Simple Things

On the way home from work, I had a very basic epiphany that sparked an idea for a blog post. What was it?

Maybe: how much Stonefish/Boomslang drama will there be this season, and will it make me feel like I am in college again?

No no, that was not it.

Oh yeah: dumb jokes aside, I was practicing pivots after closing up at work, and showing some of my coworkers how to throw a forehand. I've been helping coach a  brand new high school team this spring, and thus teaching a lot of basic forehand. And I guess its finally paid off in terms of my own game: tonight, I realized why my throws were so goddam bad last year.

Hah. They were, they really were. And I was not throwing enough outside of practice to realize exactly why.  I threw the least turnovers I ever have as a handler, but I struggled with hucks and forehand breaks (my goddam prior bread and butter). They were occasionally good, occasionally very bad, often mediocre at best. Mostly mediocre. And the reason why is that while I have become more learned in how to throw properly brain wise, my muscles have forgotten the goddam basics.

My muscle memory has never had a great shelf life. It used to drive me nuts in high school when we'd stop throwing for winter (other than sophomore year, when we literally threw every day). I always threw outside until at least the end of november, and would get back by the end of February. I had a buddy who would quit before Halloween and come back in April, just as good as he had been, while my form would have suffered and have to be at least partially relearned.

So basically, when I pivot, I pivot into an outside in throwing position. If I thought about it and wound up, I could usually put something good together. But trying to huck off a quick pivot, and ya'll know I have an itchy trigger finger, often resulted in a big blady forehand or a backhand way out of bounds on the left side - my default pivot to either side yields an outside in throw probably 7 out of 10 times. I don't think enough while playing to correct that mid pivot.

This actually helped my backhand a little: I learned to break outside in, a really dirty and useful throw, as long as the wind is not behind you or too gusty. But other than that my throws are a lot worse than they could be. So I guess thank goodness I figured this out now. Its crucial for both my game and sanity to throw a lot in the upcoming weeks, and I need to practice with goddam intention and fix my goddam pivot.

Its really not a hard fix it just needs lots of reps, and I need to remember to use the off hand to drive the disc to the proper orientation on both sides. Without the off hand in play, pivoting while switching grip takes at least a half second longer. Maybe that's part of the problem, I stopped using my off hand to drive.

Throw throw throw throw throw, etc.

Much love, blog friends.