Reading a Frisbee

rockchild17

I play ultimate with some damn good people, and i'm always trying to get better. whenever i ask them tho they say "read the frisbee". But that's all they say, like it's something that comes naturally or something that i just haven't thought of yet. any tips on how to learn?

Captain K

You can usually make some general assumptions about which way the disc will fall based on a couple of things--whether it was thrown forehand or backhand, and which hand was used to throw it.

For right-handed throwers, all other things being equal: backhanded throws tend to fall to the thrower's left, and forehanded throws tend to fall to the thrower's right.

Reverse these for left-handed throwers.

(this is because flying discs tend to "turn" in a direction counter to their rotation. you'll hear the term "hyzer" used to describe this)


Aside from that, your best bet is to throw a lot and just observe what a disc looks like before it does different things. Many throws run out of steam mid-flight and then fall in a predictable direction--when people tell you to "read the disc", that's really what they expect you to understand. Take into account the throw that was made, predict where the disc will run out of velocity, and position yourself to be where the disc is going to end up turning and falling.

Theungry

When you see the frisbee in the air, you can usually tell pretty early where it will end up based on speed, rotation, pitch and elevation. I.E. If its high in the air moving really slow and pitched to one side, its about to take a dive to that side. If its slightly above head high, moving fast and tilted down on one side, it will hook slightly to the down side.

The best way to get good at reading like this is to give yourself some good distance with a partner, really square your hips to them, and have them throw not terribly clean passes to you. Try to figure out as early as possible in the throw where the disc will end up, and run to the spot where you will have to be to catch it.

The most important thing as you get more advanced for ultimate is to catch the frisbee at the best possible time in its flight. That means, getting it at the highest point where you can possibly reach it so that no one else can get it before you. That means if its already not very high, you may have to charge it instead of waiting for it to come to you.

rockchild17

thanks for the tips. if your reading this because you're also interested in how to read a frisbee, i'm gonna post what else i was able to find out, how wind affects a frisbee. if a frisbee is thrown with the wind it's going to stay in the air longer while it sinks when it is thrown against the wind (correct me if it's vice versa). just thought someone might find that useful.

Zonkytonkman

the wind can make it wildly unpredictable. Throwing into the wind, the disc can just shoot up for no reason, and then drop just as suddenly. A disc thrown into the wind should be handled cautiously.