Training alone?

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[kjn11994]

My high school ultimate team doesn't practice that much... only 3 days a week officially, 5 including pickups and workouts. i therefore feel that i could practice more and get better in my other free time. unfortunately, there are only few ulti players in my neighborhood, and they are usually busy. is there any way i can practice alone? im pretty confident about my running and cutting skills, i just need to work on my throwing and catching. any excercizes for me?

[canis216]

I train alone all the time, but I focus on my conditioning--building speed, footwork, and hops. But I do a little throwing, too--the following is my invention, so don't blame anyone but me if you think it stinks.

Pivoting/breaking the mark: Set up a line of 7 cones, at least one yard apart from one another. Set your pivot 20 yards from the center cone, middle of the line.

1   2   3   4   5   6  7


           
            Pivot

(Obviously this isn't to scale)

What I usually do is fake flick to 7, then pivot to shoot at 1 with a backhand. Next I fake backhand at 1 and then shoot at 7 with a flick. Repeat until you've chucked all your discs, or however you want to do it. For the next set I fake flick at 7, then shoot at 7 with backhand (breaking the 'mark'), alternating that with faking a backhand at 1 and then shooting at it with a flick, stepping around the 'mark'. As I knock down cones I work my way toward the center. Having several discs is preferred for this drill. I use four, and really should use more.

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I also practice pulling (setting out cones to serve as targets, and to note the front and back of the end zone) and hucks (with a pivot, and a cone to serve as target). While doing this I try to shape my throws to fit game situations.

[Mortakai]

Hey Canis... it sounds like you're throwing at the cones on the ground, or do you prop them up 3 or 4 feet into the air somehow? I like the concept, although I'd be concerned that I'd get into a bad habit of throwing downwards if I didn't prop them up somehow.

[ultimaterob]

I practice throwing on my own a lot and one of the drills I'll do is to get a bunch of discs and throw them into a soccer net:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HKh8fDN0CpU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HKh8fDN0CpU</a>

[FrisbeeFanatic]

Setting up cones to mark an endzone is a good place to start. You can easily practice your hucks that way. Being a handler and talking to those better than me, it's easier to aim for a specific spot in the endzone, ie. the back or front cones (usually the back cones). Sometimes I'll just do that and I've found it's helped improve my accuracy on my hucks.

Also, throwing into a soccer goal is a fantastic idea. Once again, aim for specific places, like upper 90 or the posts. When cutters are making their end cuz, a good defender will be either right behind or right next to them, so the accuracy on the throw is crucial for a catch. I often make my throw about head level or just a little bit higher and away from the defender. It's great cuz the defenders hardly ever get the D, even if they layout.

Canis: dude that sounds like a great idea. I'll have to try that! I know my transitions between backhand and forehand are pretty slow. Thanks for the tip

As far as catching goes, pretty much the only way you can practice that is if you have some wind and can throw into it...

Also, when you're practicing or in pickup, if you know you're weak catching with 1 hand or whatever, just practice those catches only. It will probably be frustrating for a while, but if you can catch 1 handed with your right hand AND your left hand, as well as both crocodile and lobster catches, you'll be way more effective on the field.

Hope this helps