Being Quick on the Catch-Throw Turnaround
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Loading ...One of the things that I feel like is a great strength for me as a player is the ability to quickly move from catching the disc to throwing it again–and not just a swilly upside-down backhand or a rushed toss, but legitimately stepping out and throwing a backhand or a forehand.
It’s a key skill for playing well in flow, I think (more important is your sense of timing and positioning to get the disc in the first place; perhaps more on that some other time). The longer you take to throw after you catch, the less yardage gained on the in cut or the smaller window of opportunity to throw to the deep cut.
So how does one improve turnaround time? In my mind, it’s all about how you catch. I don’t know how commonplace this is amongst all ultimate players, but from some conversations with guys on the team, especially the young guns, it’s often overlooked.
I catch almost exclusively with my left hand. On throws that I two-hand, lobster style with both on the rim, the right hand is usually like a guiding hand on a basketball shot–there to ensure it goes where I want. If the disc naturally spins to a stop into my right hand I’ll simply pull it out with the left hand. On pancake catches my left hand is almost always on top, so I can pull the disc with my left hand so that my right hand, already underneath in proper orientation to grab the disc, can grab the rim ready to throw.
Think about it. What’s the main limiting factor in going from catching to throwing again? If you catch with your throwing hand, you need to take the disc out of the throwing hand and then re-insert it in proper throwing position–or, manage some one-handed maneuver to do the same (which tends to be even slower). But if you catch with your off hand, you’ve already eliminated the “remove disc from throwing hand” step and can simply place the disc in your throwing hand, which should already be ready to go. The other option to improve turnaround is to do the upside-down lobster catch, where both hands are on the rim in the proper throwing orientation already. Those situations are fewer and farther between, though.
With a bit of focused practice catching and working on the transition, (you can do this anytime and anywhere–just throw the disc to yourself and work on really going-to for the catch with your off hand) you can quickly gain comfort with this kind of catching and throwing. I know a lot of guys who aren’t ambi-catchers–they catch with their dominant (throwing) hand only. It’s limiting! Learning little things like this can result in a significantly positive change on field.
It’s to the point for me now where I catch the disc and can immediately go into stepping to make the next throw–between my catching the disc and my being fully extended the disc goes from ‘caught’ to ‘ready to throw,’ and there’s no time lost in transition (the step is the limiting factor). I actually need to work on right-handed catching more now, as my instinct is to always go with the left and I need to re-learn which situations require right hand just (like layouts for a Callahan against one of the best teams in the country).
"Easy" Throwing
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...Thank you, Ben the instructor.
It’s often said that you can learn by watching. What I got from watching Ben was not new learning, but a reminder of things I should already know (but had forgotten).
Ben used to play with Doublewide a few years ago before a dislocated shoulder ended his elite-level ambitions (sadly the shoulder injury happened at sectionals the year they made nationals, so he never got a chance to play at natties). We’ve been talking a bit of disc while we’re both here as the only two serious ultimate players on CTY’s staff.
What I realized just yesterday when we were tossing is that Ben throws with a lot more touch than I do–and it comes from his “easy” style of throwing, his movements fluid and controlled forehand, backhand, IO, whatever. I picked up on this in about three throws and immediately saw the improvement in my own throwing. In my intent to focus on getting a faster, more efficient pivot and release, I’d forgotten about the simple lessons I’d taught myself just two summers ago, spending many a day throwing in Japan. Throw with relaxation, using your body to generate power, and throwing becomes so much easier than trying to muscle it with a tight arm.
It’s the sort of (re-)realization that makes me love the sport I play. You can learn in the most unlikely circumstances, sometimes–you just have to know how to look for it.
Throwing Thoughts
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...Another Email cut & paste. I’ll try and make more posts as the inspiration hits me, I do have a few thoughts/topics mulling around in my head.
My thoughts on throwing practice:
-Throwing to a target can be instructive, but think more about the how it gets there. You know this already.
-Try to think about things with regards to the space you’re throwing to, not the person/target. When I’ve been doing my throwing I try to envision game situations with somebody moving, and putting out a good lead for them to run on to.
-Try to really, psychologically, put yourself in game situations. A little run-up before you throw the disc to yourself, see a mark/downfield cutter in your mind’s eye. Think about situations where you look off a throw and decide on something else, rather than just mechanically faking. I was doing some pivot/faking practice and when I threw shitty fakes or got off balance or the like, I didn’t just throw it anyway, I adjusted and tried to set something else up, trying to practice on making adjustments real-time. This is more cognition-based stuff, context-sensitive learning and all that–you won’t perform the same throw-wise in game situation unless you do your due dilligince in one more similar to it.
-That said, practice things with focus first, then work on integration into context once you actually have the skill down. There’s little sense in trying to learn how to throw a leading hammer to space if your hammer sucks, you know? You know this already too.
More Little Things
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...Some specific stuff I’ve picked up on that’s made a big difference in my play:
-Release timing. This made a huge difference in my throws. Previously, I’d always have my release starting somewhere in the middle of my throwing motion, the wrist snap completing at the end of my arm motion. Ideally, though, the wrist snap and release are all one motion at the end of your throw–rather than start the disc rotating before you’ve fully set the trajectory, impart as much spin as possible at the end of the disc’s motion, and it’ll fly with much tighter spin, and thus more stability and better control.
-Grip the disc properly. Generally, get a tight grip you can throw fakes with and not lose the disc with.
-Cock the wrist back farther.
-Always be on your toes, whether cutting, defending, marking, pivoting, whatever. You’ll respond faster.
-Move, don’t reach. Use your body when you’re on defense.
-Have a plan. Whether it’s just “look for/force x. if x doesn’t work, then do y,” or something more complicated, have some idea of what you want to do and you’ll be more likely to be succesful and less likely to wind up confused.
Throwing
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...So I spent my summer in Japan, studying the language at a University near Tokyo.
I didn’t exactly have easy access to regular ultimate (I had weekly pickup with a pretty sweet group of international people in Tokyo, but it was a long trek–expensive, too, a good $20 to travel there and back–and there were weekends we traveled and such as a class when I couldn’t go play), so I tried to make up for it with a lot of tossing–a good hour or two every weekday, basically. And when I wasn’t tossing, I was doing reading online about ultimate, with particular emphasis on my throws.
And I had an epiphany about my throws. Really, it’s gotten to the point where I wonder how I ever really threw before I figured out how to really throw.
In any case, I feel like I have a good enough grasp of throwing mechanics that I can almost coach it (well, as well as it can be coached, I guess). Some of the things I figured out about throwing over the summer, listed in order of (I think) importance:
-Wrist snap. It’s important to have it, but what’s really game-changing is the timing of it. A lot of newbie players, I think, throw with their wrist snap drawn out over the course of the throw–that is, you’re starting your snap/release prematurely, resulting in a loss of spin, velocity, and a trend towards instability and the airbounce, all not particularly desirable.
Basically, the way I visualize throwing, it’s all a whipping motion. As far as the wrist is concerned, you want to snap your wrist as hard as you can at the point of release–take all the velocity from your arm motion, multiply it with the wrist snap, and then release the disc. A little hard to follow, maybe, but when applied it’ll improve all your throws.
Along with this, you also have the amount of wrist snap to worry about. The further back the disc and your wrist are, the more power you can transfer into spin and thus the further the disc will fly, generally speaking.
-Grip. As far as having control goes, it really starts with the grip. Most people know better than to use that finger-on-the-rim backhand grip, and the split-finger forehand, but I think a lot of people, especially with forehand, don’t get optimal control from their grip. A good grip is tight, and allows for maximal energy transfer to the disc.
For a backhand, it’s hard to beat the power grip in terms of energy transfer, but because all your fingers are tight against the rim it’s hard to keep the disc in a stable line while throwing, so I prefer keeping the pointer and maybe the middle fingers only bent, and the others are extended along the radius for stability (most of your power comes from the spin around that front finger–this is why the finger-on-rim grip is crap).
For a forehand, there’s definitely a lot you can do with the grip. I see a lot of newer players with forehand grips that are far too loose–you can throw the disc, sure, but because you’re not in control of the disc angle on release you’ve little say in the curvature of the disc. It’s very hard to get touch on a flick with a poor grip. I’m a big fan of gripping the disc tightly by means of the thumb and ring/pinky fingers; the thumb should press so hard that it “dents” the top of the disc slightly, and the bottom fingers can be bent or extended, so long as they clench the disc with the thumb. My grip is good enough to the point that I can remove my two “throwing” fingers from contact with the disc and hold it perpendicular to the ground by strength of my thumb and non-throwing fingers alone. Along with the fingers, where the disc rests in the hand is also important–it should be as far into the recess between the thumb and pointer finger as possible, for a good, tight grip.
-Wrist position. This mostly applies to IO/OI throws. When you want to throw OI, you need to tilt your hand upwards at the wrist, and vice-versa for IO. Along with this, your body position comes into play as well–essentially, your shoulders should be in the plane you want the disc to fly in; if you want the disc to fly IO and you’re throwing a righty flick, you should be dropping your right shoulder so as you throw and your arm comes across your body it’s going from your lower right to your upper left, the same sort of arc you want the IO flick to have.
There’s more to it than that, mostly with regards to hucking, and I’m gonna put it into a separate post.
I rant a lot, but I swear I actually know what I’m talking about…
