Ethan's Drive UPDATED (4/15)

[Ethan Wellin]

*SEE BOTTOM FOR LATEST VIDEO*

Hey everyone,

I've been browsing and reading here forever, but I got my hands on a video camera, so it felt like about time to make an account and post a video. I would appreciate your feedback... I've tried tons of the drills on here sporadically, but I don't do any religiously... I kinda think that if someone points out which one(s) I would benefit most from that would help me motivate myself to really do them everyday instead of just going out and throwing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0VBhyzonfg

Both throws are with Star Wraiths, my driver of choice. I'm getting about 350' or so on a pretty flat, straight line, with little to no wind. I tend to be a pretty low, flat thrower in general, and I tend to be better with understable rather than overstable plastic.

Having watched that several times, it seems to me that my weight could stand to be further forward, more over my front leg instead of between my legs at the hit. And speaking of the hit, I don't think I'm really hitting it. I'm not sure if that's because I don't have enough late acceleration or if its because my timing is off, I would like to hear what you guys think. Also, as a bit of general information, I have trouble getting the nose down on anything above my typical hair-level laser beam. I don't know if this is a form flaw, or if its because of my weight being too far back, or if its wrist extension/lack there of, but I would like to be able to throw higher for longer drives and for the sake of some line shaping issues on a few courses.

Thanks for your time guys, like I said I'd really appreciate it if you could just give me a bit of feedback and some drills to do, and better yet, hold me to the drills... I hope posting will make me feel accountable and I'll stick to them a little better than I have in the past.

[Aaron_D]

First of all--you are doing a lot of things right. Excellent!

I would work on keeping the reach back a little more relaxed...I know its weird, but the more relaxed you can be at the start of your pull, the more juice you can put into the hit.

Your weight looks forward enough to me--your nose up issues are probably due to not keeping your wrist down and not generating enough speed to keep a fast disc like a wraith nose down on a high line. I bet you could easily throw a leopard nose down on a high hyzerflip turnover.

Something that corelates strongly with staying relaxed is acceleration. Your acceleration is good, but not great. Remember you want to be accelerating through the hit. This means you want to be at 90% going into the hit and not reach full crushingtons until your follow through.

I would recommend working with slower discs. I bet you could get an Orion, Orc, or Flash out nearly as far as your wraith and it would be more workable on different lines.

Above all, dont get too frustrated (some frustration is unavoidable) and work on one thing at a time. You have already achieved a solid throw and the 350 barrier is a bitch and a half to break through. Keep the vids coming!

[Aaron_D]

Just looking at it again, and it goes with the acceleration thing and staying relaxed but is slightly more specific...try and delay your pull a little bit. It should be a little clearer that you are planting first THEN starting your pull. Staying relaxed will help with this which will then help with the acceleration thing I talked about in my previous post.

Also, you weight is WAY forward...this may be because the wraith (and other wide rimmed drivers) are hard to keep nose down. You shouldnt have to get your weight quite as far forward as you are, but knowing that is a wraith leads me to believe that could be why you are doing that. Slower, thinner rimmed drivers would help.

[masterbeato]

the main thing is that you are starting your pull too early most likely due to reaching back too early.

i highly recommend planting your foot, and then starting your pull through.

[Aaron_D]

beat you to it beto!

[JR]

Welcome. In the first throw your right knee was straight during the pivot. Not healthy. The length of the final step came from a slight kick forward from the right hip. And keeping the knee straight makes a longer step which them jams against the ground. Nice circle. Not. Your step placement was for an anhyzer while releasing with mild hyzer. at least when I looked at the second throw didn't heck the first one. At your power a Wraith shouldn't need that much initial hyzer unless there was a headwind. A harder late acceleration might cure that. I didn't watch for OAT signs. Sorry time for bed after 5 hours of field work. Pant pant gasp.

[Ethan Wellin]

i decided that I would work out in the field for a week, and then post again. it's been a week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSo5g_iGugs

The new video is a comparison of a week ago and then today. The first shot (jeans, black shirt) is last week, the second (white shirt, gray cargo shorts) is this week. As reccomended, the new shot is with a TL, rather than a wraith. Unless you have a much better eye than me, you will likely notice no difference in the motion or rhythm. There is about a 1 frame difference in when the pull starts relative to the front foot, but that could as easily be a throw to throw thing as an actual change. However I think this is to be expected, considering I've been throwing frisbees for as long as I could walk. I wasn't expecting anything to magically change overnight. What I would like to do is talk about what I'm working on, and make sure I'm doing the right things:

I basically spent the week trying to pull later. It wasn't really happening today, as the video shows. I made it happen a handful of times over the course of the week, and it did feel pretty nice... to describe the feeling, I felt behind my usual rhythm, and then my hips would start the pull almost like they were trying to catch my torso up, my arm would pull through a bit tighter than usual, and then I would get this feeling like I was grip locking a teensy bit only it was happening online with the target (just a touch of grip lock by the way, not the super grip lock that would probably indicate better acceleration). All together this yielded an extra 30-40 feet when it happened, to around 390 ft or so.

I can't figure out how to drill for a later pull. Does anyone have a suggestion? Basically I was doing full speed throws, and just trying to force myself to look at the target for as long as possible, trying to force myself to reach back later, and then pull later hopefully as well. I had mixed results at best. I also tried to slow my tempo way down, even walking through it, but I can't make it stick in my head. Will this come with time? Or is there a better way to train myself to pull later relative to my footwork?

I also think I am having some small OAT issues. I've never leaned on overstable plastic and I think in general I have a pretty clean throw, but when I was focusing on making the pull later I was kinda flipping stuff that I don't think I have the power to flip on a pure throw. Not like turn and burn, but wraiths going right and staying right into only 5 or 7 mph headwinds, and I think the videos show that my release is a bit of a hyzer angle to begin with.

I'm planning on working again all week and then I can post another video. I'm happy to be patient with it, but there's no point working my butt off without doing the right stuff. Any drill suggestions? Any particular way to think through the later pull when I'm in the field? Or do I just focus on my lead foot hitting the ground before I start?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

[JR]

Your elbow is fairly far forward I think there's a tiny improvement there. You're weight forward which is nice. Learning the timing can be hard with old habits ingrained. I'm there. After three years of trying to pull later I'm getting there but still suspect more improvements are on the way.

For a timing drill try standing still in the posture at your normal rip minus the last 10" off the arm motion. From that pose using just the arm try to accelerate as hard as you can. Then backup to right pec drill trying to start slow and hitting hard at the same place as before. Once that goes smoothly reach back then one step, then two steps, x step and a full run up.