Improving Throwing and Catching

Throwing and catching. These are the basic skills of the game, even before running. Your team will never score a point without the ability to throw and catch. You will be reminded of this weakness the most when playing zone when there are no easy forward throws, only easy sideways and backward throws.

The best way to improve your throwing and catching skills is NOT to play the game. Most people will play a 2+ hour game and touch the disc maybe 20 times or so.

The best way to improve your throwing is NOT to play catch with someone. This is a reasonable thing and I see many beginner people doing this before the game, and is a very easy first step that should be left behind as soon as the basic mechanics of the throw have been learned.

The best way to improve your throwing and catching is to challenge your abilities. Always present challenges to your throwing and catching ability, know what is hard to do and what is easy.

Simple challenges are to not just accept a throw that gets to the receiver. Make the goal to get the disc to follow a particular path to the receiver and to end up on a particular side of the receiver. This is the first thing to add to simply playing catch the disc. Before each throw THINK how you want the disc to the get there, plan the entire flight including how you want the receiver to react. Then throw. Try to make the throw match the planned flight.

Now stop throwing to a receiver who is standing still. Very rarely in the game will you get to throw to a receiver who is standing still.

Increase the challenge. Have the receiver jog in one direction. PLAN the throw. Then EXECUTE the throw. Be critical of yourself and work to get the plan to match the execution.

As the thrower always plan the throw then execute it. This is practice. In the game you will be able to recognize situations where throws you have already planned occur so that all you have to do is complete a throw you have done before.

Advanced challenges should include

1. throwing to someone who is running as hard as they can. The receiver should just be able to catch the disc infront of themselves and should not have to slow down. This teaches you timing so that you know how your throws fly and how a person moves.
2. throwing to someone who is running as hard as they can. Get the disc to them as 1) but at a particular marked spot.
   This teaches you timing. The speed of your throw the speed of the runner. Learn to throw fast or slow so that you can get the disc to the right spot at the right time.
3. Vary the angle the person is running. Start with the person running at right angles to the path of the disc. Switch to having the receiver running at the thrower (this can be more of a challenge for the reciver in learning how to catch fast moving discs, the receiver should also learn to slow the disc down). Switch to having the receiver run away from the thrower. The thrower should put the throw to one side or the other of the receiver.
4. learn the inside-out, outside-in, air-bounce, and blade like curves. Use all these with your forehand, and backhand, with and against the force. Learn to do all these in conditions 1,2
5. Repeat 1-4 in various wind and rain condtions.
6. learn the hammer. Try 1-3. Learn when not to use the hammer.
7. learn to catch. Mid-body pancake. Above the head one handed. Learn to drop down to catch a low throw on the run.
8. As your thrower does 4. Learn how all the throws fly and how best to catch them.

Now you are ready to play ultimate. That looks like a lot of work doesn't it. And it is not something that will get done in your 20+ throws during a game. Rather take 30 minutes before or after a game and try some of it. You should easily be able to get in 180 throws or more. That is almost equal to the whole summers touches during a game. The trick is to make all practice throws harder than game throws so that all the game throws and catches are easy.

Pretty much everyone has a fair amount of lifetime experience with balls, either kicking, throwing, bouncing or vollying. Most people have very little experience with funny flying pieces of plastic.