How to Do a Behind the Back, Right Hand Skid With Clock

  By

 

In this video I explain how to do a behind the back, right hand skid with clock. This is an against the spin move that adds the extra restriction of pulling the disc behind the back before performing the against the spin pull.

To perform this trick, basically throw or set the disc on an angle at your left hip. Step forward with your left foot, reach behind your back and hook the rim with your nail. Now swing down and then back up. As you swing the disc up turn to your right.

Extra credit points if you can go from this move to another against the spin move.

Episode 51: Dexter Struz Talks About Giving Competition Formats Some Sizzle

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Dexter catches a Chair

Photo by Ken Shults

  • As both a Footbag and a Freestyle organizer, Dexter shares his thoughts on competition formats and how they are perceived by an audience.
  • He thinks there’s a more exciting way to promote Freestyle and attract sponsors. Some of the ways include location, judging, and prize money.
  • Dexter, Jake, and Randy toss around some ideas about judging and making competitions more audience friendly.
  • Jake and Randy define what they mean when they use the phrase “audience friendly” which simply put, for them, is about taking something they love doing and sharing it.
  • Stay tuned to learn more about becoming a FrisbeeGuru Patron…
  • How do you fuel your tank before you play? 

Poll: What is the Highest Wind Speed in Which You Are Comfortable Jamming

  By

Jan UTL BrushThis poll idea comes from Ayal Benin. In an earlier poll we learned what the ideal wind speed is for jamming. This question puts a different spin on the wind speed conversation. You see, we can’t really control the wind speed. Rather, we grab our discs, nails, and friends and head to the jam spot. When we arrive mother nature lets us know what she has planned. Sometimes there’s no wind, maybe it’s gusty, or maybe it’s a blow out. If we’re lucky it’s perfect. This variation in wind conditions is something that I rather enjoy. It allows me to explore new possibilities and push my skills to the absolute limits. I never want to arrive to the field and feel like I can’t play because the conditions are not right. I seek to be able to handle anything. With that said, of course, there certainly are limits. This poll is aimed to find just that, our limits.

Bonus points if you share a story about the craziest wind you’ve ever played in. Thanks, Ayal, for the idea. If you have poll ideas, leave them in the comments or send me a message here.

 

What is the Highest Wind Speed in Which You Are Comfortable Jamming

[poll id=”54″]

FrisbeeGuru – 2017 in Review

  By

One of the most effective strategies for improving one’s Freestyle Frisbee game is self-reflection. After a jam or performance, it’s helpful to take a moment to think back and recognize what worked, as well as where we can improve and grow.

Since this site’s inception in 1998, I’ve been doing a similar exercise. As I sit and reflect on Heinsville and FrisbeeGuru in 2017, I am taken aback at just how much we’ve accomplished. I also want to share my thoughts with you because you’ve all been such an important part of this amazing journey.

At the beginning of 2017, I set three goals:

  • Centralize Freestyle Frisbee live streaming on this site
  • Increase the audience viewership for the FPAW 2017 live stream over 2016
  • Create at least three new items of content for the blog

Looking back, all three of these were successful. With the help of Jakub “Mystic” Matula and Chris Bellaj, we hosted 14 live streams. We also added our own streaming service so we no longer need to use Youtube, UStream, etc. This means no commercials and that we control the content. For FPAW 2017, we placed a Facebook ad promoting the finals. This resulted in an uptick in viewer traffic, surpassing all other FPAWs except for 2013. And, of course, with the weekly podcast on Sunday, weekly polls on Thursday, and other content (like the training videos) on Tuesday, the goal of three new items per week was easily met.

Randy Editing

If that were all, I would be more than satisfied. Looking back at previous years, those three items would have put 2017 as one of the top productive years. But that’s only part of the story. Early in 2017, Randy came to me with an idea. As we discussed it, we realized the synergy with my expertise with internet technology and his expertise with internet marketing. We partnered up and created another set of goals:

  • A Weekly Podcast
  • Increased website traffic, live stream viewership, and audience engagement
  • Income to fund the FrisbeeGuru mission

Shortly after this conversation, Shootin’ the FrizBreeze was born. Then, we rebranded Heinsville to FrisbeeGuru, which immediately grabbed people’s attention and made it easier to point non-Frisbee friends to the site. We also organized our Facebook presence, added a mailing list, and began promoting FrisbeeGuru and all our projects. Then, we added the donate button, T-Shirts, and the Wall of Gurus. Most importantly, we clearly defined our mission.

What’s been most amazing about 2017 is how many of you have joined us for this adventure; comments are up 10x from years pasts (even more than that on our facebook posts), people contact us regularly with feedback, ideas, or questions (some from regular freestylers and others who are new to the sport). We’ve had more outside blog posts and photo contributions this past year than ever, including people proudly wearing their FrisbeeGuru T-Shirts, and many generous donations toward our continued endeavors. THANK YOU!

Of course, any good self-reflection includes areas for growth. There are several things that I’d like to improve:

  1. Technical issues caused some of our live streams to fail this year. This included both issues with hardware on-site and issues with our live streaming service. Certainly sometimes things just break, but I’ll be adding more backup planning and improving the software.
  2. I’d like to improve our overall audio and video quality. What we produce is pretty good, but I believe increasing the polish would lend more credibility to our various projects.
  3. I’d like the FPAW live stream to be more like a show that communicates not only to the knowledgeable freestyler, but to a lay-person audience. Therefore, I will be working toward adding more commentary and other filler material to keep people engaged with the live stream. We’ve experimented with this in the past and the feedback has been very positive. I think we now have the expertise to bring this to the next level in 2018.
  4. FrisbeeGuru T-Shirt sales and donations have been appreciated; enabling us to do many things this year that we would not have been able to otherwise. In order to keep our growth and improvement on track, we are launching a Patreon campaign on Feb 4th, 2018. Patreon is basically a crowd sourced funding platform, similar to Kickstarter, allowing fans to become monthly Patrons of projects that they love (like FrisbeeGuru!).

Looking back at this past year, I could not have imagined accomplishing so much without the help of so many enthusiastic jammers, partners, fans, and contributors. What excites me the most is that looking ahead to 2018, I am more motivated and charged up than ever.

Now I am asking you to share what you think: What have we done well? What could we do better? Is there anything that you suggest that we can try? Let me know in the comments, or send me a private message via our contact form or via email, Facebook, etc.

Episode 50: Matteo Gaddoni –The One and Only Freestyle and Disc Dog World Champion

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Photo by Arthur Coddington

    • Matteo talks about the evolution of his mindset as he grew his Freestyle skills, going from just having fun to focusing on competing.
    • Matteo shares his memories of the 2009 World Title he won with Tommy Leitner in Berlin and lessons learned (video below).
    • Then, remarkably, he defended his title, by winning Open Pairs again in 2010 with Arthur Coddington in Seattle (video below).
    • Although Matteo still tries to Freestyle, he now prefers playing with dogs vs. humans. His passion for Disc Dog has resulted in more World Championships. Seriously, he must be the only person to accomplish this, so cool! (video below)
    • Hear Matteo talk about his wonderful canine partnerships, their well-rounded lives, and how his experience competing is one of the main things that has transferred from Freestyle to Disc Dog.
    • Hear how doing the Podcast for almost a year has impacted both Jake & Randy.
    • Be sure to look at the responses from the Frisbee Guru poll questions and thanks again for your engagement!
    • Your ability to become a Patron is just around the corner.  

     


    Top
     


    Top
     


    Top

Poll: What is the Longest Break You’ve Taken from Freestyle Frisbee?

  By
MysticTakesABreak

Photo By Kristýna Landová

The addiction to Freestyle Frisbee, or ZZZs disease, as Deaton calls it, is known to be incurable. Yet sometimes it goes dormant for long spans of time. In our interview with Arthur Coddington and Dave Lewis, we learned that they had each taken an extended break from Freestyle Frisbee before meeting and going on to be the dominant team that they were. 

My story is a little different. From the moment I caught ZZZs disease, I have never gone into remission. I was forced into a 1 year break from Freestyle due to a knee injury. The whole time I was feeling pangs of withdrawal. Still, though, I did take a break and enjoyed Freestyle all the more when I came back.

In this weeks poll, let’s find out how many of you have taken a break from Freestyle Frisbee. Extra credit if you tell us why you took the break in the comments below. This weeks question:

What is the Longest Break You’ve Taken from Freestyle Frisbee?

[poll id=”53″]

Word of the Day – Lane

  By

Lane (noun)
A term to describe an area in the jam that is a player’s specific space. When players are more stationary, as when jamming in a circle, a lane is a circle around each player. As players begin to move together as a team, as when jamming in a line, the lane extends forward of direction of movement. Where the is no wind, as when jamming in doors, lanes move freely about as the direction of play moves. When there is wind, lanes almost always move into the wind because players will tend to face the wind as they play.

Reading lanes is as much about reading the nose of the disc as it is about reading a players intentions. For example if a player is not intending to move then it could be argued that their lane no longer extends up wind. Likewise, if a player intends to chase the disc no matter where it goes, it could be argued that their lane is the whole field when they have the disc.

With that said, it is generally accepted that one’s lane extends in a straight line, into the wind, similar to the way a swimming lane extends in a swimming pool. When all players work under this assumption, it is much easier for the group to perform spontaneous cooperative tricks.

Example: “Sorry, you’d have caught that if I didn’t poach your lane.”

Read more about lanes here.

Episode 49: Arthur Coddington and Dave Lewis : The Dueling Banjos

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

  • Arthur Coddington and Dave Lewis, shredding in competition

    Photo by Rick LeBeau

    Arthur and Dave were one of the most dominate teams from 1996 to 2004.

  • Join us behind the curtain as they share how they each got started in 1979; Arthur on the east coast, Dave on the west coast.
  • Hear how they both left the sport for many years, came back to it in 1992, and met for the first time in Frazier Park in Santa Monica. If you haven’t played there, put it on your list!
  • Dave shared his freestyle philosophy with Arthur and it resonated. They began playing together initially as practice partners and friends.
  • Arthur shares some of their practice strategies, and how it helped push each of them to play to their full potential.
  • Jake shares how he and Matt adopted this strategy themselves and how it changed their mindsets, resulting in a better game.  
  • Stay tuned for what Randy mysteriously referred to as “Patreon”.

Poll: Have You Ever Done A Frisbee Demo or Show?

  By
Clay and Fabio Do a ShowFrisbee shows are a big part of the Freestyle Frisbee culture. It makes perfect sense. Freestyle Frisbee is an art form that consists of creative body movements with a flying disc. Doing a Frisbee demo or show can be a vehicle to share one’s art to bring joy and inspiration to others. Shows and demos can also be a way to turn the passion of Freestyle Frisbee into a living wage. In many of our podcast episodes and in The Harlem Globetrotter Tour Story we’ve discovered that demos and shows are a part of the history of the game.
 
My personal Frisbee story includes demos and shows as well. My first demo was with my brother Matt and our good friend Scott Weaver. Scott got us the gig at a local elementary school. Matt and I were very new Freestyler’s but Scott made it it easy. He did all the talking. Matt and I played a little catch and then we did a short jam. As Matt and I attempted to pull off our most heinous moves, Scott told the kids how amazing our tricks were. Though my personal assessment was that I was a beginner, the kids thought we were amazing. We then finished the demo with a tutorial. Many of the kids learned to throw and catch and a couple could almost nail delay. The best part was how much fun the kids had with us. I felt privileged to share something I loved with an such appreciative audience. 
 
Since then, I’ve done many more shows to kids and adults. Though I’m not actively looking for shows to do, I certainly would jump at an opportunity that presented itself.
 
So now it’s your turn. Let us know if you’ve ever done a Frisbee demo or show and if you’re interested in doing more. Bonus points if you share a story about one of your shows in the comments below.

Have You Ever Done A Frisbee Demo or Show?

[poll id=”52″]

The Against the Spin “Push” (Crank) to Invert Hold, by Lori Daniels

  By

The inverted (nail) delay/hold is one of the “control” moves that many freestylers incorporate in their routines and jamming.  There are many ways to get into an inverted delay, and one way that is additionally difficult is to add an Against “push” of the disc from a center delay  (what’s also called an Against Crank) to an invert holding delay.  The way to do this is to establish a center delay (either clock or counter spin), then lower the disc to about waist-level of your body.  Then, walk around the disc while still maintaining the center delay.  (Imagine that your body moves around the disc more than the disc is moving)  By walking around the disc, you’ll naturally lower the disc even more in order to keep delaying the disc under your arm and then your hand will be now “inverted.” It may take some slight hand movements with your inverted hand to delay the disc in the center again, but with practice – this can be done.  The faster that you can move your body around the disc from the first center delay to the inverted hold at the end can make this a bit easier; but, just like every other freestyle move, timing is important. With a bit of practice walking around the disc, you’ll eventually be able to get the timing down to move both your body and the disc in order to get this move completed even faster.