The frisbee forehand technique, which is also known as a flick, is one of the most common frisbee throwing techniques. This technique doesn’t require enormous strength, but this technique is capable of throwing the frisbee to the longest distance with accuracy. That’s why frisbee players always use this technique to pass the frisbee to their teammates. The basic working mechanism is to throw the frisbee forward like a flick while keeping it parallel to the ground. This sounds pretty easy, but acquiring this technique and master this is a bit hard. Professional players also survived during their training sessions to acquire and master this. So, let’s have a look at how to throw a frisbee forehand.
Contents
How to Throw a Frisbee Forehand
Now let’s start with the basic forehand throwing technique. There’s, of course, some tricky and special type of flicks which we are going to discuss at the end of the article. But for starters, we are going to explore the basics at first. If you already know the basics, I would still suggest you get an overview of how it’s done or how it’s actually meant to be done.
Step 1: How to Hold a Frisbee for Forehand
For the forehand technique, you have to grab your frisbee in a special way. There will be three fingers involved in this grabbing position. You must keep the other two fingers out of your way. Otherwise, it will block your throwing. You’ll need your thumb, index, and middle finger for this. Put your thumb on the top side of the frisbee. It should be kept straight. On the lower side, you shall put the index and middle finger to hold the grip. The index and middle finger shall stay separated at a 90-degree angle which will look like the “V” sign. Initially, this grabbing and positioning might be a difficult task. So, for beginners, I would suggest holding the disc with the non-dominant hand at first and create the disc grabbing stance with your dominant hand. After that, place the disc on your dominant hand and grip it as well as you can.
Step 2: Take your Body into Positions
One thing for sure, you can’t throw the disc to your desired location if you are just standing normally. I mean, precision and accuracy will not be able to gain with normal positioning of your body. To throw the disc, lean a bit sideways. Step out or stretch your legs. The right leg should bend, and the left leg will stretch straight if you are right-handed and vice-versa. Slightly lean your upper body towards the right side and keep your eyes on the receiver. Make sure your body is fully balanced, and you are not feeling uncomfortable. Also, you have to make sure that your body and the head are totally faced forward to the receiver.
Step 3: Take the Disc Behind your Elbow
At this point, you need to stretch your hand. Your wrist will face towards the receiver, and the disk should go behind your elbow. You need to make sure you are putting 80% of your weight in your right leg, and the other 20% of your weight is on your left leg. Now you need to bend your wrist as much as you can. By doing this, it will generate some solid momentum in your disc which will allow you to throw the disk to a long distance. Keep in mind that you need to keep the disc slightly downwards to the surface. This will allow you a good initial start. Otherwise, you’ll not be able to throw it with accuracy and good speed.
Step 4: Throwing Time
Now before you start throwing, you need to focus on the receiver. Your mind should be able to read the distance between you and the receiver and how much speed you are going to put on your throwing to get to him. Don’t worry; this thing will get improvised while you practice this for some time. So, when you are ready, push the disc forward with your wrist. Remember, this is wrist throwing which means you shouldn’t use your elbow too much. Try to keep the disk horizontal to the ground, and don’t try to spin the disc too much. Let it release naturally.
Step 5: After Releasing
If you have studied physics before, you should know that every action has a reaction. In this case, the reaction will tell you how good your flick was. If you feel a good reaction after releasing the disc, rest is assured that it was a nice flick. After releasing the disc, keep your hands steady. Don’t withdraw them until it reaches its destination. During that time, put your three fingers towards the receiver and your palm towards the sky.
Types of Flicks
Now we’ve finished our basic forehand throwing technique; we can move to the available ways of flicking. There are commonly three types of forehand throwing.
- Upper Flick
- Lower Flick
- Pizza Flip
Upper Flick
This technique is similar to the basic forehand technique. The only difference is you have to release the disc while raising your arm above your shoulder. Your body and leg don’t need to bend too much for this flick. This technique is useful when you are trying to getting around the other players.
Lower Flick
This one is a bit tricky. This flick is used when you want to pass the disc through the defender’s arm. You need to bend your body and right leg as much as you can so that you can come close to the ground. While throwing, make sure your elbow barely passes through your right knee. This flick is an effective one. You should practice this so many times to master it because it is a hard one.
Pizza Flip
During a match, sometimes you need to make a fake move to your opponent. The pizza flip is the perfect tactic for faking someone. The good thing is, you don’t need to learn anything special for this trick. The disc holding position is the same as the forehand technique. You do everything the same as the forehand throw, but at the last moment of releasing, instead of throwing, you flip the disc upside down.
Some Problems You Might Face While Practicing
- Keeping Disc Horizontal: The first rule for a good flick is throwing the disc parallel to the ground. Maintaining this is not easy for beginners. So, you shall have a friend or coach always looking for your disc positions when you release.
- Moving Your Arms Too Much: You should know that flick is not a technique of using your arms too much. This is a tricky one. If you move your arms too much, the chances are huge that the disc will spin way more than usual, and it will lose its track. The momentum you need to spin the disk shall come from your wrist, not from your arm. That’s why it is important to learn how to flick your wrist properly.
- Disc Wobbling: If you are a beginner, this is the hardest part for you. Too much disc wobbling might cause loss of track. This problem can occur for various reasons. In general, if you are unable to get a good grip or getting enough spin on your disk, then this problem might occur. Don’t worry too much. This problem gets solved when you practice more and more.
- Accuracy: At the beginning of your forehand trials, you will normally face accuracy issues. Sometimes it will go further than the destination; sometimes, it will fall short. Practice more, and you will get the precision and accuracy within a very short time.
- Reverse Issue: Sometimes, you might see your disc is going in the upward direction, and then it reverses back, which is not desired. To avoid this issue, you should get a nice grip and make sure the disk is released parallelly.
Precautions
The forehand technique is a wrist-based frisbee throwing mechanism. Which means most of the strength you need is on your wrist. For each release, you have to stretch your body, legs, and your wrists. If you don’t take proper care while practicing, you might get trapped in unwanted accidents. During exercise, you may get strains in your legs, body, wrists, and muscles. So, you should be very cautious during your practice session. Don’t overdo it.
Read More: 12 Indoor Ultimate Frisbee Rules for Beginners
Conclusion
Frisbee is a fun sport. The best part of it is you can play this indoors and outdoors. At least two people are enough to get the fun from it. As you are into this, you might want to get some basic throwing tips, and forehand throwing is one of the basics. It is easy and effective. But it takes some time to master. I’ve tried to give you an idea of what does flick of the wrist means and how to throw the forehand in this article. Also, you can run into some errors. You should always keep an eye on them, and I hope you’ll not feel any trouble.