Thoughts.

Use all of your fingers when you grip a forehand!

The same concept of keeping the disc flat with your forearm also applies to backhand and, really, all other throws as well. Really build an awareness of how you’re holding the disc.

I forget where I read it first (again, you can probably find it here somewhere), but one thing I’ve been recommending to people I’ve been teaching, especially people trying to throw with touch, is to throw off of one foot.

Relax and throw.

You can find a lot of things that resonate with how I cut through my recently posted links compilation.

That said, with these posts I’m going to try and flesh out a lot of the aspects that go into cutting, so hopefully some of it will be helpful/new.

A couple broad sweeping generalizations to start:
1. It helps to be fast. Always does, always will. Train hard, focus on your sprinting form until it becomes natural to sprint quickly, and your job gets a lot easier. I’m a pretty fast guy, so unfortunately a lot of my cutting style is skewed towards taking advantage of that. Keep that bias in mind going forwards.

2. It helps a LOT to be explosive. If you’re not fast (or at least, if your defender is as fast or faster than you), being able to start and stop more quickly will work to your advantage. As a handler/mid and when I found myself evenly matched (I wouldn’t like to ever admit to being overmatched), relying on my explosiveness to generate a step or two of separation was crucial to setting up any other cuts I made. This is a lot easier to train than simply being fast. Go to the gym, get stronger. Learn how to lift with one leg, and how to jump and land with one leg. Most importantly, learn how to stop. It is my opinion that stopping is the most underrated skill in ultimate frisbee.

I’ll stop there before this turns into a fitness post. Going forward, I’m going to try and give some more concrete stuff than this, but a lot of what follows stems from the above. Solid fundamentals (of movement) make it possible to excel at the minutia.

Hopefully this gives you a good idea.

So many novice throwers use primarily their arm, or throw from their hip. Both sap throwing power. Relax your arm (but not the grip), and load the scapula when you’re hucking forehands.

The force that results from this loading should flow fairly easily from your torso/shoulder to the disc if you’re keeping your arm relaxed. From your biceps to your forearm, nothing should be tightening up until your snap your wrist to release the disc.

Next time you’re watching somebody with really good forehand hucks, watch their shoulder. I can almost guarantee you that if they throw with any power or authority they load their shoulder to some extent.

I’ve yet to determine whether “loading the scapula” is appropriate for backhands. But it most definitely helps for forehands. Pull your shoulder blade in when you wind up, and just let the natural stretch-shortening cycle pull your arm through the throwing motion.

This is more or less the compilation of all the useful ultimate-related links I’ve read.

I did a lot more blog reading last year and especially the year before that, which is when I came across most of these–that was the golden age of ultimate blogging, when nothing was recorded yet (outside of UT & T, which was not comprehensive) so what was put down was often the most authoritative info out there. Nowadays everybody’s run out of ideas and all you get is hype and tourney recaps.

Without further ado, here’s the list. This is culled from a blitz I sent to the mens’ team last spring:

the main compilation of ultimate bloggerdom

UPA rules blog (this is where I get all those “actually…11th edition says…”s from):

Jim Parinella’s blog (former DoG player, co-writer of Ultimate Techninques and Tactics–one of the best and brightest ultimate has seen)
highlights from his blog:

• this describes VERY well my cutting philosophy (MUST READ)
• more on cutting (MUST READ. Take these bits of cutting advice and really, reallly think about them. See yourself setting up in various situations. This WILL make you a better cutter)
• ideas for hucking practice
• simple thoughts can make a big difference
• players make plays
• drills to try alone/with a friend
• decision-making
• conflict resolution (hi Lamar)

Idris Nolan’s blog (former Jam player…thought to be one of the better/best handlers in club ultimate)
lots of good stuff to see here, too:

• on hucking (2nd is a MUST READ)
• >learn by watching
• defense in the air
• IO flick/breaking the mark, hammers/blades, throwing in general(the four-finger flick has your pointer and middle against the rim and holds the bottom of the rim with the ring and pinkie) (MUST READ)
• making secondary cuts (again, this describes my cutting philosophy very well)
• field sense and throws to space

Ultimate player on Training
just a few highlights this time. Start at the beginning of this blog and scan through if you have time and interest in different training styles (check out the stuff on tabata intervals):

• on crossfit (where I get a ton of training info from), “what is fitness?”
• hip flexor streching and a better vertical

Ultimate Strategy/Coaching blog

• broad progression for throwing a forehand

Occasionally entertaining, but not often useful

And then there’s RSD. some useful discussions (but do more research yourself, there’s TONS of gems to find):

• Ben Wiggins on throwing, esp hucking(UPDATED–missing RSD link has been redirected to a collection of Wiggins Writing)
• hammers
• laying out
• pulling
• scroll up for a bit on good forehand throwing

That caps it off. Sorry if the formating isn’t the most user-friendly to read.
-Mackey

PS For aspiring avid blog readers, check out feed readers at google reader or bloglines. Also give technorati.com a look for searching purposes.

I’ll do more explanatory posts on some things later (cutting, how I teach throwing), but all of what you’ll hear here stems in large part from what I’ve read above.

I’ve been doing this since my freshman year, and I didn’t realize until recently what a help this can be for the burgeoning cutter-type (or really any type).

I’m going to give a fairly simple picture demonstration of what I mean. For me, at least, it’s absolutely perfect for those times when I get bored in class–the margins of the pages make an excellent setting.

So, Cutting Schematics(TM?):

Start off with a fairly simple field setup. Start with the basics–one thrower (the O), one mark (the line, indicating which way he’s forcing).

In this case, we have a force flick.

Then….

…a straight stack, complete with dump set up slightly upfield (your team’s offensive set may vary). Note that I’m only adding two extra defenders here–for this particular cutting schematic, we’re only concerned with the last guy in the stack and the first dump. This particular schematic is working through a situation where the handler cuts upline…

…while the last cutter in the stack, recognizing the imminent power position, sets up a continuation with a good, hard in cut.

When the handler gets the disc in power position…

…the cutter, whose defender is at this point chasing him and likely not in a good position to defend the deep (or at least compromised enough that it can be attempted), plants and makes a good deep cut into the space he’s just set up–heading straight backwards to leave a lane for the huck to go into, rather than flaring out into the lane and making the huck more difficult.

It’s that simple. I’m positive I’m not the only one who does this, but I’m also fairly sure that there are lots of people out there who could make good use of it if they knew to.

Other situations you might want to consider using a cutting schematic in:

• As a general thought experiment for situations you don’t normally see/aren’t used to yet–what if the force is straight up on the mark? What if your man is forcing you out to the point that you have to run around him to get in? What if there’s a poach in the lane? What do you do if you’re the second-to-last in the stack and the power position huck doesn’t come?
• For handler cuts–again, run the various situations through your mind. When do you throw a juke to get open effectively (i.e., at a position where the throw to you is easy to make)? When do you clear out, hard?
• Defensively. What situations should you expect to see when playing a force-middle defense, when you’re guarding a downfield cutter? What sorts of adjustments do you have to anticipate making to compensate for these situations? When are the situations in which a smart poach can get a D? When are you most vulnerable, and why? When do you have to just buckle down and beat your man?

It’s very versatile as a tool to guide visualization. I’ll elaborate on the general notion of visualization and how it’s one of the most powerful tools you can use to improve yourself in any sport (e.g., ultimate) in a later post.