HE “ULTIMATE” EDGE Freestyle throwing and catching


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Being a deep threat with multiple throwing techniques and being able to pass the disc before the defense has had a chance to reset is always optimal. Fast-freestyle experience can improve your throwing and quicken your ability to transition between your catch and throwing readiness. The throws you know today as Ultimate throws: backhand, flick, hammer, scoober, before Ultimate, are what we use to call freestyle throws. Trying freestyle variations of these common Ultimate throws, like under-the-leg or behind-the-back flicks, forehand and backhand high arching curves and skip shots will expand the range of your throwing ability and increase your throwing possibilities on the Ultimate field. Even though you wouldn’t use all of these throwing techniques specifically, just adding these freestyle throwing variations in practice will improve your throwing strength, especially for playing in adverse conditions (wind, rain, cold or against a great defense).


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When you’re running down the field under a disc, about to make an offensive catch against a defender, most of the time a two-handed or pancake catch is not possible. It’s usually an obstructed one-handed catch. In fast-freestyle, one-hand catches are always obstructed by your own body, with many catches actually being blind (when you can’t actually see the disc go into your hand). When I played Ultimate, my question to my team would always be, “Why do you use two hands to catch?” If the answer was that they were afraid they would drop the disc, they’d be wrong. I would then give instruction on the physics involved in catching the spinning disc with either hand. I’ve seen Ultimate players at the highest levels sometimes have trouble reading the spinning disc and on occasion try to catch it on the wrong side of the spin. Some basic freestyle catches are: behind the back, behind the head, under one or both legs. All of these catches can also be done while jumping, running or spinning. Freestyle catching is a great way to practice one-hand catching the disc on the correct side of the spin in many different positions.


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If you want to keep your disc skills, you have to use your disc skills. During an off-season, colder climates and limited space can reduce your number of practices. Occasional fast-freestyle play will keep your disc skills sharp until your next Ultimate game or season. Practice your offensive and defensive strategies, your give and goes, your weaves and conditioning laps, but add a little basic throw-and-catch fast-freestyle practice, and it will definitely make you a more skilled player, as well as give you an important edge when playing Ultimate.


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