Tag: catches

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Catch zones

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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?

How to Catch a Triple Fake, by Matt

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In this brief video Matt demonstrates 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. 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.

Matt’s key is to pivot on one foot. Then, a simple bend at the knee allows for adjusting to the height of the disc.

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Matt Gauthier Demonstrates the Osis Catch

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The osis movement is one of the more difficult movements to wrap your head around. In this video Matt demonstrates the most basic osis behind the back (BTB) catch. So, what is an osis? It’s anytime your body rotation is moving in the same direction as the disc. As Matt demonstrates, a BTB is either static or you twist towards the disc to make the catch. For the osis, you must rotate away from the disc as you catch it. This makes for a very small catch window as your hand can only stay in the right place to catch for so long…your rotation will pull your hand away. It’s really all about timing. Also, as Matt points out, osis is a blind catch in a way. You have to watch for as long as you can over the opposite shoulder and then, at the last second, snap your head around to make the catch. Of course, unlike other blind catches, with the osis it’s ok to turn and face the disc as you catch it, watching in into your hand. 

One cool thing about osis is it can be added to most catches. A flamingo can become a flamgosis, gitis becomes gitosis, chair becomes chosis, and bad attitude can be a bad attitosis. All these catches are extremely difficult and can be quite beautiful to watch because they require precision timing and body mechanics. What’s your favorite version of the osis?

By the way, I’ve heard Chipper “Bro” Bell call it a reverse pull when you do an osis pull.

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Bad Attitude

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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.

The AttitudeBad 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.

Sue StraitOf 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.

How to Get Better at Catching

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Ryan Young outlines how he got so good at doing trick catches with a frisbee. Basically its practice and repetition. In the video Ryan goes over a great target, 5 catches in a row for each trick catch you want to master. Ryan suggests under the leg, behind the back, chair, and flamingo are the best to start with.

One interesting observation I’ve made about doing drills. I play freestyle frisbee for the jam. It’s so much fun to succeed with your friends in the jam. Drills seem like work, not fun, and the jam is never about doing repetitions. However, my desire to be a better jammer overcame my distaste for work. I did the drills. In my living room, bed room, at work, on walks, I just kept trying skills. It turns out, the better I got, the more fun I had in the jam. Because of that, the drills never really feel like work. And yes, I still do them. As does Ryan.

What drills do you do to get better at Freestyle Frisbee?

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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.

Variations on an Under the Leg Catch

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Here I describe various types of under the leg catches.

In one version you reach your arm under you leg to catch the disc.

In another version you swing your leg over the disc so that the disc travels under your leg while it is in flight. Then you catch it. James Wiseman would say this is technically a “the” catch since your hand is not restricted and it is not blind. However, I believe that the body mechanics and timing involved make this catch more difficult that the previous one.

Piccolo catch

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Lisa demonstrates a little catch called the Piccolo.

This catch is a variation of the behind the head catch. It’s called a Piccolo because you grab it with two hands, similar to how you would hold a flute or piccolo when playing.

This catch is actually blind because as you spin into it you turn your gaze away from the disc.

To catch it, set the disc up flat over one shoulder. Then watch it as long as possible as you turn away from it. As the opposite shoulder passes under the disc, grab it with both hands.

Making the Piccolo sound is optional, but will gain you bonus points :-).

The Scarecrow Catch

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The ScareCrow is one of the more challenging trick catches in freestyle frisbee as it is blind. The position to catch a scare crow is with the arm extended straight and the thumb down. Bend over and twist at the waist so that as you twist you lose sight of the disc. Your arm swings around and you catch it just as you lose sight.

To practice, give yourself a light toss about head height over one shoulder. Toss is either flat of with a slight nose pointing behind you. Then watch the disc, bend and twist and try to find it with the hand opposite of the should you tossed the disc over.

The secret is to watch the disc as long as possible. Turn your head and your eyes toward the disc so that you lose sight only at the last possible moment.

Another tip I forgot to mention in the video is to open your hand as wide as you can. I sometimes will stretch my first finger and thumb to get the opening as wide as possible. This way there’s less chance of the disc hitting your thumb as you come around.