THROWING: Technique
Immediate Throws (ITs): No Time To Blink
Key terms:
Any Instant/Immediate Throw (IT)
Ultra-Immediate/Instant Throw (UIT)
Near-Immediate/Instant Throw (NIT)
The standard procedure in
SUF is to catch the disc, get your balance, guage the field for a
few seconds, and throw. I'm ADD, I can't wait that long.
People tell me a quarter second is extremely negligible. I
want to put these guys in a room with equally skilled players of
soccer,
football, lacross, track, volleyball, badminton, air
hockey, drag racing, underwater rugby, ping pong, capture the
flag, dodgeball, Doom, Quake, Halo, NERO, Final Fantasy VIII blitzball,
and Pong, and be the one person in the room to explain "Nah, a
quarter second really matter in our sport. We don't have to think
fast."
Look at this video.
It's 2:47 into the game before anyone throws a IT and it's
an
excellent move (it's a forehand-IT because it's caught below the
waist, see below). Call me crazy if it seems more
skillful than any throw to that point. Even here, it's only
attempted because the disc was out of bounds: the disc can be
saved in a "greatest" if it's released before your feet hit the
ground. That's hard, which is why it results in an incomlpete
pass here. But this technique is much easier on the ground, and
can be used during normal play.
It requires a good amount of skill: you have to instantly decide 1. which of all of the throws (listed in wikipedia)
you'll have to use, 2. where to throw it, requiring a lot of
memorization of where everyone is on the field and where they're
heading because you have scant time to look once you get the disc, and
3. whether you should even
throw once 1 and 2 are decided. It sounds hard but it's just like
any quarterback scanning the positions and directions and speeds of
everyone on the field and making a fast decision.
ITs: Basic Technique
See Wikipedia for throw descriptions. You need every one for this!
Right side up, Above chest, to the left: Peach (Beach Thumber)
Right side up, Above chest, to the right: Overhand
Right side up, Below chest, to the left: Backhand
Right side up, Below chest, to the right: Forehand
Upside down, Above chest, high up: Hammer
Upside down, Above chest, left: Scoober
Upside down, Above chest, right: Thumber (standard)
Upside down, Below chest, left: Flip and Backhand
Upside down, Below chest, right: Flip and Forehand
The two thumbers are very confusing, this is why I call
the 'beach thumber' or 'forehand thumber' by its other name, peach, and
also because it's one syllable, an advantage in such a quick sport.
Perhaps "Stan" for standard thumber?
When
the disc comes at you and you catch normally, you have to throw the IT
from that grip. This knocks backhands and forehands (somewhat)
off their thrones, because you cannot catch a b/h or f/h ready disc above your chest without difficulty, and can't throw from up there anyway. Stick out your arm like
you're making a "stop" motion. You're already in position to
catch an up-high disc, then you can whip a peach (see peach thread),
also called 'beach thumber' or 'forehand thumber', or an overhand.
The former is better for the left (and is more poweful), and
the latter for the right (maybe better when guarded). But, to
catch a disc b/h or f/h-ready, you have to
awkwardly twist your entire arm, and even further, it's awkward to
throw from there too; you have to lower the disc, costing you time.
When
the disc is upside down, you want to use the hammer (above), scoober
(left), and standard thumber (right). If it's down low to the
left, I believe the best move is catching it overhand then flipping it
over for a backhand throw, and to the right, catch it overhand then
flip-and-forehand.
So,
all the throws come into play for easy catch-throws. Now, a
secondary move would be to take the extra quarter second to grab a disc
from a caught position and whip and release it from another position.
You could do this from any catch to any of the throws,
as long as you catch it in the grip that you'll throw it from (Near Instant Throw,
NIT).
This is trickier but useful if the marker is to your right and
you want to throw to your left, or if one throw is more preferable than
another, such as a powerful peach vs a less powerful overhand, or the
overhand if you're marked vs the contrained peach. To help do
this, you can use your whole body to move and twist so that you
can catch and release it from a comfortable position.
To
throw more quickly, when catching, go with the disc, pull back with it
as part of the backward motion to throw it. To really do this
well, take the rotation of the disc into
account. This doesn't really matter in SUF because it's gonna
stop spinning whichever way it's turning. But if it's going to be
immediately relayed, then you can actually use the disc's spin to your
advantage. If a disc is coming to your lower left
counter-clockwise, this is how you would pull back to get ready to
release a backhand anyway, so you can use that as part of your throw. Likewise a peach is easier if the disc is rotating
counter-clockwise when above your chest, etc.
An even harder IT move is an air-IT (or jump-IT): to jump, catch, and release
before your feet hit the ground (or maybe just as they hit). This
is used only in SUF in a 'greatest' when the disc is out of bounds, but
could be used all the time, such as to leap above a marker (unless he
thought to jump too). As difficult as humanly possible
would be to relay the disc via multiple jump-ITs.
Discs
What disc should we use? Here are some TUF differences:
1. You have to whip the disc around, so maybe a lighter disc
2. Perhaps the disc should level out quickly, so maybe a heaver disc (I find Daredevils level out better)
3. We throw more peaches and standard thumbers now, so maybe a thicker rim.
4. Visibility is even more important, so get a bright disc (Discraft yellow or Daredevil 'sun')
Personally I think a disc 65% Discraft and 35% Daredevil would be best for any Ultimate.
See disc links at top.
A Few Peach Myths (see 40 post debate)
1. wristricted.
My answer: if you're not guared (in which case it's useless
anyway), restricted wrist matters as much as restriced shot gun.
2. Can't put full contact on peach. A: Just plain wrong,
you can fully grab with max contact and release.
3. Not accurate,
powerful, etc, IMHO this is just plain wrong.
4. Overhand
completely superior. A: Overhand doesn't have any power or
distance but has its uses.
5. Backhand totally superior. A:
You can't catch a b/h or f/h-ready disc above your chest, and you can't throw well from up there anyway.
6.
Much more constrained (proximity to body and hence marker) when
guarded. A: Definitely, but looks a bit worse than it is.
The forehand is
already extended to how you would release it. Holding a peach
looks
inferior beacause it's twisted inward. When you release it, your
arm
is stretched out like the forehand. It's still limited and takes
more
strain to throw when guarded, but isn't useless. Perhaps I'm biased, it's
my fav, or maybe I'm stepping in for the helpless picked-on kid.
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INTRO
..
THROWING: Basic Technique
..
GAME PLAY: Rules, Strategy
..
MISC: Energy, USMC
..
Thrower: HIGH:
Disc above chest
Thrower: LOW: Reverse of above
Thrower: AIR: Way high (air-IT)
Thrower: DISC: Right-side up throw
Thrower: BOWL: Inverse
of above
Team: OPEN: I'm open
Team: MAN: Don't throw
Team: BOUNCE: Prepare for IT relay
Team: DUMP: I'm behind you and open
Team: SWING: A sideways pass
Team: GOAL:
Go for the endzone
LINKS:
Cool starting guide to SUF
Full set of SUF Rules
UPA - Ultimate Players Association
Official Discraft and Daredevil
Individual Amazon Discraft and Daredevil
(visit daredevil directly for 'sun' color)
I recommend white / yellow discrafts, or sun, white (or orange) Daredevils.
Wikipedia entries for Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Throws (ignore the peach defamation)
Vids: Search
"frisbee" from Google Video then hit "> 20 min" to see whole SUF
games. While you're watching, think, could they have used an IT
there?
SQUISH EMAIL: me/at/here/dot/com 
REAL MEN THROW THUMBERS
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