Intro to Throwing

Throwing is the defining skill of ultimate. It’s the first thing that distinguishes ultimate from other sports for newcomers, and is a large part of how players & teams differentiate themselves. This is because there are countless ways to throw a frisbee and while most throws can be neatly classified into a handful of distinct throwing types––two of which are almost used exclusively in competition, backhand and forehand––each type of throw can have many variations based on distance, velocity, spin, curve, release point, throwing-hand, pitch, etc… Additionally, the individuality of every person’s body results in every player having a different ideal throwing form.

Unlike its counterpart skill of catching, ultimate players at every level rightfully spend a large amount of their practice time honing their throwing abilities. However, what throws players choose to practice and how they go about practicing them can vary wildly. Even among coaches, there are differing opinions on how to teach new players to throw.

Excel Ultimate’s throwing introduction video is a great tutorial showing the basic concepts behind the backhand and forehand.

Learning To Throw

Throwing a Frisbee is a complex motion that involves your entire body. However, the first hurdle that any player has to overcome when learning a new throw is the unfamiliar sensation of holding the frisbee in a new throwing grip. Throwing practice is going to be much less effective if you do not feel like you cannot comfortably holed the frisbee with the desired throwing grip.  Therefore I recommend players, especially players who are learning new throws, to spend time