Laying out: domination or danger?

On Monday Ultiworld tweeted this layout catch, calling it the ‘Play Of The Game’. I totally agree that Riot player Calise Cardenas’s up-into-the-air endzone layout catch was amazing. What makes me cringe is seeing, in slow motion, Calise’s head and neck getting wrenched when she lands: her head actually bangs into the ground.

Calise’s layout catch seems to have been completed without injury, but that isn’t always the case. Earlier this summer, teammates on the sideline watched as the layout of a player at Ottawa’s No Borders tournament ended badly.

Steve Chow, playing for Big Fish, Ottawa’s mixed B team, layed out up into the air for a d, knocked the disc, then came down on his left shoulder, dislocating it. He has only started playing ultimate again more than three months later. Possibly the worst part was, though Steve managed to hit the disc, it wasn’t knocked out of play and a player from the other team was still able to make the catch.

Summer 2011 was the first season I threw myself over the threshold into the world of laying out. I was sometimes making catches and sometimes not. I was sometimes making beautiful layouts and sometimes landing hard on the ground. Soon I developed neck and back pain. I didn’t have to stop playing, but I saw a chiropractor for months to help. One time, arriving for an appointment, I found two other ultimate players in the waiting room.

Laying out is dangerous. A 2007 study, looking at injuries during the 2007 UPA College Championships, found that 29% of men’s and 22% of women’s injury time out calls were made directly after a layout.

Players are getting hurt when they layout. One of the scariest of the array of possible injuries is a concussion. A 2006 survey of ultimate injuries found that 30% of respondents reported having experienced a head injury at some time during their ultimate careers.

Players don’t even need to strike the ground with their heads to become concussed: it can be enough to jar a noggin when a players’ body takes a hit. Concussions can take a long time to heal and affect more than just physical abilities. For example, see the healing testimonial of Milkshake, a Portland Rhinos player, in the documentary film Chasing Sarasota.

Risk of injury accounted for, maybe it’s worth it. High level ultimate players seem to think so: they are willing to take the risk. They know that layout catches like that of Calise Cardenas are the best way to get that pumped up feeling, to make teammates proud, and to dominate at ultimate.