Zen Throwing

Question 1

#1 Warmup Littles

Answer 1

• *Duration:** 1 easy lap around your throwing field or site
• *Description:** Jog while throwing back and forth, less than 5 yards

Goal: Warm up body

Question 2

#2 Back catches

Answer 2

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** Catch on the side of the disc spinning towards you.
• *Upper-level:** Catch on the reverse side.

Goal: Increase hand quickness and reading the spin of the disc. All players progress, at some point, to a realization that there is often an optimum side of the disc to catch (the one that is spinning into, not out of, your hand). Some players realize this unconsciously. Make this conscious and practice it. For example, if a right-handed player throws a forehand, you will want to catch on the left side (from your vantage point) of the approaching disc.

Question 3

#3 Wall resets

Answer 3

• *Duration:** 6-8 total throws
• *Description:** Pull back your throw to the farthest point that you normally reach. STOP. Moving only your head, turn and look at the angle of the disc. Only moving your wrist, adjust the angle of the disc to be as flat as possible. STOP. Move your head only until you can refocus on your partner. Throw.

Goal: Eliminate the 3-dimensional battle against the disc by ensuring that you bring it back flat. Any tilt to the disc in the windup, no matter how much it looks cool, is just another complication that your throwing motion needs to fix. Minimize it as much as comfortable.

Question 4

#4 Backhand Reminders

Answer 4

• *Duration:** 4-5 total throws
• *Description:** While stepping to throw your backhand, have your partner hold up a number of fingers on the hand that is farther from your backhand side. Call out the number before you throw.

Question 5

#5 Strobe Catches

Answer 5

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** While receiving, blink eyes as rapidly as possible.

Goal: Hone catching anticipation and reflexes by removing roughly 50% of the information that your eyes receive to simulate the coordination needed to catch while running, distracted or in traffic.

Question 6

#6 Holding (the hardest one)

Answer 6

• *Duration:** 2-3 minutes (about 10-15 throws)
• *Description:** Wind up any throw. When you get to the point of the throw at which you will only go forward, stop. Hold for 5-6 full seconds, counting out loud. When you reach that time, throw in a forward motion (in other words, don’t wind it up more).

Question 7

#7 Rainbows

Answer 7

• *Duration:** <1 minute
• *Description:** Throw straight blades to your partner, aiming for their collar bone. Try to throw high enough that the disc leaves your field of vision. Throw with wrist power as much as possible (no step).
• *Upper-level:** Catch on the top (trailing edge) of the disc.

Question 8

#8 Single-leg throws

Answer 8

• *Duration:** 4 minutes
• *Description:** Balance on opposite leg from throwing hand, throwing either forehands or backhands. If you complete a throw, back up a step. If your partner needs to move to catch, step closer. Do forehands first (generally flat) until you get to a good working distance where you don’t gradually step closer or farther much. Once you’ve tried this during a couple of sessions, this corresponds very well to your effective accurate throwing range in games, by the way.
• *Upper-level:** Stay balanced for 3-4 throws at a time, including the catch.
• *Very upper-level:** Use fakes without losing balance.

Question 9

#9 The Arc

Answer 9

• *Duration:** 1-2 minutes
• *Description:** Place feet shoulder width apart. Throw backhands, starting with low and very inside-out (disc nearly vertical). For each backhand, throw from a slightly raised angle continuing until you are throwing a nearly vertical disc from a high position. Try to locate each throw to the same region of your partner’s torso. Repeat with forehands. Imagine Leonardo’s human physiology sketches, but with a disc in each hand.
• *Upper level:** Repeat the Arc, but with the disc flat for each throw (this will require changing grips).

Goal: Develop comfortability, accuracy and strength in small angle changes without compensating with legs or power.

Question 10

#10 R & D throw

Answer 10

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** Pick a throw that you cannot currently throw well (this could be a scoober, or an inside-out forehand, or a high-release push pass…something that you are not currently comfortable with but that you think could have value). Throw this repeatedly.

Goal: Develop new throws. This is part of the full scheme of incorporation, which proceeds as: 1) Throw occasionally in non-practice throwing 2) Throw in pre-practice warm-ups 3) Throw in game warmups 4) Throw in meaningless games 5) Throw in practice scrimmages 6) Throw in games. Progression to the next point should occur when you are comfortable with the risk/reward of your skill with this throw, and not before. (Almost every throw I use in games now was, at one point, an R&D throw.)

Question 11

#11 Throw Hard

Answer 11

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** At any distance, throw hard.

Goal: Three goals here, and very effective when used in moderation. The first goal is to smooth out longer throw mechanics. These ‘hitches’ will sometimes solve themselves when your body is moving too quickly for them to be included. A second goal is to be confident with a fast disc. This is a great example of where it might be better to drop a few difficult catches in practice rather than snagging 100% of the easy throws. Challenge yourself, and you’ll find that you are better in disc-shaking wind and reactionary catches (and the throws that follow them more calmly).

Question 12

#12 Quiet Catches

Answer 12

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** Catch each throw with as little noise as possible, even when throwing hard. It may help to extend arms and catch while pulling them back towards your body.
• *Upper-level:** Do this while moving toward the thrower.

Goal: Develop catching dexterity by breaking the pattern of noise/clumsy clap and claw catches,

Question 13

#13 Line Dancing

Answer 13

• *Duration:** 1-2 minutes
• *Description:** Straddle a line while throwing with your partner. Just before catching, move your feet so that you are ‘in’ on one side of the line.
• *Upper-level:** try to be ‘in’ on the far side of the line of the disc.
• *Very upper-level:** Choose, during the throw, the side on which your partner should try to be ‘in’.

Goal: Develop familiarity with close-to-the-line throws. See Parinella, Rifkin or Ziperstein for great examples of expert line catchers.

Question 14

#14 Target Throwing

Answer 14

• *Duration:** 2 minutes
• *Description:** Partner puts up a one-hand target. Try to hit that target. If you can’t hit it perfectly, try to make your misses be farther away from the hand on a line from the targets heart.

Goal: Simulate throwing to a smaller target to increase accuracy. Also, be ready to throw to the non-guarded side of a player (keeping the disc a bit farther from the defender).

Question 15

#15 Late Eye Pickups

Answer 15

• *Duration:** 1 minute
• *Description:** Throw to a partner that is standing either eyes-closed or facing away from you. About a third of the way through the flight of the disc, say ‘Now’ so that your partner can find the disc quickly and catch it.
• *Upper-level:** Give progressively less time to find the disc each throw.

Goal: Develop quick reading ability for a disc in flight, and quick hand reaction time.

Question 16

#16 Full-Power Windups

Answer 16

• *Duration:** <1 minute
• *Description:**Wind-up for each throw as if you were throwing absolutely as hard and far as you can. Throw only 10 yards or so, trying to throw smoothly and without flutter even though your body is propelling.

Goal: Test and improve the efficiency and smoothness of your release by combining maximum movement (a hard windup) with a minimally stabilized disc (at slow speed).

Question 17

#17 Catch and Release Long

Answer 17

• *Duration:** 2 minutes
• *Description:** At a longer-than-normal distance, catch and throw as quickly as possible.
• *Upper-level:** As you are catching, have your partner yell out ‘Backhand’ or ‘Forehand’ so that you are reacting to needs of the situation and not just throwing the easiest throw to get to.

Goal: Develop long throws in a game-like way by forcing quickness. This removes parts of your normal huck motion that are not quick enough to be game-usable, but that contribute to throwing long distances by increasing total power at the expense of reaction time. Remember: Short/early hucks are often caught. Long/late hucks are often turnovers.

Question 18

#18 The Seth Game

Answer 18

• *Duration:** 2 minutes
• *Description:** At any distance, try to throw with touch (high spin to speed ratio) throws that will land very close to your partner’s feet.
• *Upper-level:** Try to throw with enough touch that you can bring your partner to move from where their feet are planted to catch your throw as it settles just annoyingly out of their reach.

Goal: Perfecting touch throws (especially hucks) by controlling the tilt of the disc at the end of the throw, which has a great deal of influence on the final location of the throw. If you are throwing discs that don’t have a controlled tilt, you will tend to have them fall very far away from your target. If you master this, your receiver will have a difficult time reading whether the disc will fall straight to them to decay in its path and fall annoyingly far away.

Question 19

#19 Off-leg Pivots

Answer 19

• *Duration:** 1-2 minutes
• *Description:**With the disc in your off hand, do some even-out work by pivoting deep, low, powerfully and quickly on your non-throwing leg. Alternatively, try 3-4 sets of 12-16 pivots. This can be by throwing stretchy off-hand throw (more fun) or by doing a minute-long set of off-leg pivots (harder, and more necessary if you are throwing a lot).

Goal: During any throwing session, you are likely to pivot many more times on your throwing leg than on your non-throwing leg. This can have bad ramifications for injuries (right leg IT band tightness, anyone) and for your running form. You can help this by evening out the distribution of strength and work.

Question 20

#20 Dishies

Answer 20

• *Duration:** 20 throws
• *Description:** From <2 yards apart, very short throws from a variety of angles including push passes, forehands, and backhands. Don’t forget your left hand.
• *Upper-level:** Throw each throw in the same grip that you catch with. Alternatively, increase the speed.

Goal: Create catchable throws for the short game and become comfortable with the eye-head movements that are extra and required only for short following short throws that change your vertical visual plane more.

Question 21

#21 Catch Reverts

Answer 21

• *Duration:** 3-5 throws
• *Description:** On each catch, look the disc all the way into your hands and pause until your eyes refocus on the disc (usually on some specific detail like the flight rings or a part of printed logo). Don’t move to throw until you have completely focused (1-2 seconds).

Goal: Remind your body by overemphasis that it needs to watch the disc as far into your hands as possible. In reality, the optimum is probably to look the disc almost all of the way into your hands, and it will actually leave your vision for the last foot or two. During a season, you’ll gradually start to loose disc vision farther and farther from your body (just by natural familiarization with so many throws and catches) and this helps reset to a better catching state.