Catching/Throwing Thought: Head Stability
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If you’re a baseball fan, watch the outfielders closely next time you catch a game. If you’re not a baseball fan, watch a game and pay attention to the outfielders anyways.
Undoubtedly there will be some long flyouts over the course of a game–watch the way an outfielder keeps his eye on the ball and keeps his head stable as he tracks it on the run, even while sprinting. Their heads don’t bounce every which way; think about how hard it would be to know consistently the position of the ball if it was constantly shifting in your field of view (or rather, if your field of view was constantly shifting around it).
The Pittsburgh pirates have their minor league outfield pirates run on treadmills with laser dots fixated on their foreheads so they can work on keeping their head still even while sprinting.
The same holds true in ultimate. Have you ever seen the disc, and then suddenly missed the catch at the last moment? If it’s not the wind, it’s probably a subtle shift in your head position that threw off your sense of where the disc is.
Keep relaxed on the run. Let your body flow, and let your head float. Keep your eyes fixated on a single target when you do track workouts (on the straightaways, at least) and keep your head still. Translate this to the field, and find your catching (and D’ing) consistency improved.
EDIT: CP brings up an excellent point–this applies not only to catching, but to throwing too. Check the comments.
to some extent, the same holds true for throwing. i tend to lift my head at the last second when throwing (specifically backhands), and although it doesnt affect me too much since ive probably gotten used to it and compensate, its not a good thing.
plus, jerry rice, greatest NFL receiver in history, could stabilize his head to such an extent that he could make it look as if he was walking from the neck up.
James,
That’s a great point. It’s especially relevant when fatigued, though more than head stability comes into play there.
The main thing with head stability and throwing, I’ve found, is getting yourself set before you release. If you catch the disc on the run, your momentum can throw off your line of sight–similarly, if you’re in a hurry to run after you throw or you tend to move your body a lot when you throw (ie, when you pivot), taking that extra split-second to force your head to be stable before the throw will give you much better consistency on passes to moving targets (you won’t misread their vector by adding that of your head to the equation). You can, of course, learn to compensate for the head motion in your throwing, but I prefer to take the extra split-second more often than not.
When I run my suicides, I pick a spot on each side of the field and force myself to focus on one or the other as soon as possible. This works on running with my eyes up and open, especially on picking up distant targets quickly and when I’m tired.