Ryan Young explains how to perform the Turbo Roll. The Turbo Roll is a chest roll in which the first contact point propels the disc quickly across the chest. This is often used to shoot the disc far up into the sky. Ryan’s method for learning this is excellent. Watch the video for all the details.
Matt Gauthier explains the Invert Backside 50 50 body roll.
“50 50” comes from the fact the its uses only 1 arm, or only 50% of what a normal body roll would use. It’s “invert” because the trick is started with your back facing the wind. And it’s “backside” because it goes behind your head, like a back roll.
This trick is one of the more advanced body rolls. I can hardly describe it so watch to video to see how it’s done.
Matt Gauthier explains the invert front side 50/50 roll. This an advanced, and very technical trick.
With clockwise, the disc rolls up the right arm to the shoulder. Then the body is repositioned so the disc can continue to roll back down the right arm.
And, of course it’s all on the left arm with counter spin.
To start, face the wind. Turn your right shoulder towards the wind. Toss the disc on a steep roll angle. Move your right arm to your left with your palm facing up. Allow the disc to contact your palm and then roll up your arm towards your shoulder. As the disc reaches your shoulder, pivot your arm to your right and allow the disc to roll back down your right arm to your right hand.
Lisa Hunrichs demonstrates a Back Roll with Clockwise spin.
First, face the wind. Next, give yourself a throw (set) with a steep angle into the wind so the disc blows back towards you. Now, turn your body so your right shoulder is forward. Turn your right hand over and let the disc contact your palm. The disc will roll down you arm towards your back / right shoulder. As it contacts your shoulder, turn your body to match the speed of the disc. Also, lift your left elbow. The rotation of your body will propel the disc up your left back / shoulder and up your left arm. With only your elbow up high, the disc will pop up into the air from your elbow on a steep angle, leaving you in a perfect position for another trick.
Note: usually back rolls cause the disc to get steeper and to turn out of the wind to the right, or to the left for counter clockwise spin.
A chest roll is where the frisbee rolls from one hand, down your arm, across your chest and then out onto the other arm and hand. Ideally, the disc will touch your body the entire way across. However, that level on control is hard to master, even after 20 years of playing.
To practice, face the wind. Toss the disc on a steep angle so the wind will blow it back to you. Consider which direction the disc is spinning and toss it so it is close to the hand that will propel it across your chest. That is, left hand for clockwise spin and right hand for counter clockwise spin.
Next, hit (brush) the disc to give it momentum to traverse your arm, chest, arm and other hand. This initial contact is very important because, if the disc makes it at least across your chest, it is easy to save by pulling in your far hand and doing an airbrush. However, if it doesn’t make it to your chest or hits your chest and falls, it’s nearly impossible to get the disc back in flight.
As you practice, you’ll find that you can put the disc back into the air with the far hand. This can lead you to multiple chest rolls, air brushes, or trick catches.
Matt Gauthier explains how to do an Inverted Chest Roll.
A Chest Roll is when the frisbee rolls from one hand, down the arm, across the chest, and out the other arm and to the other hand. A Chest Roll is performed when facing the wind so that they wind will push the disc onto the chest.
An Inverted Chest Roll is performed with the back to the wind. However, the underside of the disc is still towards the wind. Bend backwards as far as possible to provide as much surface area as possible and to get the head out of the way. Then, do a chest roll.
Ryan Young teaches us how to do a chest roll. A chest roll is where the frisbee rolls from one hand, down your arm, across your chest and then out onto the other arm and hand.
To practice, face the wind. Toss the disc on a steep angle so the wind will blow it back to you. Consider which direction the disc is spinning and toss it so it is close to the hand that will propel it across your chest. That is, left hand for clockwise spin and right hand for counter clockwise spin.
Next, hit the disc to give it momentum to traverse your arm, chest, arm and other hand. Try not to move your shoulders forward as the disc progresses. When the disc reaches your far hand either catch it or push upwards to propel it back in the air to try a second chest roll or other tricks.
The way I learned to roll was by first learning a power roll. I’ll explain for clock spin. First face the wind. This roll can be done in all kinds of wind, but I found it easiest to learn it in no wind. So indoors is good. Just make sure you have a high ceiling and no breakables around. It can get a little out of control. Next you need to toss the disc on a very steep angle to your left side. Then curl your left hand towards your forearm and wait with your hand down low, by your hip. As the disc comes down hit it at seven o’clock or so (this is important) with the palm of your hand. Stick your right arm straight up in the air and it will almost track itself. You might have to move your right arm forward a little bit to get it to track, but you will get the idea quick. You will need to hit it a little hard so that the direction of the disc will change from falling to travelling up your chest. As you get good at the power roll you will find that an open chest roll with no uphill travel will become easier. And if you give the open chest roll a little push with a curled wrist it will help greatly in making the disc track across your chest, because you’re giving it a direction instead of letting it roll as it will.
Written by Larry W. Imperiale
Background
Crushed…My first big prelims in Vancouver 78, and I lost a half-point on the variety check-off sheet because I didn’t do a brush and another half-point for not doing a roll. I figured I better work on this, and by Fall 1979 I had basic brushes and rolls down, thanks to Corey Basso and Skippy Jammer. But it wasn’t until I became a bench-warmer for Stanford Ultimate that I jumped to the next level with these skills by brushing and rolling on the sidelines.
Roll/Brush Fundamentals
1. Play by yourself often, practicing rolls and brushes where you have room to run and hopefully some, but not necessarily nice, wind. Visit San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and other good wind-spots on nice wind-days as often as possible.
2. Face the wind. Know where you are in relation to the wind at all times. Learn to feel it like a sailor.
3. As Skippy says. remember that the object of a roll is not to get it from one hand to the other (bounce, bounce), but to roll it along the body as if it’s on Velcro, pulling it along your arms by moving your body in the opposite direction of the roll with “touch-Zs,” turbo rolls excepted.
4. Step into and follow-through on all brushes and kicks, as you would in tennis, volleyball or baseball.
5. Decrease the margin of error by wearing size twelve shoes for better surface-area for kicking. I’m a size 11.
6. Seriously, try brushing the disc steeper at times, a skill I learned watching Dave Marini and JJ (John Jewel) in 1978.
7. Step into the disc when brushing so if it goes too far you can get to it, always being ready for the missed hit….be on your toes and ready to sprint.
8. Don’t plan too much. The best part of this game is to take advantage of the hand dealt to you. If you plan to do a roll off of a set but it’s there for a kick or a scarecrow catch instead, go for what’s there. Don’t force it…go with the flow.
9. When you’re indoors, compensate for no wind by running faster to make your own wind, and by setting rolls and brushes steeper.
10. The force of the brush should be inversely proportional to the Zs on the disc. For example, you’re middle-jammer in a 3-person MAC-line (Midair Attitude Correction). The disc comes to you with a slight angle and high Z’s – just meet it with your hand or body part…it’s riskier to swing at it or brush it hard when it’s not needed. On the other hand, hit it harder if it has low Zs. Learn how to adjust the disk with a cuff as needed for better options in MAC-lines..
11. Cuff often when you’re sweaty and you have a steep, high Z disk.
12. The meek will not inherit the kick. Be aggressive. Pretend you’re the batter in 6th-grade kickball.
13. Play the spontaneous wind game with your friends, but also learn when to give space to your partner for individual moves. Go on “brush runs” with your partners. . Be like Magic Johnson and make the players around you better…Set up your partners with good, easy brush/roll/kick sets and watch great, difficult things happen that you won’t remember after you do them… this is a good sign. Communicate frequently before and after you jam to enhance these opportunities. Also talk during spontaneous times (e.g. all-mine, all-yours, coming, etc…).
For the newcomer to freestyle “bashing” and rolling the disc are essential skills to have. Of course the simple nail delay which allows you to control the disc and think, or set your next move is more essential at first…. The bash and roll will allow your game to rise to the next level.
“Bashing” or air brushing to increase the spin will allow you to regenerate spin to yourself, which is good to practice alone, or to just pass to your partner without catching and throwing. In fact if your partner throws to you as you bash to him/her you can start doing double disc routines where a disc is always in motion! For a right handed person, bashing counter spin is done at the ear level, while clock spin is done lower-more waist high. Left handed clock bashing is done high, while counter is done lower conversely. Keep in mind that a foot brush can also be done very close to the ground, with the right foot kicking towards the left foot for clock and straight ahead or to your right for counter spin. The most important things to keep in mind are 1) Keep the nose of the disc higher than the back, and the more wind in your face the flatter it can be. 2) The angle of the disc should be similar to the angle of a throw we would throw to a partner with a slight curve. A right handed backhand is usually released with the side being held higher than the opposite edge. This is due to the fact that the spin actually will “process” the disc and make it move towards flat. If you start with the disc flat in a throw or airbrush scenario, the increase in spin usually make it “turn over” and roll. That is why we keep the bashing angle in what can be known as the skip angle-that is the angle at which a throw would skip towards your partner. 3) So with the nose up and in the skip angle, hit the disc at like 5-6 oclock in a circular motion with the fleshy part of the palm where it meets the fingers. This means counter is angled away from you to right and high, while clock is angled away to left and low-for your right hand….and the opposite for your left side. 4) Practice by letting your delay go to the rim, until the disc is in the desired angle…and hit gently at first and more firmly in a circle to increase spin-do not hit through the disc but get into contact and accelerate with the force.
So now that we can delay the disc, and tip it in the middle, and then as it slows down we can bash it and speed it back up…we have another option open for more ways of controlling and playing with the flying disc. This is called the body roll, arm roll, or just the roll. If you get good enough people will yell, “Sweet rolls”. But it is not until you can roll all types front and back, plus the inverted rolls, that you may hear, “That was more rolls than in a continental breakfast!”
The body roll is a way of gluing the disc to your body and as it travels across, you are actually in control of it when it is spinning rather slowly. Therefore this move comes towards the end of a combo, after center work, and rim pulls which reduce the spin, and instead of the airbrush which would re-rev the disc. High spin or “turbo” rolls can be spectacular for passing to a partner, or through a hoop or under a leg in a 3-way jam, but at first stick with rolling the slowest of spins or your head may spin, or it may strike you on the chin.
Body rolls can be practiced by tossing the disc up in a 45-60 degree angle above your head and to the right or left-Remember to toss the left handed counter light set to your right side as it will roll to your left, and the ever popular right spin to your left as it will start on the left side but the right hand will be the last contact before it is set up for another roll or for a pass or to your own catch. Leaning back and having your chest extended up with your knees bent will help immensely. As the disc rolls you should extend the chest into it for good contact so leave some leeway in your chest to “push up”, but this same gluing to your body feeling can be created by pressing up with the legs slightly, so keep them bent. Also for a clock roll, have the disc rolling up your right hand towards the sky (away from the ground). Very often new players will roll flat in front of them, which can be frustrating because of gravity pulling at the disc. This fact coupled with the disc is not angled up causes the disc to fall to the ground. So try to roll from angled in front of you high onto your chest and back up the other arm towards the sky, and move your shoulder into it as if you were slapping someone. So for a clock roll the disc will start on the left above you falling/rolling down on your slightly back bent body, from your left arm towards the chest, and as the chest is touched by the disc begin to press up with the legs and “slap” with the right hand at the end causing the disc to glue to the chest past the shoulder up the right arm. For multiple rolls use the right hand as a flipper to send the disc back over to the left side to start it all over, or just have your partner next to you to receive the roll and continue it. As you get better, you can “weave” behind your partner and get back your own roll or even send it back to the far side to have it return to you again! For back rolls, as the disc comes past your neck and is about to go out of sight try lifting the opposite elbow and you will feel it go up in the air!
Jamie
