Catching

CATCHING IS JUST as important as throwing to successful windplay. Improvements can happen at both the individual and the team level.

For individual catching, there are concrete ways to improve.

Build in time to practice ‘flutterguts’-style catching of bobbled discs. The physical point is to improve coordination and quickness, but the mental goal is to be comfortable in odd situations where a falling disc is within reach. Players that pause in confusion about the new situation, or who react emotionally to the fact that they didn’t catch it the first time, will have a harder time reacting quickly and smoothly to the available disc. Players who have routinely seen the disc do this in practice time will do better.

Photo: Brandon Wu — UltiPhotos.com

For running cuts, don’t jump up. Many cutters jump while running as a way to stabilize the body from foot-pounding and simplify the catch, although it allows more time for defenders to make a play on the disc. In the wind, though, this strategy carries an additional cost as the disc is subject to the wind for a longer period of time. Keep moving forward or stop completely instead of taking the worst parts of both.

When catching, use your body to make a less-windy pocket of space. By positioning your body on the wind side of the catch, you can screen some of the wind. This is most effective in extremely windy situations, but can have some application at other times. This is most often done instinctively by stationary receivers making small adjustments while waiting for the disc. The alligator-style catch has the small advantage of slightly surrounding the disc. Additionally, a surrounded body style for windy catches will also constrict a dropped disc to a smaller area, making it easier to catch on a second attempt. Another way of saying this is to avoid catches with your arms away from your body and facing into the wind.

Learn to read the disc in the wind by doing longer distance throwing drills in windy situations. I’ve seen many coaches avoid throwing and catching drills, especially for long throws, because strong wind makes catches less likely. Unless you plan to eliminate long throws from your offense in wind (which I strongly recommend against!) you should be practicing these skills at least as much in wind situations. For coaches, try to de-prioritize effort — like ‘hard running’ and layout recovery catches after misreads — and emphasize early movements to predict and meet the disc. For older players, the goofy game ‘T-rex vs Pterodactyl’*² was a way to decrease the size of the catching range, quietly forcing players to do more anticipation work.

*² In this game, players either catch only with arms locked straight out at the elbows or arms tucked tight to their chest. Not only is it actually helpful, it is fun to watch and heckle.

From a mental standpoint: Try to be aware of how the stall counts impact the movement of receivers and not just what is happening in the thrower’s mind. At high stall counts, experienced players effectively exhibit some mental gravity towards either the reset hander or the downfield huck space as those throws become more likely.

When in doubt, over-read the wind. Imagine a right-handed forehand huck moving down the right sideline of a field. If the wind is blowing into the field from the right, then this disc is likely to move towards the middle of the field. If you can read it perfectly, do it. If not, then your choices are to:

1. Read the disc for less curve. You’ll move relatively closer towards the sideline. If you are correct, great. If you are incorrect, then all other players will be able to attack in motion towards the disc, while you’ll be stuck underneath or need to jump backwards. You are at a disadvantage.

2. Read the disc for more curve. You’ll move relatively farther from the sideline. If you are correct, great. If you are incorrect, then you’ll be able to adjust and move forward to the disc, sometimes able to make a play against a defender stuck underneath or jumping backwards. You’ll also have full vision of other players, allowing you to play their movements, move to seal them out without fouling, and avoid colliding with a teammate who might have a better chance at the catch.

Lastly, catch with both hands ready to be involved. You don’t have to clap catch everything, but the best players get their off-hand to a ready position even when catching with a single mitt. We tell our young players to ‘fight for the second hand’, because their natural tendency will be to focus only on the catching hand and to leave the other hand in running position (typically extended downwards in opposition). Countless discs each year are dropped by the intended hand but then caught by the partner hand. It sometimes escapes notice of all but the catcher themselves. Fight to keep this hand involved, and call your teammates out in practice when they let their bodies be lazy.