsibility for offense and defense, even if it is to a varying degree, instead of having a larger number of people’s roles be completely one-dimensional. Secondly, I think we lose a bit of tension by calling timeouts and subbing out close to 14 people. I think missing out on seeing the reverse offense-defense matchup, where the defense plays offense and vice versa, from an individual level and a broader O-line D-line level, is less interesting and exciting. There is something fun about watching these teams scramble to play outside their comfort zones and prove that they can hang mentally and execute when the pressure ratchets up.

However, I wanted to write about timeouts not only to express broad unhappiness with them and some of the rules but also to consider if this is even the best way to utilize them in pro ultimate as the rules currently stand today.

Yes, calling a timeout allows you to sub in your seven best offensive players to play offense and try to score. However, the other team can also sub off their O-line to rest and put in players who they presumably would rather play defense on your top players. Basically, the fact that both teams get to sub, in my opinion, means that there is a limited advantage to be had when both teams sub. You already have the disc, and the advantage, why let your opponent put better defenders on to get the disc back? And why miss an opportunity to start to wear on your opponent’s top offensive players by making them work on defense?

In my opinion, at a broader level of thinking, it feels more advantageous to be playing offense with your D-line against the other team’s O-line than to allow everyone to sub out. Especially early in games, tiring out the other team’s best offensive players and letting yours rest more so they can score faster and then keep putting out the same players for the other team seems just about equivalently valuable as using the timeout to cash in a break at the expense of your own utilizing your own O-line. Partially because, in theory, compounding that wear on the other team will lead to more turnovers and break opportunities down the line, and partially because there is every opportunity that you will turn the disc over. Then, your O-line will be forced to play defense.

As someone who has done at least a little stats-taking for all three pro leagues, I’ve even seen a handful of multi-timeout points where players get subbed on and off or off and back on during the same point! I don’t like that at all! Finish what you started out there, and go score!

When you get into the nitty gritty of team building, some teams may have people they really don’t want playing offense much, but if that’s the case, you should alter how you sub and call lines. I’d love for coaches to start utilizing their D-lines more aggressively as weapons against the other team’s O-line and keep a little extra firepower out there to ensure you don’t need to substitute when you force a turnover.

And then, you can save your timeouts for my favorite usage: preventing turnovers. Sure, this sometimes also blends into being a substitution timeout, but the most interesting quirk of the timeout rules is that the stall count resets when you call it in pro ultimate, and you can change who is holding the disc. So, sometimes, coaches, when sensing momentum for their team has fizzled out or have noticed they are getting into a bad spot, will call a timeout to give them a chance to call something specific out for the team to do, sub some people, and stabilize the offense a bit before they turn the disc over.

Yes, this relies on your coaches being very proactive and attuned to how the team is playing. But, having four times per game to negate a turnover in the making seems like a much more powerful way to use your timeouts than to simply let both teams get a line change and switch the matchups on the field with much purpose.

Many of the timeouts that happen are much more of a happy medium than I give credit for here. However, very often I still see the D-line offense given no leash to work with, and it really does make me feel like no one sees the benefit of keeping them out there for longer to possess the disc, tire out the offense, and if things start to stagnate on offense, then using a timeout to reset.

It also backs up another personal theory of mine (which I’m sure you’ll all hear about eventually soon), that among all the (many) unoptimized aspects of ultimate as a sport, coaching, both the methods and strategy you can use, is one of the most unoptimized parts of the sport, and has some of the most exciting potential for growth in the years to come.

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About the Author

My name is Noam Gumerman (he/him). I am from Chapel Hill, NC, and studied Journalism and American Studies at Brandeis University. I am a journalist by trade and have been playing ultimate for over half my life. I love nothing more than combining those two interests. Contact me for discussions, feedback, story suggestions, and more on Twitter or Bluesky (@noamgum/@breaksideulti now too!) or email (noamgumerman@gmail.com).