In traditional zone defense, the defensive players closest to the disc often form a ring around the thrower. That group of players move as a unit as the disc moves around the field. It's called a cup because this defensive unit focuses on taking away downfield throws, and if viewed from above, this unit looks is shaped like a U. Usually, one person "marks" the thrower, by "forcing" them towards the rest of the cup. If you imagine the cup as being two dimensial, this person is one side panel of the cup. A second person stands close by, usually around 3-4 meters away from the marker (and thrower), facing the thrower, and more or less directly between the thrower and the endzone. In our two dimensial image, this person is the base of the cup, and is often called the middle middle. A third player stand between 2-3 meters away from the middle person opposite the marker. They are the other wall of what is now a two dimensional cup, if viewed from above. There are also sometimes 4 person cups, as shown in the picture above. If you imagine that the white shirted defender on the right in the picture above is not there, the other three white shirted players are in a fairly normal looking cup, although either 14 or the woman with the hat would normally be marking. In the picture above, number 11 (dark shirt) has the disc. She is on the sideline (the line running from bottom left to upper right), and her team wants to move the disc up and to the right on the field. As can be seen, the defensive players are not matching up with individuals from the dark team. Because they are playing a zone, their positions are determined by the movement of the disc, and not the movement of the opposing players. Instead, each white defender covers an area of the field, as determined by the relationship of that area to the disc. Should the thrower, for example, throw the disc to another offensive player 20 meters to the right of the cup, the full cup would shift over to cover the new thrower. What are the benefits of the cup/zone? Zone is often played when the wind is high. Because good throws are more difficult to make in high wind situations, the area of the field that any specific thrower can get the disc to is much smaller. Zone takes advantage of this by placing its players in the positions that are the easiest for the thrower to get the disc to safely. In the picture above, for example, the thrower doesn't have many upfield options. If they throw any low throws through the four defenders, it is likely that one of the defenders would be able to stop the disc. The sideline prevents the thrower from throwing to the left, or out of bounds. Their best option is to dump the disc - but that would lose yardage. The cup is betting that either the wind is too great for the thrower to chance taking a high throw (which the wind would make difficult to catch), or that the thrower does not have the throws that can safely get over the cup. The players in the cup move more or less as a unit as the disc moves around the field. The rest of the defensive team is scattered around the field, hopefully in positions that take away the easiest throws for the offensive team. In many zones, the cup allows the thrower to dump the disc, as this results in loss of yardage, or they allow swings. Their main objective is to prevent up-field throws, or throws that result in large yardage gains. Even when there is no wind, the increased number of throws that a zone forces should result in a greater probability of a turnover. If, for example, a team is forced to make 20 95% throws to score, it is likely that one of those throws will result in a turnover. A four person cup, as shown in the picture above, is more often played when either the conditions (wind) prevent the thrower from making mid-length to long throws, or when an offensive team's throwers are not as skilled. Because there are four defensive players within a very small area, the rest of the field has less defenders, so a good thrower should be able to make a pass to an open receiver. The cup relies on throwers not being excessively consistent. More decisions need to be made, and as a result more bad decisions will be made. Also, the defenders' movements are less easily predicted, as they are not covering individual players.