Author: Jake

No comments

Black to the Forest 2018 Will be Live Streamed

  By

Black to the ForestBlack to the Forest 2018 takes place on May 5th and 6th in Freiburg, Germany. Thanks to Chris Belaj, it will be Live Streamed here! The event is hosted by Alex Wegner and Sacha Scherzinger.

On Saturday, May 5ht they have an interesting format in mind that they call “Pocket Check”. Its designed to see how deep players pockets really are. Teams of two are formed randomly by drawing names from a hat. Then the teams face off against each other in a battle style format. The plays not playing the active battle pick which team played the best using General Impression. If the votes lead to a tie, the tie breaker is a battle of Speed Flow. This tie breaker will further test a team’s depth of skill.

On Sunday they will have a CoOp round. At this point it is unclear to me if CoOp will use a more standard competition format or will continue with the Pocket Check concept. We’ll all just have to tune in to find out.

All-in-all this should prove to be a fun event for both those in attendance and those spectating. Thanks so much for putting on the event and for bringing us the action! Check out the facebook page for more details.

 

One Comment

Matt Teaches the Kerfuffle

  By ,

In this video Matt teaches how to perform a kerfuffle. A kerfuffle is when the disc rolls around your hand on it’s rim, spinning on a third world axis. If that doesn’t make sense, the video will make it clear. 

To perform a kerfuffle, toss the disc up so it is perpendicular to the ground and to you. Put very little spin on it on only toss it a few inches for your hand. Now, lightly push into the rim at 3 with the side of your hand o’clock for clock or 9 o’clock for counter. The disc will pivot on it’s axis and begin to roll around your hand. Slightly lift up and then down and grab the disc as it rotates back into your hand.

The Kerfuffle is a fun move that can draw alot of attention. Still, it’s not used much in most freestyle play because it’s challenging to connect it to other moves. Sometimes it’s used at the end of a series as a catch restriction…the kerfuffle itself is a restriction. Of course, of the best reason to learn a kerfuffle, as Matt points out, is that it is a “gateway trick” to learning the cuff. The hand motion and the place you touch the disc are very similar between a kerfuffle and a cuff, so learning a kerfuffle will aide in learning to cuff.

 

No comments

Episode 64: Fabio Sanna is a Smooth Operator

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Fabio Sanna

  • Jake and Randy discuss original moves that they thought were great but ended up abandoning.
  • Find out how Fabio discovered Frisbee after picking up a free one at a sports show in his home town of Trieste.
  • Shortly after that, he discovered Tommy Leitner’s website and Heinsville.com (as it was in 2003), both of which he painstakingly watched, read, and practiced from.  
  • He was just a spectator at his first tournament at the 2003 World Championships in Rimini.
  • Seeing Freestyle for the first time brought tears to his eyes, and it wasn’t long after that he began practicing up to 12  hours a day, despite having few people to play with.
  • Fabio makes an impact when you first meet him and both Jake and Randy have specific memories they share.
  • Fabio talks about how Clay Collera had such a huge influence on him.  

Subscribe to our Frisbeeguru.com mailing list to make sure you get all the news from the week.

No comments

Catch zones

  By

Film Strip CatchesAfter writing the poll, what is your bail catch?, I realized a discussion of catch zones was in order. As one hones one’s freestyle skills, one begins to realize that the disc can come in at any height, any angle, and any side of one’s body. As such, it pays to have at least one answer for every possibility.

This is where the concept of catch zones comes in – it’s a way to break down all the possibilities in order to reflect on what skills one may wish to develop.

I break down the zones as follows: ankles, knees, waist, shoulders, and head. Each of these has a right and left side, for a total of 10 zones.

So with that defined, the first step is to ask yourself, “what is your bail catch for each zone?” Here’s a worksheet to help:

Side of Body Left  Right
Ankles                                                                                                             
Knees                      
Waist                      
Chest                      
Head                      

Once the list is filled out, evaluate it with the following questions:

  1. Are there any gaps?
  2. Are these catches truly bail catches? Can you make them with both spins? Any angle?
  3. Are you satisfied with the difficulty level or your form for each catch?

For example, here is my list:

Side of Body Left Right
Ankles Chair Phlaud
Knees Under the Leg Under the Leg
Waist Behind the Back Triple Fake
Chest   Scare Crow
Head Behind the Head Scare Crow

The first thing that I notice from my list is the gap at Left-Chest. A great thing for me to practice is a catch in that zone, maybe a right handed scarecrow. Next, I notice on my right side I have more difficult catches than on my left. So, I could drill my left catches; or target one of the zones and start drilling a different specific catch. For example, a left handed phlaud for the left ankle zone. Lastly, I my Knee Zone catch on both sides could be improved with more difficult catches, like a flamingo.

This “zones” exercise can be useful for more than just catches. For example, takes, sets, air brushes, against the spin, UD, really any category of tricks can be examined in this way.

What zone do you plan to work on next?

One Comment

Episode 63: Chipper Bro Bell Dreams in Counter

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Chip catches a Phlaud

  • Chipper shares his spin preferences and favorite throws.
  • He returns to talking about working at the Flying Disc Ranch with Joey and talks about how their routines came about and the unique way they named their moves.
  • Their first tournament together was in in Santa Cruz in 1982.
  • Chip shares how shocked  he waswhen it was announced they were the New World Champions of World Disc Games.
  • Chip and Joey continued to practice in 1983, but when Chip agreed to take some corporate gigs, his partnership with Joey was tested.

We reached our first milestone on Patreon. A special thanks to all of the FrisbeeGuru supporters out there!! You keep us going.

Word of the Day- Rerev

  By

Rerev (verb): The act of air brushing a disc with the sole intention of adding spin. As a disc’s spin begins to slow down it ultimately must be caught or it will no longer be able stay in flight. To extend a series of tricks, one option players have is to rerev the disc. To rerev, a player will brush the disc, repeatedly, adding spin with each brush until the disc is spinning as if it were just thrown. This skill can be useful during a competition where a mistake has caused the spin of the disc to slow earlier than intended. A rerev can extend the combination to make it to the next choreography queue. While some players feel that a rerev is a break in flow and thus try to keep it out of their games as much as possible; other player seamlessly integrate rereving as a part of their style.

 

Matt Shows the Equipment that Freestylers Use

  By

In this video Matt shows us the basic equipment needed for Freestyle Frisbee. This is really the video version of one of the oldest articles on this site. This video is perfect for someone who want to get started with Freestyle but doesn’t have a friend to show them the ropes. Nice job Matt!

Here’s his list:

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, FrisbeeGuru receives a small commission if you use the link and make a purchase. This helps support our mission.

  1. A disc with a smooth bottom. Many discs have raised lettering, which is bad for the nail delay. Most Freestyler prefer the Discraft Sky-Styler. Purchase here.
  2. Slick in the form of silicon spray or grease. This is used to make the disc’s plastic less sticky. Purchase here.
  3. A slick rag. This is used to wipe down and spread out excess slick. Find one in your sock drawer.
  4. Fake Nails. These provide a stronger surface on which to nail delay the disc. Purchase here.
  5. Super glue. This is how the fake nails are attached to your natural nail. Purchase some popular brands: Krazy Glue and Uhu.
    1. An alternative to glue is double sided tape. Check here for more details.

Episode 62: When Dan Roddick Becomes Stork

  By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Stork Throws a Wrist Flip

In this episode, Stork tells the story of how he got his nick name.

  • Jake shares his “hot” travel adventures from the Big Island.
  • It was while Dan was playing an epic Ultimate Frisbee match-up in 1974; Rutgers vs. Princeton, that a huge crowd gathered and started chanting ‘stork, stork, stork.’
  • Dan made some assumptions about why he got that nick name, since he was all legs.
  • Learn how this unique match up lead to features on local new stations and even an article in the New York Times. Here’s a link to the New York Times article.
  • It also led Dan to a gig doing demos for the Philadelphia Sixers and uncovering the true origin of his nick name. 
  • Find out about Randy and Jakes nick names. 

 

  • Do you have a nick name, and if so, what is the origin?

 

Thanks for listening.  If you download, like, and/or leave a comment, it will help boost our ratings.

Here are photos from Jake’s Big Island adventure.

Stork has has been featured on other podcasts, here and here.

Enjoy some vintage video of Stork and John Kirkland playing frisbee on the beach.

 

Meet Lori Daniels

  By

Meet Lori Daniels. We caught up with her at The Jammers 2017. Lori is a four time world title holder and a long time member of the Freestyle Player’s Association Board of Directors. She’s also the primary editor of this site (she keeps my spelling errors under control) and is my lovely wife. Learn more about Lori: