by Craig Simon © 1982
The Body - Form and Movement
| "Forms are closely connected with movement. Each movement has its form, and forms are simultaneously created with and through movement. . . Not only for the searching mind of the scientist, but also for the child and the primitive man, the whole world is filled with unceasing movement. An unsophisticated mind has no difficulty in comprehending movement as life." (From Rudolf Laban, The Language of Movement) |
If the famous choreographer who wrote those words had ever seen freestyle. He might have been struck by the way graceful sweeps of arms and legs through the space around players' bodies are punctuated by moments when the limbs are so intertwined they seem to be braided together.
Kinesphere. Laban used this term to describe the spacial properties of movement. Literally meaning "motion sphere," it defines the entire range of motion of the human body, limbs and all, about its center.
Laban's approach concerns us more than the details of his work. Reducing a problem to its particulars is a pragmatic way to study it; nevertheless, we must not forget that we are seeking to fit the particulars into a whole. Stancil Johnson, author of Frisbee: A Practitioner's Manual and Definitive Treatise, wrote that "Frisbee joins Man's greatest tool, his hand, with his greatest dream, to fly." Starting with the hand, then, let's explore the kinesphere as it concerns freestyle.
The human hand is well-suited to controlling the disc. The joints of the wrists and the digits provide the strength and flexibility to home in on the center of the disc and manipulate it in many ways. The opposable thumb makes it easy to grip the disc for a wide range of catches and throws. Our fingers are strong and nimble and our fingernails provide an ideal platform for a spinning disc.
The (pronounced with a schwa, never like "thee"). This is one of the most well-recognized forms of freestyle and is often satirized by competitive players because it's relatively easy. Hence the name "The." The hand relating to the disc, whether it is throwing, catching or manipulating, is not obstructed by any part of the body. Simply stated, you touch the disc when it's in front of you. Other forms require some sort of self-limitation, meaning restriction of the hand's range of motion. The The has some variations; for example, the flying flaming The is a reaching, diving, one-handed catch. A The catch is the simplest sort of catch, and a The delay would be a simple sort of delay. For the most part, the The does not require special effort and overuse may cost points in competition.
Hand Positions. Until now, most players have referred to the various positions of the hand in terms of "thumbs up," "thumbs down" and "inverted" or "torqued." Because of the numerous options that exist for extension and flection of the wrist and elbow, these terms are too imprecise to cover the different positions that apply to freestyle. After much investigation, I have identified eight distinct hand positions.
The Inversion Cycle provides the theoretical basis for these eight positions. Few people realize that it is possible to rotate the hand perpetually in either direction--clockwise or counterclockwise--yet freestylers take advantage of this ability in many ways. The inversion cycle can be performed with the thumb beneath the fingers or above them. For each complete movement through the cycle, the fingers will extend forward twice and backward twice before resuming their original positions. In other words, the hand revolves around twice for each whole inversion cycle.
As the illustrations show, there are four positions in which the thumb is up and four in which the thumb is down. Note that the hand is rotating clockwise in each series of pictures. I should mention that these shots were all posed and that they are only intended to represent ideal types. In practice, the limbs may be placed differently and the fingers may not be facing exactly forward or backward.
Starting with the thumb up series, I have applied the names supinated, backward supinated, forward inverted and inverted. Names for the thumb down cycle are pronated, backward pronated, hyperpronated and hypersupinated. My choice of names here is not completely arbitrary. Pronation and supination are standard anatomical words, and Johnson refers to hypersupination in his book. Inverted is a term that has been in use among players for some time. I had to invent the more awkward terms out of necessity, in order to complete the system.
The Crank. Through the entire inversion cycle, it is possible to keep one finger (usually the index finger, but sometimes the middle finger) extended above and clear of the rest of the hand. This facilitates sustained contact and controlled manipulation of the disc for delays and other tricks. By "taking you through" the crank here, you may find the inversion cycle a little easier to understand. A "rim delay" crank is illustrated further on in the book.
In its most relaxed position, the hand is at chest level, the palm faces up and the fingers extend forward (supinated). In the next position the hand drops to the side, the palm remains up, but the fingers point toward the hips. The palm continues to face up while the hand locates itself slightly back of the previous position; the fingers point straight back (inverted). The fleshy part of the wrist faces back.
The next few segments of the crank feel very constricted. The hand and fingers both extend to the side while the palm continues to face up. The hand raises up to about shoulder height and the fingers continue to rotate so that they extend up and slightly forward (forward inverted). The palm faces to the side. The fingers continue rotating so that they point back and the hand ceases to feel extreme constriction (the hand may be either pronated or backward supinated at this point, pronated being more relaxed).
Continuing the rotation in the same direction will bring the hand again to the original relaxed state (supinated). Notice that if the right hand moves in the order described above, the rotational direction is counterclockwise. If the left hand is used, the rotational direction is clockwise. The crank can just as easily be done in the reverse sequence with either hand.
Ape Factor is a way to jokingly describe a freestyler's body. The greater a person's innate physical ability to reach around the torso or limbs, the greater the ape factor. This points out that people with ectomorphic, or lanky, body frames have a real advantage. Long thin limbs and torsos allow greater clearances and wider margins for self-limited positions. Additionally, shorter people, with their lower centers of gravity, will find it easier to turn. On the other hand, larger, mesomorphic people will tend to possess greater strength, which is also important in freestyle.
Reaching under the legs and behind the body constitute the basic forms of freestyle beyond the The. Combining these various extensions with the range of possible hand positions results in many distinct freestyle forms. Regardless of the hand positions, however, the number of forms beyond the The is fairly small. There are four basic ways to reach under the legs. To those, add reaching behind the head and behind the body.
First Position extensions cause the right arm to reach over the top of the left leg and then under with the hand while the left arm and hand will relate essentially the same way to the right leg. On either side, the player has the sense of going for the disc from the outside in. Even though I call this the first position, you may not find it the easiest.
Second Position extends the right arm under the left leg or the left arm under the right, giving the player a sense of reaching from the inside out.
Third Position extends from the inside going out with the right arm under the right leg or the left arm under the left leg.
Fourth Position extends the right arm under the right leg or the left arm under the left leg from the outside going in.
If you do the leg positions sequentially you will find the order has a consistent left-to-right logic for the right arm and a right-to-left logic for the left arm. Levels of difficulty depend on how the hands and elbows are twisted, but it's safe to say that the second position permits the most extension, followed by the fourth, then the third, with the first being most constricted.
More names have been created to describe variations of the first and third positions than any others. This doesn't mean that more variations are possible; rather, the "odd" positions are harder and more intriguing, so they have generated greater interest. (The terms I've compiled will reflect West Coast freestyle. I invite my readers to submit local jargon for possible future editions.) To make these explanations less cumbersome, any reference to left or right will be based on a right-handed example. To visualize left-handed extensions simply reverse the directional references.