How to Dive Safely

[Guest]

The ultimate forum for talking about Ultimate Frisbee. Aimed at bringing new life to the world of Ultimate Frisbee discussions, UltiTalk.Com (UT) combines both regional and international topics in one friendly place. So say hello to UT: The International Ultimate Frisbee forum.

[ppgear]

It seems that almost every time someone dives for the disc (in real life, not a YouTube video), they dislocate their shoulder. How do you dive safely? What's the proper form?

And is it affected by the kind of ground you play on, and what kind of shirt you wear?

We do play on grass, not any fake turf.

Thanks.

[wwwake]

I would also be interested in more pointers on this.  I have a really bad tendency to lean on my shoulder which has resulted in me re-injuring my rotator cuff a couple times.  I've seen this video before but it's hard to implement by yourself.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Z1u292EXxw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/6Z1u292EXxw</a>

There's also this thread but I would love more peoples' opinions/thoughts on it.

http://www.ultitalk.com/index.php/topic,1201.0.html

[wlflover]

This video was pretty helpful. I've always just reached and grabbed. Landing was never planned out. For some reason I always end up on the side of my hips.

[SouthwestUltimate]

The best layout artists I have seen tend to land chest first.  It takes some getting used to and having pecs definitely helps.  So do some pushups and/or bench presses.  It also helps to strengthen your shoulders.  I liked to video's advice about practicing on something slippery, but I would put a higher priority on soft, at least initially.  In college, we would always take the freshmen out on the first rainy, muddy day of practice and do nothing but layout drills. 

Every time I have separated or dislocated my shoulders it has been because I landed on my side, or my waist and hand or elbow hit simultaneously, and then my shoulder slammed down into the ground.  I've had many waist high and even a few chest high layouts that I landed with no ill effects, but I've also badly bruised my sternum on a disc 2 feet in the air, so there are no guarantees.

Also "it doesn't hurt if you catch it" or get the D.  Most people consider this a cliche, but there is some truth to it.  Both because you feel good about it and because once you make the play after laying out, your body subconsciously prepares itself to hit the ground.  But if you miss the catch or the D, part of your body is still trying to make the play when you actually hit, and this is a recipe for injury.

Finally, if you are really hard core, you can try to following technique. 
Get 2 to 4 friends to lift you an inch or two off the ground, make sure you are parallel to the ground, and then drop you.  It helps if they all let go at the same time.  Once you can handle this, go higher.  Like I said, this is pretty hard core, and there is a chance of getting injured in the training, rather than the game, but some NFL players have gotten to the point where their bodies could withstand being dropped 8 feet on a regular basis.  Don't blame me if you get hurt trying this technique, I warned you.

[AndyHarry]

Your abdomen is the best place to absorb the impact, but the palms of your hands and other parts of your body are invariably going to hit sometimes. If you roll in the air or take off sideways (a beginner's mistake), you're going to hit your hip, pelvis or shoulder, and that can be painful or cause a serious injury over time.

Speaking of layouts, a big mistake a lot of people make is always trying to catch a layout with the palm facing up. Sometimes this is a good way to catch a disc, but other times, especially if the disc is higher (say waist or above), or if the angle of the disc is causing it to trail away from you, a palm-up catch is very difficult to secure during a layout. Instead of catching the disc palm up, flipping it up counter clockwise and securing it with the knuckles on the inside of the rim just before landing (like in the video), a better option in this situation might be to catch it palm down and use your thumb to hook the rim and flip it over clockwise just before landing. I find this technique especially useful because diving palm down allows you to increase the length of your layout and thus increase your range, and it also promotes landing on your abdomen, whereas going in palm up can force you to dip your shoulder in and roll your body over, resulting the aforementioned hip and shoulder injuries.

[SouthwestUltimate]

Another tip I thought of because I have been playing a lot of Beach Volleyball lately is play beach ultimate.  Layouts take place all the time.  But don"t make the mistake of thinking just because you can layout safely on the beach that you can do the same on the grass.  You will still need to practice grass layouts even after you master the beach layout