Five Quick Tips and One New Drill for Forehand Development

Photo by Danial Thai for Ultiphotos

Coach Cate Roscoe to gives us some forehand tips and drills to do at home as part of our Skills and Technique Membership.

Below are a few highlights: Five quick tips and one new drill!

A Collection of Quick Tips

1. Bring awareness to the your current form

An important, yet often overlooked way to improve your forehand is to simply bring awareness to what you are already doing. Truly knowing what your body is doing at high speed is nearly impossible. But we can focus on the beginning and the end of the action. And then compare that to what elite throwers are doing by looking at photos or stills of game film.

2. Check your Grip

A solid grip still have the disc far back in the pocket between your thumb and pointer finger. In newer players, there is often a space there as they try to control the disc more with their fingers than with the coordinated use of the wrist and timing of the release.

3. Need more touch?

Cue yourself (or the player you coach) to point at the ground after the follow through.

4. Need more spin?  

Cue yourself to lead with your elbow in front of your wrist. (Note, this may not be physically possible. But it's the cue and the intention that matter)

5. Target Practice:

Keep your hips and shoulders pointed to the target. Notice what your off leg doing. To keep your hips aligned while you lunge, make sure your back leg is also bent during your step out. 

JAM Drill

The JAM Drill eliminates the lower body contribution to the forehand. Instead the focus is on balance and the mechanics of the release. This is an excellent drill for players who struggle to put touch on their throws and for those who have difficulty controlling the trajectory (outside in and inside out) of the disc.

The JAM drill forces better forehand mechanics in the upper body. Keeping shoulders square to the target, you can’t throw with anything other than the snap of the wrist.

Further videos in this series will increase your step out, pivoting and faking. We’ll be adding some marking, increasing distance, and mastering inside-out, outside-in angles. If you’d like to get really good command of your forehand at a variety of angles, distances, and release points, you can continue working with Cate and her drills for the next several weeks in our Skills and Techniques membership.

Next steps

If you’d like to go more in depth in your forehand fundamentals, join us this week in our Skills and Technique membership. Cate will be providing further progressions on these drills as well as activities to build strength in your forehand form from a variety of positions. If you’ve ever wanted a killer low release forehand, now is the time to get it! 

Sign up and improve your forehand fundamentals here. 

You’ll get immediate access to the website, drills, and exercises. 

New to throwing? Learn more about the five most important throws in ultimate frisbee.