Articles about intermediate freestyle frisbee skills.
Ryan Young explains how to back roll. The back roll is like a chest roll, except the disc rolls down the backside of your arm and then across your back. Many people finish by letting the disc roll to your elbow and turning fast to shoot it back up. This is the style Ryan calls “the buckle“.
Ryan explains how this is done in masterful detail so give it a watch. If you need more, here’s another video and explanation. If you have any questions, leave a comment.
In this video, I explain how I catch a bad attitude. For another example, check out Lori’s video. The catch is useful one because it uses a unique body position where the player stands upright on one leg and catches the disc around the ankle of the other leg. This gives it visual appeal from a variety perspective.
Bad attitude is named after the dance position called attitude, except it’s a bad version of it. I am the perfect example of how bad the attitude can be. My flexibility is limited so the window to make the catch is very small. Besides stretching, what helps me are two things. First I stand on, or jump from one leg and then bend at the hip to bring the catching hip upwards. This means I don’t have to bend the catching hip as far back. Next, I rotate so the catching hip forward which means I can get my hand around my foot and ankle just a little easier.
Of course when I do it, it’s not so pretty. But, when done properly, it can be quite beautiful. Here’s Sue Straight showing us a proper bad attitude. Don’t worry if you don’t look like Sue. The bad attitude is a fun, explosive, and surprising catch that will grab attention no matter your form.
Ryan Young demonstrates the downwind drag set. The drag set it used to set a partner who is downwind for a catch. It is very commonly used in Freestyle Frisbee choreography as well as in a mob-op.
Start by giving yourself alot of spin. Set the disc up flat. Do an under-the-leg pull and the let the disc slide to the rim. Look at your target. Swoop your arm down and then outwards to the target as the disc pivots to the perfect catch angle. Typically this will be 45 degrees with the nose of the disc towards you.
Jamming is the art of spontaneous play with the disc and with friends. It connects people with a common purpose while bringing them fully into the moment. It seems like a place where rules should not exist. Yet some of my favorite jams, jams where I learned the most have had limits artificially set on them.
One such jam, I like to call Hoop Factory. It was beach weekend and there were at least 10 of us on the sand. As we walked to our spot on the beach we could feel that the wind was perfect. It was going to be a good day. Someone grabbed a disc and a few of us began to warm up. A little speed flow, a few hoops, lights Zzzs. Then someone said, “let’s make a rule that we can’t catch it until it’s been hooped at least three times.” “Sure, that sounds fun,” was my reply.
It started innocently. Hoop the throw, hoop a set, hoop to a catch. Nothing complicated. It was almost like running in sand, everything was labored. As people joined the jam, they were informed of the rules. Wait, do leg overs count? SURE!
Soon the whole crew was on one disc and things were beginning to flow. It no longer felt forced. Instead everyone was moving and finding hoops we didn’t know were possible. 3 people would hoop one pass. People would hoop other people’s self sets. People got closer together. Sets where higher and longer. All 10+ of us on one disc, and it never felt slow.
At one point there was a high roll across set coming to me. As I targeted the disc a 5 person hoop tunnel formed. I could see the disc clearly through the tunnel, still not yet entering. I lined up for a phlaud and watched the disc float through the tunnel, into my hand.
Eventually the game dissipated, the jam split into a few groups and the day went on. But wow, what a game. My hooping skills went up multiple levels that day. I now see hoop opportunities constantly. I highly encourage you to implement Hoop Factory in one of your jams.
Of course, Hoop Factory is just one idea. There certainly can be many more. Maybe only use one spin. Maybe ban the nail delay. A one touch rule? A small disc? A big disc? 2 discs anyone? I’ve tried all these and more and every time I learn something new and have fun in the process.
Any one else have any jam rules you’ve implemented? I’d love to hear about it.
Lori Daniels explains how to catch a bad attitude. It’s unique body position requires a level of flexibility and strength that keep many players from trying it. When executed well, it can be quite beautiful and graceful or explosive.
To perform a Bad Attitude, think of doing a quad stretch. Bend your knee so your foot comes towards your bottom. Then grab your ankle. The difference for the bad attitude is that you grab the inside of your ankle. Well, you don’t grab it at all, you reach around it to catch the frisbee. To open the window for the catch, bend at the hip on your planted foot, and squeeze your side, glute, and quad muscles on the elevated leg side. This will help you lift your hand as high as possible. The higher your hand, the bigger the window and the prettier the catch looks.
In this brief video I demonstrate how to catch a triple fake. It’s a nice alternative to under the leg or behind the back for a disc that is in the waist zone. As a blind catch, it can be more difficult than it looks. But with practice, it looks quite graceful.
To execute, do a self set or have someone throw to you. Watch the disc. Reach across your stomach and around towards your back. As you reach, spin your body around to propel your hand towards the disc. Keep you eye on it as long as possible. As you begin to lose sight snap your body around faster and make the grab.
Bonus points for if you can throw left and catch right, the throw right and catch left.
Anyone know why this catch is called a triple fake?
Ryan Young teaches us how to set the disc from a rim delay. The goal of a set is to put the disc up into the air in a position that leads into the next trick. Here Ryan demonstrates using the rim delay technique to do this. First, consider the ideal placement of the set. That is, nose away from you at 12 o’clock. This allows for easier catching. Now, take the disc on a rim delay. Begin a swooping motion that goes down and then up. The goal is to time the upward motion so that the disc is sent into the air with the nose at 12 o’clock. As the disc rotates around, pull in your elbow to keep the disc from running into it. Just before the nose is in the right place end the swoop by pushing up a little harder. The goal is to propel the disc into the air. Congratulations, you have just used a rim delay to make the perfect set for a catch.
Ryan Young does an excellent job breaking down the body mechanics of catching a phlaud. A phlaud is one of the more difficult catches in Freestyle Frisbee. Like a gitis, it is a cross body catch where one arm reaches around the opposite leg. But, while a gitis is like an under the leg or a flamingo, a phlaud is like a chair in that the both feet are planted and the catch is behind both legs. Another subtlety of a proper phlaud is the extension of the opposite arm. Watch the video for a breakdown of how it’s done.
In this video, Ryan Young teaches us how to spin. Spinning is a way to add a restriction to a trick. If you attend a Freestyle Frisbee competition, you’ll often see competitors spinning before a big catch. It is one of the most common tricks in the game after the nail delay, air brush, and a few throws and catches.
While the disc is in the air, spin around before you catch or take control of the disc again. The more spins you do, the harder the trick so spinning fast without getting dizzy is the key. Also, you need to track the disc as you spin. Ryan explains how to practice these skills.
Paul Kenny teaches us how to perform a MAC (Midair Attitude Correction). Note that in the video, we erroneously identify it as a SUB (Speeded Up Brush). What Paul is demonstrating is actually a MAC. Here’s a video on the SUB, and another video of Tom Leitner’s SUB throw.
A MAC is when a player touches the frisbee in flight to change the angle or direction of flight of a flying disc. It can be done by touching the disc on top, or on the outer rim (a brush), or the bottom of the rim (a cuff). Does a tip qualify as well? Chime in if you know.
The top touch MAC as Paul demonstrates is useful to cause a disc to airbounce as it passes by you, or to flatten it if it’s too steep.
To perform a top touch MAC, touch or hit the disc on top as it is in flight. Paul demonstrates hitting a disc as it flies by. Where to touch it depends on spin of the disc and the desired outcome. To bring the nose up, hit a clock disc at 3 o’clock and counter at 9 o’clock. To bring the nose down, hit counter at 3 o’clock and clock at 9 o’clock.
Also, note that using downward force will aid gravity in pulling the disc to the ground. So, care must be used as to when and how hard to use a top touch MAC. A top touch MAC makes the most sense when its use will cause the disc to airbounce into the wind. Otherwise thetop touch MAC will just push the disc to the ground. Of course, that may be a trick of its own…MAC it down fast and then kick tip it back up. Or MAC it down and cuff is up. Or…let you imagination run wild.
