Dena Elimelech on Fury's Defensive Dominance (Video Episode) | Ep 85

In this BE Ultimate Playbook episode we dive further into the defensive side of things with Fury's Dena Elimelech. Fury's D combines heads up, smart, switching, with hard nose, grindy pursuit. Players like Dena, Shayla "Dozer" Harris, Anna Thompson, and Anna "Maddog" Nazarov have elite athleticism and field awareness. Their understanding of the most threatening spaces allows them to clog lanes, help deep, and make thrower's second guess themselves instead of putting each defender on an island and asking them to "try harder" or "run faster." At times this might lead to an uncontested goal, but the tradeoff is worth it if you're able to make the offense constantly problem solve.Fury's ability to help each other defensively is very fitting to their culture of empowering every teammate. They have an unmatched ability to squeeze out every bit of potential from their players, especially when it comes to young talent or new players to the team. New players like Sarah "Suds" VonDoepp and McKinley "Skittles" McQuaide played big points in crunch time throughout the season. Italian standout, Irene Scazzieri, also played a big role.Fury as a program is the gold standard in all of ultimate. It's easy to see why from this conversation with Dena.Pod Practice Store: https://ko-fi.com/podpractice/shopPromo Code: PRACTICEPLAYER for 40% off T-ShirtsGreatest Bags: https://www.greatestbag.com/Use promo code: PODPRACTICE10 for 10% off your Greatest Bag OrderPod Practice BE Ultimate Store: https://shop.beultimate.com/collections/pod-practice-podcastDownload The Playbook: https://betterthanever.beultimate.com/the-playbook-infoMore from Pod Practice:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podpractice_podYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@podpractice_podEmail: show@podpracticepod.comShop BE Ultimate: https://beultimate.com/Kikko Socks: https://kikkosocks.com/Use discount code: POD15 for 15% off your next order.0:00 Intro2:30 Anna Nazarov Heads Up D3:56 KJ Reverse Mark4:30 Fury Line Calling6:35 Dena's Experience with O/D Lines 9:40 Anna Thompson's Active Sag11:15 FM Downfield D Emphasis11:45 Single Direction vs FM13:15 High Leverage D Sideline Situation14:00 Fury Deep Help16:00 Fury Freedom to Experiment16:30 Fury Defensive Priorities20:18 Dena's Start22:50 Dozer Disruption27:00 Anna Thompson's Individual Greatness28:15 Disrupting Lanes as a Team28:50 Anna Thompson goes BIG again32:00 Learning from Kaela Helton33:33 Trading Free Passes to Stop Big Threats36:10 Toughest Challenge at Nationals38:00 Defending a Vert Stack40:20 Chemistry of Switching41:50 Tradeoffs - Getting Lost in the Poach Sauce47:33 Scandal Missed 2v1 Opportunity51:33 Improvising through Miscommunication54:25 Pressuring teams into Bad Decisions56:30 Accepting some Mistakes58:04 Kins NSFW Appreciation58:38 Pursuit on Unders 59:56 Flat Marks + Heads Up Help1:00:58 Missed Opportunity to play Heads Up1:02:57 Fury's ability to integrate new players1:04:34 Fury Pods1:06:08 Dealing with Nerves, 10/10 Would Recommend Winning a National Championship1:08:12 Feeling of Coming Together to Win