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LOCALGROUPS north of Boston, near Burlington, Medford, Arlington, Malden ... FOR YOUR AREA, visit UPA pickup list and ultimap.org for maps ... Lexington MA Ultimate Pickup (my fav) ... Woburn MA Ultimate Pickup ... Belmont MA Ultimate Pickup ... Toodles the Lexington Frisbee Factor Canary |
UPDATES Aug 08, 2008
Over just a few weeks my obsession with convincing people it's a pretty good idea to throw the disc quickly has expanded into a solid plan for a few books and a blockbuster movie, for which I need my own webpage, so the towns above are now squish7/lexington, etc.
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I highly recommend a detailed, up-to-date webpage for all pickup groups, in addition to upa and ultimap listings! People just search on google and find you, or come from upa and want more details. If you want me to throw you up a quick page here or host your domain like SpringfieldFrisbee.com no charge which are like 10 bucks a year now, just ask.
Site to Host Pickup Groups
A few of us are in limbo whether to bother constructing and maintaining a large hub to host pages for national local pickup groups. The current example is MyUltimateFrisbee.com, or this page sort of. I also like uultimate.org, ufrisbee.org, & upickup.org (why not all sports?). Tell us what you think or if you're interested in getting involved.
Squish Email
You-Know-Who AT You-Know-Where DOT You-Know-What
OK, so I love the banana-colored term 'for dummies' better than 'newbies', but 'newbies' alliterates with 'nuns'. A nun is a very dedicated individual devoting their lives to their discipline.This means if you're really dedicated to frisbee, you never have sex, cuz you could be playing ultimate instead. So here's a few things for beginners & nuns.
Hold On, I'm a Recluse, What the Hell's Ultimate Frisbee?
Ultimate (i.e. ultimate frisbee -- the sport is called ultimate for short because frisbee is a trademarked word. 'Disc' is used instead) is a sport combining elements of soccer and football with a frisbee. When you have the disc you must freeze, then toss it sucessfully to another team member, and in this way get the disc down to the endzone where your team gains a point. There's no tackling. Ultimate is a very real sport, don't be fooled by the use of the otherwise jovial frisbee. I've been told soccer players play ultimate to get into shape; official frisbee actually requires more running, but not casual, don't worry!
I say all this because I didn't think there was anyone who didn't know what ultimate frisbee was, then I overhear a friend of a friend say "Frisbee? I've never heard of anyone scheduling frisbee," (in response to the information that I was taking a break from helping my friend move to drive back to Lexington and play) So now you know. You can start with the links at the top at bottom of the page.
Avoid Instant Throws (ITs): Please Take Your Time
After a half summer of discussion with frisbeers, I've upgraded my opinion of the consensus that "Throwing the disc really quickly to someone doesn't matter in this sport; it is best in all cases to wait to be guarded then take a few seconds and look around" from strange to delusional. You think I'm exaggerading, but this is practically verbatim. Utilizing all major throws, there's an instant catch-and-whip move for any way or position you can catch the disc. These take a lot of skill and focus to master during game and are that useful, but they should (basically) never be used. Frisbee is a very special sport in that a quarter second is utterly negligible.
Look at this video. It's 2:47 into the game before anyone throws an IT, and it's an excellent move! (it's a forehand-IT because it's caught below the waist, see below). Call me crazy if it seems more skillful than any throw to that point. Though it was only attempted because the disc was out of bounds (the disc can be saved in a "greatest" if it's released before your feet hit the ground), which is difficult, which is why it fails here (it's not caught). But this technique can be used from any normal catch.
The skill required is massive: you have to instantly decide 1. which of all of the throws (listed in wikipedia) you'll have to use, 2. where to throw it, requiring a lot of memorization of where everyone is on the field and where they're heading because you have scant time to look once you get the disc, and 3. whether you should even throw once 1 and 2 are decided. It sounds hard but it's just like any quarterback scanning the positions and directions and speeds of everyone on the field and making a fast decision. But this skill is apparently useless in frisbee.
If you don't believe me, watch the IT at 2:47 in this video and all the play up to that point, and tell me if I'm nuts that there wasn't at least one or two chances in three minutes to do the same thing in bounds. Every single play is catch, wait. Catch, wait. Or, go to a practice field before a pickup game and watch all the toss, stand, toss, stand. Then ask two players to whip it back and forth instantly between them as long as they can, and then explain to you why you would never use that kind of thing during a game.
I want to put a moderately skilled (I can't speak to super professional as I know little about it, but I have twelve years experience playing and organizing pickup and playing a summer in a small league) ultimate player in a room with equally skilled players of soccer, football, lacross, track, volleyball, badminton, air hockey, drag racing, underwater rugby, ping pong, capture the flag, dodgeball, Doom, Quake, Halo, NERO, Final Fantasy VIII blitzball, and Pong, and be the one person in the room to explain "A quarter second doesn't really matter in our game. We're very lucky, we don't have to practice those types of skills." I've had this well explained to me, and I can't quite grasp it yet. You can read 75 board messages of argument about it here and here.
After infinite thought and psychotherapy I've concluded two things.
1. Sometimes habits evolve a certain way and people become resistant to new ideas challenging conventions.
2. Ultimate players are really freaking lazy.
Immediate/Instant Throws (ITs) -- Basic Technique
This is what I've learned so far about immediately throwing the disc when caught. When it comes at you to your left and under your chest (check here for all main throws), the best IT is to catch backhand-ready and then backhand it forward (normal throw). When it's under your chest and to your right, you can catch forehand-ready and throw a forehand. But while the b/h and f/h are the main grips, it's near impossible to catch up high ready to throw.
Stick out your arm like you're making a "stop" motion. You're already in position to catch an up-high disc, then you can throw a peach (also 'beach thumber' and 'forehand thumber'), especially useful caught on the left (flick the frisbee 180 and release with your thumb) or an overhand or duck (more useful on the right). But to catch a disc backhand- or forhand-ready, you have to awkwardly twist your entire arm away from you. Hence all disc-up throws in combination allow an easy IT from any catch.
Likewise, using the hammer (above), scoober (left), and standard thumber (right), you can catch and throw an upside down disc at your middle or up high. If it's down low to the left, you can catch it and flip it and b/h it, or to the right, flip and forehand. I haven't tried many upside-disc ITs but I believe this is basically the idea.
Even harder than the catch-and-whip is to do this in sucession, or in the air, or worst of all, in multiple succession in the air, perhaps never done in the history of ultimate (if you've ever seen a quadruple air-IT relay let me know). Air ITs are useful to jump above the defenders and release before you're back on the ground with them, or if the disc is too high to reach and you would jump anyway, or if you're really tall like Richie Finnegan of Reading, MA. Practice them. Set up a tripple air-peach relay in practice (I'm not joking, it's perfectly learnable standing still and is excellent practice), and then tell me if I'm nuts that that entire realm of skill is just about useless in frisbee (see above).
When implementing ITs during game, firstly, though this should be obvious, don't tick off your friends by trying them too much (I'm very good at that), unless you all agree to work on them together. Even when not actually tossing one, you can still practice the skill the entire game by being ready, without which they're useless. In order to be ready to throw an IT, focus and keep the entire field in your head (might want to buy some extra brain RAM) especially when you might get the disc, because you'll have near-zero time to think in that moment. Just being mentally prepared for one should improve your general game focus, just as whipping the disc back and forth to someone during practice with all ITs should improve your catching and throwing in general.
Finally, when you've mastered in-game ITs and quintuple air-IT relays, it's absolutely essential that you completely forget about them, because they should never, ever be used in frisbee.
Buying Discs
Now that you know how to win an all instant jump-thumber-forehand relay five point shutout, you want a disc. You want a good 175-gram ultimate disc. Most people will say Discraft are the best, and they're the leader, but I also happen to love Daredevil for their really bright visible colors (a huge plus for visibility during a game), that I'm utterly beyond baffled discraft hasn't attempted to match. I also think Daredevils even out a little better than Discrafts but don't take my word for it. Most importantly, Daredevils make peaches (forehand thumbers) a little easier because of the slightly wider rim. =P
Note the above links only allow bulk purchasing. You can get an individual discraft disc or a daredevil disc from amazon.com. For color I recommend only white, yellow (best at night and good during day), or maybe orange for discrafts, and citrus, white, or any really bright color, for daredevils, and pink if you want a disc good in any weather or time or day. Discs at sporting stores are usually lame (which is insane), but will do if you just want to toss. In any case make sure you get a 175-g disc if you want to practice for ultimate.
Top 5 Things That Baffle Me in Frisbee
1. Standing like a tree too much (See above)
2. Why the hell does no one on the planet besides me bother eating a powerbar half way through frisbee? Do you think you've lost zero energy sprinting for two hours and some quick compacted protein and carbs won't do you a bit of good? Please email me if you know anyone who fuels up with anything before or after frisbee.
3. Why does everyone (at least that I play with) cram into two square feet of space near the endzone and yell at me for standing ten feet back in case of a turnover when I consistantly make catches and goals this way because I'm the only one anywhere near the other side of the field? The counter-argument is "well, there's one extra person over here you should be guarding," but that person should be ten feet back too! What if every single soccer player on the field ran to the endzone and then back the entire field? Also, if the disc is up and heading right for the endzone, it will either be caught (end of game), or not, in which case the second it's thrown every single defender should be sprinting toward the other end. For the pros in perfect shape, it's fine to zip back and forth from end to end. I play pickup, I'm 20 pounds overweight, and this week I have a twisted ankle.
4. Why does everyone get so exhausted, is it cuz no one's eating powerbars? To a scant few of us out there (yes I've met a couple others), a two hour game is a warmup. I guess our mothers chose extreme stamina when writing our character generation sheets, we should all get together and do a Forest Gump thing where we play for a year straight. In that case you'll finally need the powerbars.
5. Why doesn't Discraft have colorful discs like Daredevil? Did someone forget where the bright paint storage warehouses are? Everyone should be shot for buying or selling a dark disc, unless you really want to freeze your ass off in snow frisbee (some people do).
These are like vicious splinters in my mind. If you have any answers or want to burden with me more, or complaints about the ones I've posted, please email me.
USMC Frisbee
My marine brother has recently informed me that all the marines he hangs around in Cali play frisbee without... having... to catch... the disc. No typo. They throw it, it falls, and they tackle eachother to get it. I'm not making this up (this makes ITs really, really hard). After hearing this I'm horribly embarassed to have given my brother a frisbee for Christmas. Recently I designed a logo (that he laughed at) that I might put on a T-shirt that says "USMC Frisbee: Let it Drop, then Fight it Off." If you're a marine out there who does this, please do yourself a favor and melt your freaking frisbee, or learn to catch it. That's like having a penis and only urinating with it. You can all knock eachother out after one side scores a point using kindergarten recess skills. Thanks, and Semper Fi.
AD&D Frisbee
(click here)
Official Ultimate Frisbee Theme Song
to tune of 'C is for Cookie' from Seseme St
E after frisbeE, that's good enough for me
E after frisbeE, that's good enough for me
E after frisbeE, that's good enough for me, oh
Frisbee frisbee frisbee ends with 'E'
Links
Cool starting guide
Full set of Rules
buda.org -- Boston ultimate disc association.
Wikipedia entries for Ultimate Frisbee and Frisbee Throws
Individual discraft from amazon -- get white or yellow (or maybe orange), or jump off a cliff
Individual daredevil from amazon -- get pink, white, citrus, or fire
Official discraft and daredevil sites.
Vids: Search "frisbee" from Google Video then hit "> 20 min" to see whole games.