SUBs - Z Tells You How To Crank'em

By John "Z" Weyand
Santa Monica, CA USA

Even though the sport/art of freestyle Frisbee play has been around for a few years I can still remember trying to persuade my fellow players to include freestyle in our tournaments. The sport/art is still in its infancy and thusly gives rise to our imaginations lots of juices for innovation. Many of these creations are hard to pick up at first, but soon become established moves. Some of the fascination for a " hey watch this" is newness not grace. In this sport aesthetics usually wins out over difficulty.

A new prefix has added a lot to my enjoyment of the game, i.e. "the sub". S.U.B.'s (speeded up brush) when applied to your throws this is the way to maximize the spin that your giving to your partners. Giving your partners lots of Z's is always satisfying and usually inspires the whole jam to pick up a notch.

The idea is to use your non-throwing hand to accelerate the disc's spin by changing the forward velocity into rotation. Have you ever thrown a wrist-flip into your head and have your pals say, "great throws" as you are parallel and senseless? Or a side-arm that ricocheted off your hip or thigh? This is what Don Wroblewski and Roger Shepard disc-covered while playing at the Humblies tournament in Ann Arbor in 1977. Nurturing this idea back at the Penn State gym, Don began to experiment with his hand instead of his hip. Soon Roger , who had counter desires, was receiving incredible spin and "playing for weeks". Not many players to date have used this during competition because if you miss the disc it is long gone and your 3 minutes are over by the time you retrieve it. It takes practice and concentration. You want to slap your hands together barely touching the disc. Roger and Don first used the SUB in Toronto in 1978 during their routine. Roger says he has it on film to prove it.

SUB's shouldn't be confused with a top MAC of your own throw. The dynamics are different. Throw- MACs are easier to do and much of the forward velocity is changed in flight direction (i.e. mid-flight attitude change). SUBs are done on the outside of the rim. The hands come together at the moment of release. Most players throwing sidearm (two-fingered) need a little extra room to produce good spin. The SUB is perfect for those small space jams, in the airport or on Jay Leno's stage. I throw side arm for distance, guts, etc . and I can throw as hard as I can and have all the energy (SA² + SUB=Z^nth) become spin in about 10 feet. The energy of a 133 meter throw turned into Zs. It's scary. I'm throwing as hard as I can with a run up and its only going 10 feet. Since those days of yore the SUB has been added to just about every throw, sub-wrist flip, sub-behind-the-back, sub-forehand etc. Communicate as fully as you can. Make your jam pards happy today give them a SUB.

P.S. I originally wrote this article for Jim Palmeri's Frisbee rag years ago. It was never published. Since those times I have created what I call "The Hardest Throw in Show Business", this is a foot -SUB side arm. Learn this one and save your hand from those learnin' bone bruises. This throw is a little more MAC than SUB, but has the same principles, except you use your foot rather than hand.

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