Week 1 Throwing: Flat Forehands (9/10)

Practice schedule:

• Monday - 2:00-4:00PM, Turf
• Tuesday - 2:00-4:00PM, Turf 
• Wednesday - 4:00-6:00PM, Jefferson Park
• Thursday - 4:00-6:00PM, Jefferson Park

Here's the general plan for throwing practices (+2 hours on Wednesday/Thursday):

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 3-on-3 games (keep-away, mini, box, double box, etc.)

Drills for this week are:

• Teach forehand grip, pivot foot. Throw blades in pairs (10 min)
• 3-man marking drill, open side forehands, passive mark (10 min)
• Come-to cutting drill, open side forehands, passive mark (10 min)
• Lines, open side forehands to 45 degree in cut, passive mark (10 min)

Why are we starting with forehands?

90% of the time you have the disc in your hands, you should be in a forehand grip. The sooner you get comfortable with it, the better.

How to Throw a Forehand:

I strongly suggest you download the video (that means you need to register for a free Vimeo account). There are a lot of things you can see more clearly when you watch frame-by-frame.

Grip

The pad of your middle finger goes in the grove between the rim and the underside of the disc. Your index finger rests next to your middle finger on the underside of the disc.

Grip the disc on top with your thumb pointing towards the middle of the disc, and with your ring finger on the outside of the rim.

Stance

In your neutral stance, hold the disc in a tight forehand grip with your arm at your side.  Your feet should be flat on the ground about shoulder-width apart, with your weight slightly shifted to the balls of your feet.  This stance puts you in the best position to quickly throw any throw.

The Step

Step out and forward and plant hard on your heel.

As you complete your throw and follow-through, your lower body should stay almost motionless.

You should be externally rotating your foot and making sure that your shin points back towards your body.

Throwing with a Mark

Starting at 2:32 in the video, there are a few open side throws with a mark.  Here's what I see:

1. Marking is protecting the break side.  No fake.  I just step out and throw quickly enough and with enough extension that the marker is nowhere near the release point.
2. I do a very small shoulder fake.
3. No fake.
4. I do a slightly bigger shoulder fake.  I get the marker moving to protect the backhand side as I'm already moving to throw the forehand.  When you need to move the mark to throw a forehand, this is what your fake should look like.
5. Another small shoulder fake.
6. Gspence does a pretty exaggerated shoulder fake.  He'd be better off starting in a narrower stance, and keeping the disc by his side instead of bringing it across his body and touching it with  his other hand.
7. There are very few situations where it is a good idea to pivot across to a backhand to set up your forehand.  Throwing an open side forehand is never one of those situations.  In the time it takes Gspence to pivot back and forth, the marker can easily recover to his original position.
8. Gspence doesn't mess around and just steps out and throws the open throw.

Again, I suggest going through these frame-by-frame to get a better idea of what's going on.

Summer 2012

Here are some suggestions for what you should be doing if you want to be a better player when you get back to school in the fall.  In no particular order:

• Do a written self-assessment right now.  Think about the things you do on the field and identify your strengths and weaknesses.  Ask teammates whose opinions you respect what they think you need to work on.
• Spend lots of time doing focused throwing.  Take 5 discs and go out by yourself and work on a single throw for half an hour.  The two most important things to be working on are: (1) get your entire body in the right position to make the throw you want to make, and (2) attempt to control the entire flight path of your throw.  Here are the videos from last fall:
• Forehands
• Backhands
• IO Forehands
• Around Forehands
• IO Backhands
• Around Backhands
• Get in the gym.  The actual workout you do isn't that important.  What is important is to find a workout and follow the workout.  I'd recommend Westside for Skinny Bastards.
• Go play as much as you can.  If you can find a real team to practice with, that's great.  If you're just playing pickup, put yourself in a position to work on your weaknesses instead of just messing around.
• Think about your mental game.  You can get a used copy of The Inner Game of Tennis for $4.  Read it.  Understand it.
• Watch Ultimate and read about Ultimate.  There is a lot of great information available at The Huddle, Skyd Magazine, and lots of other places.  If you find something useful, share it with your teammates.
• Set goals for yourself.  Think about what your Outcome Goals are.  Pick about 5 process goals that will help you achieve those outcome goals.  Write them down somewhere where you will see them every day.
• Outcome Goal:  Something measurable.  For example: "I want to be able to throw a 70 yard backhand huck," or "I want to be able to squat 250 pounds."
• Process Goal:  Something that is 100% within your control.  For example: "I'm going to throw for at least 20 minutes every day," or "I'm going to lift three times per week."

Week 9 Throwing

Here's the general plan for throwing practices:

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 3-on-3 game

During the unstructured time, pick a single throw to work on (e.g. IO backhand).

Drills for this week are:

• Lines, backhands and forehands.  Cut open side, break side, or break side and deep (10 min)
• Come-to breakmark cutting drill, both forces, active marks (10 min)
• 1-on-1 endzone iso (cutter at front of end zone, thrower and marker 5 yards out in middle of field).  (10 min)
• UBC huck drill (10 min)

You can find all the throwing videos here.

Week 8 Throwing

Here's the general plan for throwing practices:

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 5-on-5 game

During the unstructured time, pick a single throw to work on (e.g. IO backhand).

Drills for this week are:

• Lines, backhands and forehands.  Cut open side, break side, or break side and deep (10 min)
• 1-on-1 cutting drill (10 min)
• Come-to breakmark cutting drill, both forces, active marks (10 min)
• UBC huck drill (10 min)

You can find all the throwing videos here.

Week 7: Around Forehands

Here's the general plan for throwing practices:

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 3-on-3 games (keep-away, mini, box, double box, etc.)

Drills for this week are:

• Lines, open side backhands and forehands (10 min)
• Horozontal (diamond) breakmark cutting drill, force backhand, throw around forehand, PASSIVE mark (10 min)
• Come-to breakmark cutting drill, both forces, active marks (10 min)
• UBC huck drill (10 min)
  

Again, I strongly suggest you download the video (that means you need to register for a free Vimeo account). There are a lot of things you can see more clearly when you watch frame-by-frame.

Quick comment on Around Forehands: See comments for Forehands and  IO Forehands.  Don't pivot to the backhand to set up the around forehand.

Week 6: IO Backhands

Here's the general plan for throwing practices:

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 3-on-3 games (keep-away, mini, box, double box, etc.)

Drills for this week are:

• Lines, open side backhands and forehands (10 min)
• Lines, force forehand, breakside cut for IO backhand, PASSIVE mark (10 min)
• Horozontal (diamond) breakmark cutting drill, force backhand, throw IO backhand (LOW RELEASE), PASSIVE mark (10 min)
• Come-to breakmark cutting drill, force forehand, active marks (10 min)

Again, I strongly suggest you download the video (that means you need to register for a free Vimeo account). There are a lot of things you can see more clearly when you watch frame-by-frame.

Quick comment on IO Backhands:  See Low-Release Backhands post.  Everything from there applies to IO backhands too.  The high-release backhand can be an effective IO break, but for now, focus on low-release IO's.

Week 5: Around Backhands

Here's the general plan for throwing practices:

• 2:00-2:29pm - Unstructured throwing
• 2:29-2:45pm - Dynamic warmup
• 2:45-3:30pm - Throwing drills
• 3:30-4:00pm - 3-on-3 games (keep-away, mini, box, double box, etc.)

Drills for this week are:

• Lines, open side backhands and forehands (10 min)
• Lines, force forehand, breakside cut for IO forehand, PASSIVE mark (10 min)
• Horozontal (diamond) breakmark cutting drill, force forehand, throw around backhand, PASSIVE mark (10 min)
• Come-to breakmark cutting drill, force forehand, active marks (10 min)

Again, I strongly suggest you download the video (that means you need to register for a free Vimeo account). There are a lot of things you can see more clearly when you watch frame-by-frame.

Quick comments on Around Backhands:

1. Pretty much all the technique is the same as for regular low-release backhands.
2. Think about stepping through as much as stepping around.  If you're releasing the disc from behind your marker's arm, there's no way you'll get blocked without a foul.  Gspence is stepping backwards to get around the marker, and that results in his throws being pushed far wider and gaining fewer yards.