The Lacer Pull

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Ryan Young demonstrates the Lacer Pull.

The Lacer pull is a great with the spin move that is easy to learn and can lead to many other consecutive moves. With clock spin, set the disc flat. Then step your left foot forward around the falling path of the disc. With your left hand, bend over and reach under your planted left leg. Watch the disc over your left shoulder and position your body, hand, and nail so the disc lands on your left nail. Now let the disc fall to the rim and do a with the spin crank so the disc comes out between your legs.

From there you can get the disc back to a center delay and/or set it up again for the next trick. Also, you can use more complex sets to get into the lacer pull, like a flat under the leg set. The lacer pull is one of the most useful tricks to have in your bag.

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Don’t Cut Off the Discs Nose to Spite Your Jam

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NoseThe title comes from an old saying, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. It’s basically when you do something against yourself. Well, like your face, the disc has a nose and how you treat it can make all the difference between success and failure of your next big trick.

The nose of the disc is the highest point of the rim of the disc. Unless the disc is perfectly parallel to the ground, it has a nose. And, the size of the nose refers to how verticle this disc is. A small or slight nose is where the disc is nearly parallel to the ground. So, yeah, maybe you can’t cut it off so to speak. But, where that nose is pointed can dramatically change how the disc will fly. That is, where is the nose relative to the wind.

Imagine a disc flying in the wind. As the air passes over the disc, it will push against different areas of the disc and affect it’s flight. For example, if the nose is pointing towards the wind, the wind will press against the bottom of the disc, helping to lift the disc and keep it in the air longer. If the nose is pointing down wind, the wind will press against the top of the disc and shove it quickly to the ground. If the nose is pointed cross wind then the wind may hardly touch the top of the bottom and the disc will fly more like there is no wind.

So now, imagine you are facing the wind while delaying the disc. You set the disc up into the air so you can do an under the leg pull. As you set it, your (lack of) control will dictate where the nose is pointed. What will make it the easiest to pull disc under your leg? A sight nose into the wind, of course. This will cause the disc to fall more slowly and to drift back towards you so its movement aids in the leg over process.

It’s a very important skill to know how to set any nose amount and direction that you want, but the most important will be a slight nose into the wind. So go practice this set. There are a number of ways to do it, but here are two.

Marco Prati Sets the Disc Into the Wind With Nose

Marco Prati Sets the Disc Into the Wind With Nose

From flat: for clock, take the disc on a center delay. Then lift the disc into the air. As you lift, move your finger slightly to 9 o’clock and then push to 12. The more exaggerated the movement from 9 to 12, the bigger the nose will be. Try this over and over until you can get the nose you want every time. I like to use this to set the disc and going into a spinning pull.

From the rim: for clock, on a rim delay, let the disc rotate to 3 o’clock. Now lift up and let the disc swing on the rim to 6 0’clock. The momentum from the lift will cause the disc to tilt flat. Practice the amount of lift and timing of the rim swing to get the desired nose. I find this easiest on the right hand going from the left side of my body to the right. I like to use it for a scarecrow catch.

How do you set the disc with nose? How much nose do you like for your sets? Let me know in the comments.

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Matt Teaches the Rim Delay

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In this video, Matt Gauthier teaches how to do a rim delay.

A rim delay is a form of nail delay, or spinning the frisbee on your finger. When most people think of the delay, they think of the frisbee balanced in the center on their finger nail. A rim delay is different. Instead, the inside rim of the frisbee is balanced against the nail. Though a rim delay does take practice to master, it can be faster to learn that the center nail delay. Yet when it is mastered, it provides an enormous depth of tricks and control over the flight of the frisbee. It is truly one of the fundamental skills of freestyle frisbee beyond throw and catch. Check the video for an indepth tutorial on mastering this skill.

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Face the Wind

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The Wind“Face the Wind.” That’s what my mentor Mike Esterbrook used to tell me over and over when I was a new player. He’d throw me some Zs and I’d take the disc on my nail. Then I’d rim set it under my leg and the disc would quickly fall to the grass. “Face the Wind.”

It took me a while to understand why this is so important. But it can make all the difference between a hein combo and a
early drop. It’s one of those things that makes freestyle look easy while beginners are lost as to why they can’t replicate the big moves. Here’s why you should always face the wind when you have the disc.

First is the concept of a wind shadow. Predictability is one of the most important aspects to completing a trick. One must time the flight of the disc. If the wind is changing under the disc, the flight will be unpredictable. A wind shadow is what happens when something, or someone blocks the wind from the disc. When this happens, the disc falls quickly to the ground. It’s nearly impossible to recover from a wind shadow.

Now imagine your back is to the wind. You set the disc high into the air. It floats nicely down as you prepare for a trick catch. But wait, your body will create a wind shadow. As soon as the disc is in front of you, you are blocking the wind and the disc will fall faster, which will break your timing. Point 3 as we competitor’s like to joke…that’s a drop. If you are facing the wind, you will never wind shadow yourself. Now just get your partner to move out of the way and you are ready.

The second reason to face the wind may be even more important. Part of what makes freestyle frisbee tricks work is the horizontal flight of the disc. That is, it doesn’t just go up and down, it goes side to side. This is what allows it to travel under your leg or pass behind your back for the restricted trick. Without horizontal flight, many restrictions will involve you moving over or around the disc. With horizontal flight you can hold a pose and let the disc do the work as it passes through the restriction.

OK, so if you are doing solo tricks, how do you get that horizontal flight? Well, if you are facing the wind, you can set the disc out, and the wind will blow it back. That’s right, tricks that are seemingly up and down, very often have some form of an out and back aspect. Even many passes are done this way. Like the roll across set.

So what if there is no wind? Well then you make your own wind by running in a specific direction. Your movement through the air causes a relative wind for the disc. This is why you see players chasing after the disc while on an air brushing run.

With face the wind always in mind I eventually developed a new sense. That is, where is the wind coming from. I feel is on my skin and I watch for clues and somehow I always have a sense for where the wind is coming from. Even when jamming indoors. There’s no wind, but I still have an idea of where the wind is. Or more accurately for which direction we are playing. I watch for clues from the other players in the jam. I see which way they are going to create wind and I go the same direction. When we run to close to the wall, we reset and go back the other way.

If you are new to freestyle frisbee then here an experiment for you. Go out to the field with a slick disc. Face the wind and try a simple set to a catch. Then put your back to the wind and try again. You’ll immediately see for yourself what a difference this makes. Then, close your eyes and think, where is the wind. Keep that thought, open your eyes, face the wind and try again. If anyone tries this, please let me know what you learn in the comments below.

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Ryan Gives Some Hints for Catching a Scarecrow

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Ryan Young gives some hints for catching the elusive scarecrow catch. This is one of the harder trick catches to master, yet so one the most useful.

Ryan gives us 4 tips. First, your need a consistent set. To really practice the scarecrow you must first practice giving yourself the exact same set every time, whether that is from a throw or a set from a delay. Making a consistent set is actually a very useful skill in and of itself, but it turns out that catching a scarecrow is very different from one angled set to the next.

Second, when you go for the catch, really turn you hand over. This will line up your grip with the disc.

Third, step into the catch with the opposite leg. So if you’re catching right handed, step with your left foot. This will help with the body and shoulder twist so the hand grip lines up.

Forth, practice each angle separately. As mentioned earlier, the angle changes how you catch the scarecrow. To truly master this catch you want to be able to catch it on any angle. Try steep. Try Flat. Try with the nose going toward your back. Each of these is a skill all it’s own.

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Ryan Young Demonstrates Simple Under the Leg Sets

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Ryan Young demonstrates Under the Leg (UTL) sets, also called Leg Over set. Once you have gained control over the center delay, this is the next step in improving control and in beginning to do tricks with the center delay. UTL sets are probably the most used restricted set in freestyle frisbee.

Start with a center delay. Bring the disc low while keeping your upper body upright. Then left one leg and move it over the disc. Now, set the disc into the air by lifting the delay hand quickly. Put your leg back down and regain the disc on a nail delay.

Ryan also shows us all possible combinations of hands and legs. A great challenge for new players is to try to learn each one. And then ask yourself, is this really all of them? How else might I restrict my movement to gain more control over the frisbee? If you come up with another option, let me know if the comments.