Frisbee Tips - Common Mistakes

I figured I would put together a little set of tips for new Frisbee players out there. I will cover the three largest mistakes I see.

#1 Not enough spin.

A lot of people when they first start learning how to throw have discs that wobble a lot. The wobble can be avoided by providing enough spin on the disc.

Solution: Spin comes from the wrist and is a snapping motion that follows the arc of your arm. One way to practice getting enough spin on the disc is to hold your bicep against your ribs with your non-throwing hand and then try to throw. Because your arm is strapped against your body, both the force to make the throw go forward and the spin needed to keep it flat must be provided by your wrist.

#2 Too much spin/Late Release.

The too much spin problem usually comes hand in hand with a late release. As players try to put more spin on the disc they often hold on for too long and the trajectory of the disc ends up going to the right on a backhand and to the left on a forehand.

Solution: This late release can be avoided by reminding the player to always release the disc as soon as the wrist is in line with the forearm. If it is later than this, often times the disc will end up going in a direction you don't want it to.

#3 Stepping forward.

The last problem that is often seen is that people try to step forward while throwing. When you have no mark on you this is no problem, however as soon as someone is defending your throws they will be in front of you and you will have nowhere to step.

Solution: Always step outwards, from your plant you should be making a step directly in line or even backwards a little bit to allow you to throw unimpeded by your marks defense. This one is an easy fix in terms of helping the person correct it, but unfortunately can take a long time to get into muscle memory so that it is done immediately.

Those are my tips for now, also comment moderation is off thanks to the suggestion by icey.

Until next time, get out there and enjoy the weather!

Hot Yoga/Ultimate Frisbee

On Tuesday I found out just how important it is to drink water. It was my girlfriends birthday so I decided to go to hot yoga with her, something she had been wanting for a long time. Sure enough I end up racing around in the morning and don't drink enough water before hand. What followed was one of the strangest experiences of my life.

I began strong keeping up with the flow, but eventually started to become more sluggish until nearing the end I just laid down and was unable to continue any of the postures. With about 20 minutes left in the class I began to notice some tingling in my hands. I did not think much of it but it soon grew to a full on numbness (pins and needles). Next my arms started to get numb as well and my thumbs involuntary contracted to press against my pointer and middle fingers. At this point I knew something was awry, but with only 4 minutes left in class and the teacher encouraging me I pressed on.

After the class was finished I tried to drink from my water bottle but found I had to fight to open my hand. In the changing room one of the other participants asked if my hands were alright and offered me some electrolytes telling me it was dehydration. What happened next was incredible, within 5 minutes of drinking some more water and electrolytes my hands were back to normal, just feeling a little bit sore. I ended up going to Ultimate afterwards and running for a good three hours but ensured I brought a bunch of water. It turned out fine as I was able to drink a bunch of water and not have any hand problems at all (which would be devastating while trying to throw a frisbee!).

In any case a word of advice to you all! If your hand every really hurt, drink a bunch of water and if you plan on doing a lot of exercise/sweating a lot (I soaked an entire towel through at hot yoga!) MAKE SURE YOU HYDRATE YOURSELF ADEQUATELY! This means drink water before, during and after! Speaking of sweating and hydration, how hot is it where you all live right now? The forecast for tomorrow where I am from is a measly high of 16°C (60°F). A new puzzle will be up soon, don't worry :)

Ultimate Frisbee - Positions

So Francis Caron asked here about what positions there are in Ultimate Frisbee. This question gets asked a lot and it is a tricky one to tackle due to the variety of positions there are. I will try my best though. It is best to start by saying that every player on the field has two positions depending on whether or not your team is on offense or defense at the time. Your team is considered to be on offense when one of your team members has the disc in his or her posession. Your team is considered to be on defense when your team does not have the disc. From here we can break down the positions into offensive and defensive.

Offensive Positions

1. Cutters

• Cutters are the offensive players that run and try to create open space to move the disc upfield. Cutters either play a horizontal or vertical offense. In a horizontal offense the 4 cutters form a straight line across the field and "cut" (run) in and out to try to beat the defensive player marking them. In a vertical offense, a vertical line is made in the center of the field and cutters run to either side hoping to beat their checks.

1. Handlers

• Handlers are the players that have the disc the most, they stay furthest back and pass with one another to reset the "stall count" (The stall count is when the defence counts to 10, if they reach ten and you have not thrown the disc your team loses posession). Handlers are usually split up into swings and dumps. The dump is the handler who runs directly behind the player with the disc to offer an easy throw to reset the stall count, whereas the swings are the other two handlers who offer a longer throw to gain some yards forward as dumping the disc loses yards.

1. Strikers

• Strikers are essentially cutters but are more geared toward running long for "hucks" (long throws).

1. Poppers

• Poppers are essentially cutters but are more geared toward running (popping) into the cup for a short pass as an alternative option to a dump.

 Defensive Positions

1. Man

• A man defence is where each defensive player marks an offensive player, usually players try to mark offense of equal skill so there are no mismatches.

1. Cup

• A cup is a style of zone defense in which each player is marking a zone of the field rather than a player. When a cup is put on there are usually three defensive players who mark the person with the disc in a semi circle shape (hence the term "cup"). The next three players mark the zones in front of the cup, or the middle, hence they are called "mids". The last player is called the "deep" and marks any long throws to strikers.

1. Rabbit Wall

• The rabbit wall is a variation of the cup in which there is one "rabbit" who runs after the frisbee constantly being the only person to count stalls. It is an exhausting position and the wall's job is to prevent any throws up the field. This leaves the team on offense with the option of swinging the disc back and forth between handlers. The idea is that the more throws you force the other team to throw the higher the chance there is they will drop the disc. Because you now have 4 people marking rather than 3 you sacrifice on mid. This leaves you with two mid's and a deep.

So I hope that semi clears up the different positions, if you have any questions feel free to ask! (I am thinking about perhaps making some picture diagrams as I can imagine this must be quite confusing to someone who has never played). Hope that clears things up Francis!

Ultimate Frisbee - Moving Up a Division

So unfortunately even with all the luck you guys gave me there were no games last night due to rain. I thought this was supposed to be summer! I still have a practice Sunday and a game Tuesday so I will get a chance to play but I hope this rain lets up or all the fields will remain closed. Short post for now, will give you all something neat later on. For now be appeased with this song:

See you all later today.

Ultimate Frisbee - Championship Video

So in the comments for my Ultimate Frisbee post there were two that stuck out (1 and 2). I thought I would post one of my favourite highlight reel videos from the 2009 UPA Nationals. The best moments to look at in my opinion if you don't want to watch the entire video are 00:58 for an example of a great read, 1:07 for an awesome layout/cross field hammer, 1:45 for a good recovery and 2:31 for a guy outskying two players. Now the best moment in the entire video deserves a section all to itself so please CLICK HERE to see the most amazing layout (quite possibly ever). If anyone knows of video of one that beats that let me know in the comments! The video is underneath:

 

I hope you enjoy and seriously CHECK THIS MOMENT OUT!

Ultimate Frisbee

I currently play on two Ultimate Frisbee teams, one quite competitive and the other one more lax. I am really enjoying the sport, been playing for at least 6 years now. The competitive team I play for just moved up a division so hopefully it will be even more intense. First game in the new div is on Thursday, hope all goes well as it is a double header against Sheet It Out and The Incredible Huck. Here are some recent pictures of some play: