Thoughts.

I’m a big stickler for sleep, for various reasons – general health and well-being being a big one.

However, there are more tangible, concrete reasons to value your sleep, too – and the Harvard Business Review does a great job of touching on some of those needs.

As an ultimate player, you should know that throwing is a dynamic motor skill – in much the same way that professional violinists need their sleep to continue to progress, we as athletes likewise need to give ourselves appropriate time to consolidate the motor learning we do by taking the time necessary to sleep. (PS – It can help with controlling your weight, too).

Make 8 hours the minimum, not the ideal. Consider napping. Reap the benefits!

At Dartmouth we’ve been advocating strongly for our cutters to work hard to set up their cuts: “Seven Hard Steps” is an oft-repeated mantra, a reminder of the time and effort needed to really set up your defender and, equally important, to create space to attack when one plants and makes a real cut.

But I still see bunches of guys who, when forced under, do what I’ll call the one-step cut–one hard step in one direction (usually right at the defender) and then a turn and commit cut in the other direction.

Oldest cut in the book, right? Can work for cutters like myself with a quick first step and good acceleration, but good defenders can keep up with this move–it’s a quick fake setting up a footrace.
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I tried to dig up a couple pictures of what I was talking about last week with the “IO Foot”; Keeghan Uhl’s gallery of Nationals provided a few useful pictures.

Without further ado:

This picture provides one angle on the IO foot. The throw isn’t explicitly IO–which is to say, this could just be a flat throw to the open side–but you’ll note that the foot position forces the knee to follow and wind up in a position which allows a fairly clean follow-through of the arm in front of the leg.
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I was asked last week about foot placement on forehand hucks. I’ve been meaning to write about foot placement for a while now, and for something so seemingly simple there’s actually a decent amount of nuance to it, so this likely won’t be the only post on the topic.

Some general points on stepping and throwing a forehand:
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Simple cue, significant results.

Get your weight set on your throwing (non-pivot) foot before you throw.

To put it a little differently, you should be balanced with your weight on your throwing foot during your release. I like to cue a balanced “finish” position (stepped-out, at full extension or what-have-you) on the follow-through, as it encourages stability throughout the whole throwing motion.
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Just think about the times you’ve had the disc and SEEN the gaping holes in the mark–Somebody CUT here so I can throw it!–but had nothing coming.

This is in part a problem of experience; cutters need to learn what their throwers can and can’t do (and what they want to do–these are all things you can communicate to one another). It’s also a matter of recognition; a cutter that can tell what a mark is giving and set up cuts to that space will ALWAYS be a threat.
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Last weekend at Chesapeake a teammate remarked, when watching the Chain vs. Ironside game, about how the players were “throwing with their shoulders”–throwing with the hip means power is generated from below the plane of the throw, adding a natural float, while throwing from the shoulder keeps power in the same plane and allows for flatter throws–your typical elite-level pass, in other words (touch has its place, but by and large throws are all about speed and precision).

It’s a facet of throwing mechanics I hadn’t considered but instantly made a difference as I applied it. Throwing from the hip can generate more power but takes longer and is inclined to float; throwing from the shoulder leads to a faster release (no step required, though it can augment) and a bit more consistency in windy conditions.

I think your ideal thrower can generate enough power from torso/shoulder as to obviate the need for the hip on long throws. I need a bigger sample of observing high-level players and applying it myself before I can make that judgment authoritatively, though.

Try it out next time you’re tossing–throw with no step, just torso/shoulder motion. Channel the same motion from your stepped-out pivot position, extend application to practice and game use.

I recently received a question from a commenter on my old “Forehand Hucks” post asking about how to compensate for the natural OI that comes with the grip I epouse for flicks.

The easiest (and best) way to control for this is with your shoulder tilt. It’s easy to think that some wrist tilt can compensate, but the plane of the throw, flat or otherwise, is decided by your shoulders. A throw that naturally comes out OI becomes flat becomes IO if you adjust the plane along which it’s thrown.
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