by Craig Simon © 1982
Correspondence
As mentioned before, there are a variety of skills that make it possible to manipulate the disc without gripping it. I call the three general types of contact striking, skating and sticking. Each corresponds to a set of points on the disc and a specific way of mechanically interacting with the disc at that point. For example, the disc can be controlled at the center by skills named tipping, delaying, and padiddling and along the lip by skills called deflection, push and roll. The distinctions between these three types of contact aren't always clearly defined, as we will see, but the concept of correspondence is very helpful and insightful.
Correspondence between methods of contact and points of contact
| Type of contact | |||
| Sticking | Striking | Skating | |
| Point of contact | |||
| Tip | Flat Delay | ||
| Center | Padiddle | Boop | Glide |
| Ditch | Zing | Rim Delay | |
| Flip-out | |||
| Cheek | Ringer | Flick-pass | Rim Delay |
| Skip (mac) | |||
| Edge | Butterfly | Fluff | Slide |
| Deflection | |||
| Lip | Body Roll | Airbrush | Push |
| Slope | Butterfly | Mac | Feather |
The Flat Nail Delay, invented in late 1974 by Kerry Kollmar of New York City, is the most important skill for freestyle. It is called the delay or the "stall" because it postpones the catch. (In some areas, players used to call it "centering".) The player lets the disc ride on his or her fingernail and controls it so that it stays horizontal, or flat. This may be done on either the top or the bottom of the disc. Nail delays are difficult to learn and easy to do. The basic motion, making circles going the same direction as the disc's spin, sounds easy enough, but it takes quite a concentrated effort to even begin to get the hang of it.
Make Circles! The trick to delays in general is to anticipate the spinning disc's wobble and use it to steer the disc where you want it to go. The first step is to control the disc in one place. As the disc rides on the nail, make circles or spirals around the center in the same direction in which the disc is spinning. As you get more control, your circles can stay closer to the disc's center. Some people start out by surrounding the center with three or more nails of the same hand. This makes the disc sit flatter, but it uses up the spin more quickly.
Experiment! The delay can be carried under the legs, behind the body, and through the entire inversion cycle. It can be angled into the wind to set up other tricks, passed off to other players, or made to do almost anything you have in mind.
The Disc is a Gyroscope As already shown, when the disc is spinning horizontally, any upward or downward force carries 90 degrees around the perimeter before it shows its maximum effect. Suppose you're trying to delay a disc that is not horizontal. Moving your finger to the lowest point to try to flatten it out won't help matters. The reason for this is that applying upward pressure at the lowest point will raise the disc a quarter turn beyond that point. Applying upward pressure a quarter turn before the lowest point would be the correct way to bring the disc to horizontal. Practically speaking, you really don't get the chance to make a single move to balance the disc; the situation is always changing. In effect, controlling the delay involves spiraling toward the lowest point without getting too far ahead of it.
Once balanced, the disc can't stay perfectly flat; it's always precessing
as friction pulls your finger away from the center and gravity takes over
to push it off-balance. Performing the flat delay requires correction after
correction. At first, you'll have to concentrate for each one. After enough
practice, making the corrections becomes natural and you'll have time to
think about more advanced moves.
Equipment for the Delay
Artificial Nails constitute the only hope that serious nail biters have to master delays. It's fortunate for guitar players and freestylers alike that our economy supports such a huge cosmetics industry. We need never want for lack of prosthetic devices. It is extremely difficult to play with short fingernails and it can even be a health hazard. Broken nails and splits are inevitable and they can be extremely severe and painful for some people.
There are two types of fake nails. The most natural looking, such as Lee Nails, are applied by mixing a powder with a glue. A thick paper form fits temporarily over the fingernail, extending straight out. The mixture is heaped on top, allowed to let dry and filed down to shape. Some players go to professional manicurists to have this type of nail put on, and they keep it on for weeks.
The most common artificial nails are plastic. They are cheaper and easier to deal with, although it is necessary to put them on more frequently. It is not that uncommon for players to wear two fake nails on the same finger, "piggyback" style, in order to reduce the risk of killing a delay.
Optimum length can be a tricky question. The Freestyle Players Association (FPA) handbook disallows nails of "unreasonable" length from competition without specifying what that length is. The longer the nails are, the easier it is to minimize accidental skin contact with the disc, which is the main reason for wearing nails. Nails that are too long, however, interfere with throwing and are more likely to break. Nails should protrude past the flesh at least 1/8 inch to eliminate skin contact at typical delay angles.
Glues. Most cosmetic nail kits provide contact cement for bonding the plastic to the fingernail. Standard procedure involves applying the glue to both surfaces, letting it dry for about 10 minutes and pressing the surfaces together. Although the contact cement works well enough for cosmetic purposes, freestyle is much more demanding and many players have turned to more powerful glues. "Weldwood" is probably the strongest brand of contact cement available, and it comes off cleanly. Cyanoacrylate glues like "Crazy Glue" work within seconds and seem to be the type that most players use. Even though they can be messy, the speed with which such glues work is very attractive. This type of glue either leaves deposits on the nail or strips the surface off, depending on the individual. If your nails have a bad reaction to it, discontinue use.
Lubrication. You might be able to get by without nails and glue, but you've got to have "slick". Armor-All was the most popular lubricating agent during the sport's early years. Pledge Furniture Polish contains essentially the same ingredients plus a pleasant fragrance. Both these products are greatly superior to an unlubricated disc, but feel thick and sluggish in comparison with aerosol silicone sprays. Krylon is by far the most popular silicone lubrication; other super performers include Amway Wonder Mist and Union Carbide's product. (WD-4O works poorly for this.) A thin coat of lube over the entire disc takes just a few seconds to spray on and wipe in, and it makes a world of difference.
----Performing the nail delay requires a "visual cue" so that you can see which direction and by how much you need to move your finger. At eye level the disc is hard to see in all its dimensions, so practice the delay above or below. Maybe you can do it blind for a moment, but not for long.
----A larger, heavier disc is easier to learn on because it keeps its momentum and is more "forgiving" of your mistakes.
----Don't forget to use lubrication.
----Keep your nails long; you might even try a sewing thimble or a guitar pick as a training aid.
----Use a disc made out of clear, rather than opaque, plastic so that you can see your finger through the disc.
Self-Start. You'll have to learn to throw the disc to yourself in order to practice. Most beginners tend to use the two-handed self-start placing the palms or fingers on opposite sides of the disc so that the disc is horizontal while the hands are vertical. Spin the disc overhead in the desired direction of rotation. One-handed self-starts take a bit more coordination, but they are more powerful and give you more spin to work with. The crossbody throws--underhand, wristflip and twister--all of which are described in the next section, are the best for this purpose.
At the beginning, you'll probably be spinning in place yourself trying to catch up with the disc as it falls off balance. By making the circles as small as possible the delay will last longer (because the nail contacts less surface while the disc rotates) and the wobble will be less pronounced (because there is less leverage potential). Learn to plant your feet, and then your elbow and then your wrist. If you can hold a delay for more than 40 seconds, you'll be doing pretty well. A good exercise for beginners is to simply hold the disc in one hand and make circles underneath it with the other. This starts the process of programming the muscles to make the delay pattern.
Native Spin is the spin that someone finds less difficult to
delay or otherwise work with. I have met quite a few individuals who simply
never realized that the disc spins left as well as right. Happily jamming
through life with right-handed backhand throwing buddies, their contentment
is finally shattered when a southpaw joins the fray or a friend learns
a left Z throw. The disc refuses to delay for our once self-assured frisbists,
extra bursts of silicone are to no avail.
The problem, of course, is that the nail delay requires the player to make circles in the same direction as the disc's rotation. Clockwise circles normally won't do the trick on a counter spinning disc. Working with only one spin for years can be habit forming. As hard as it is to learn to delay in the first place, it eventually becomes as intuitive as riding a bicycle. To learn the opposite spin, therefore, takes tremendous force of will. The sooner you can learn both directions, the more versatile your game will be and the more fun you'll be able to have.
Learning to delay both spins is the best way to go. That said, if you feel a particular direction requires far too much effort, pursue the easier course. Develop your playing style and enjoy the game. Eventually you'll get back to the challenge of the opposite spin. Also, keep in mind that freestyle is a cooperative game. Throwing good Z's in both directions is just as important as delaying them.
Natural Spin (not the same thing as Native Spin). Freestylers have spent a lot of breath debating this concept. The theory here is that counterclockwise delays are easier on the right hand while clockwise are easier on the left. Evidence for this comes from the realm of biomechanics. Hold your right hand in front of you, palm facing up. Wiggle your finger a few times clockwise, and then a few times counterclockwise. If counterclockwise is easier for you, you're part of a statistical majority. The explanation is that when the fingers close into the palm, they rotate counterclockwise in relation to the thumb. Conversely, clockwise wiggles are supposed to be easier on your left hand.
The opponents of this theory may admit the biomechanical statistics, but argue that it has little to do with nail delays. The amount of time one spends practicing, they say, will be the most critical factor. It takes considerable amounts of effort and concentration to learn to do nail delays, and this offsets the very slight differences in the direction fingers prefer to wiggle.
Natural Hand / Opposite Hand are terms I created because, in the course of researching and writing this essay, I became so firmly convinced of the Natural Spin thesis. By "Natural Hand" I mean clockwise Z's on the left hand or counterclockwise on the right. By "Opposite Hand," I mean clockwise Z's on the right hand or counterclockwise on the left. I believe these terms are useful devices for explaining advanced techniques, and I will employ them wherever appropriate.
With and Against (sometimes referred to as WTG and ATG for "with the grain" and "against the grain"). The delay may be held in each of the basic positions: The, First, Second and the rest. The delay can also be moved through these positions as well as through the inversion cycle. As shown in the concluding paragraph in the discussion of frisbie physics, it's trickier to move a spinning body around an axis opposite the direction of its own spin. For this reason, it is much more challenging for a player to move the disc through space while pivoting against the spin. It is easy to see how an inversion cycle delay can be either with or against the spin; the hand can only pivot one way or another. If the pivot is against the spin the player must make more circular corrections over the same period of time in order to keep the disc horizontal. Moving the disc under the legs or behind the back presents the same problem, although on a smaller scale. The shoulder, elbow and wrist must pivot to some degree, even if only a fraction of the full cycle. This complicates matters quite a bit during competition, because many observers are simply unaware of the with/against distinction and can't recognize that two moves may appear exactly alike, when one is more difficult since it is against the spin.
** More Continuation Skills **
Tips (or Taps). The nail delay is just one of the methods used to control the disc at its center (or near it). Tipping is another. By hitting the disc cleanly upward on the fleshy part of the fingertip, and by taking precession into account, learning to tip takes no more effort than learning to delay. It's a good idea to use different fingers of the same hand for tips and delays. The delay finger needs to have long nails, and using it for tipping risks breaking the nail and scratching the disc. Therefore, the tipping finger should have a short nail. Tips off the elbows, the knees, the shoulders, toes, heels and even the head are all fair game in freestyle. Interestingly enough, the nail delay was invented during an errant tipping sequence.
Padiddles (or Twirls). Delays and tips use up spin. In both cases, the player directs a certain amount of force upward and there is an unavoidable drag on the spin plane. padiddles, however, use friction to add momentum to the disc. They can be performed indefinitely and without looking. The disc sits slightly off center on the "pad" of the finger which pulls the disc around in circles. The principle involved is the same as the circus trick in which someone spins plates on the end of a stick. The farther cut from the center you start the pull, the faster the disc will go, but you must move faster also in order to complete a whole turn around the center. When the disc is up to speed it is possible to move the pad to the very center momentarily for a glide.
Like delays, padiddles can be controlled through the entire inversion cycle. The most well-known freestyle position employing padiddles is the Seal, which has the player lying chest down on the ground with the padiddle held behind the back. Padiddles were quite popular in freestyle competition in the late 70s, but are less so nowadays. There are two obscure games that rely on padiddling skills: Brap (Boop, Run, and Padiddle, a boop being a padiddle that is launched up into the air) and Kosmic Katastrophe (two players in a restricted area padiddle discs on both hands and try to knock the opponents' padiddles down).
As we can see, there are a variety of skills related to center control. The delay and the glide are similar in that the disc rides on the support point. Percussive movements like the tip and the boop direct the disc suddenly upward. The padiddle uses friction to add spin to the disc.
The Ringer. The "finger catch" described by the early International Frisbee Association (IFA) leaflets that came in Wham-O Frisbee packages was really the first continuation skill. Instead of grabbing the disc out of the air, the player was supposed to catch the disc overhead with just one finger placed inside the rim. The basic concept involves placing the finger against the disc's cheek and wiggling it to keep the disc gyrating around.
It's also possible to perform a ringer holding the disc vertically; this facilitates ringing the disc through the inversion cycle, around the legs or behind the body. It is even possible to do the ringer with the disc upside-down, apparently defying gravity, called puddling. To learn this, place the disc upside-down on the ground and try picking it up with just one finger using centrifugal force to keep the disc from falling. The finger can wiggle more powerfully if the other fingers are extended rather than clenched. Also, it is easier if the disc has a relatively large rim and if there is a right angle between the flight plate and the cheek. The puddle is an upside-down finger catch. Puddles are usually set up from an upside-down delays, but some players can pluck them right out of the air from throws.
Ringers can also be launched from the finger to pass the disc to other players. The hand is typically in a simple pronated or supinated position for such a launch, but it can also be done with the hand moving into or out of the inverted phase of the inversion cycle. This is called the Flip-Out. Place the middle finger of the supinated natural hand (palm up, left hand for clockwise spin) inside the rim so that it is possible to hook the disc underneath the edge. Centrifugal force will keep the disc in place as the hand "flips" it underneath the forearm and launches it forward. At the end of the flip the hand will still face palm up, but the wrist will be in the forward-inverted position. The flip-out can also be performed in the reverse direction. The flip-out is a convenient way to reaccelerate the disc when it is nearly out of spin, whether it is rolling on the ground or dropping from the air. Since the level of risk is so low, players often use it as a method of last resort, leading into air brushes or body rolls.
Body Rolls. Ken Westerfield gets the credit for inventing the body roll. In reverence of Ken and his nationality, the roll is sometimes called the "Canadian Mindblower." The roll predates the delay by several years. Nevertheless, it still provides fertile ground for experimentation.
The Chest Roll is the basic type here. The disc rolls along its lip from hand to hand, across the chest. Quite logically, a clockwise spinning disc will want to roll from left to right and a counterclockwise disc will roll from right to left. The disc can be vertical or horizontal, but it is usually angled up into the wind. This "holds it up," so to speak, and allows the player to attempt Ad Infinitum (multiple) rolls with the best chances for success. Conversely, body rolls are so difficult when facing downwind in gusty weather, they're rarely worth attempting.
To learn the basic chest roll, just like the delay, you must practice. You can set yourself practice rolls from tips, delays, well-placed short throws, or whatever works for you. Remember to keep your arms outstretched in order to make the disc follow a clean curving path with as much contact as possible along the way. It might help to experiment with other round objects like balls to get the feel of it, or to practice with an upside-down disc (because the rounded slope provides more contact).
Back Rolls and other miscellany. Since a clockwise chest roll travels from the left side to the right side, the clockwise back roll will travel from the player's right to left. A fairly vertical front roll can be made to travel along one arm, over the back of the neck, and down the other arm (you can do this by making sure the disc rides high on your arms and dropping your head forward at the proper moment). Other rolls can be made to gain altitude--for example, up the leg to the raised hand (this takes ample Z's).
Inverted Roll. This involves leaning back as if doing a limbo dance and letting the disc travel across the front of the body, so that the clockwise disc moves to the left and the counterclockwise disc moves to the right. This can be rather confusing at first, until you realize that the inverted roll is like doing a back roll in front.
50 / 50 Roll (also called the Barber Pole Roll). With the proper set up and timing it is possible to make the disc roll along one arm, completely around the neck, and back along the opposite side of the same arm.
Turbo Roll. During body rolls, the disc and the player are similar to intermeshing gears, rotating at opposite directions to each other. With most rolls, the player remains fixed or moves forward as the disc travels several feet through space, giving the disc what physicists call "translational" movement. During some advanced types of rolls, the player may turn rapidly in place or contain the rolling disc in a small area between the arms so that the disc moves less in relation to the ground as it rotates, enhancing the visual impression of rotating gears. The name Turbo Roll is appropriate here, because the player gets the sensation of charging the disc. The player must move quickly, since one of the goals is to add spin to the disc.
Airbrush. (It appears that the airbrush was invented by Spider Wills, who is also credited with inventing tipping.) During an airbrush, the hand contacts the lip of the disc with the express purpose of adding spin. Brushing can be done below the waist, overhead and with the hand positioned in any number of ways. For the novice, challenge of brushing is to control the disc so that it is almost horizontal and spinning rapidly enough to sustain a delay. At the state-of-the-art level, players are integrating brushes with rolls.
Learning to brush. You should strike the disc going the same direction as the spin. Be prepared to run a lot. The farther you have to reach to brush the disc, the greater the risk Involved, so get under the disc. For beginners, typical mistakes range from a swing and a miss to slapping the disc so high that the wind takes it and carries it away. Keep your eyes on your target and work on adding spin. Airbrushing often tends to force the disc into a more vertical attitude, so it helps to have some facility with rim delays (coming up soon).
There are many different styles of brushing, but the most effective has been called the chop, bash, or psychobash. In this case, the natural hand (right hand for counterclockwise) swings past the head with the fingers pointing up. The action is similar to throwing a football, with the hand slicing forward past the ear. A psychobash is also a dramatic way for a receiver to deal with a fast moving, head high throw, hitting it so that its forward velocity abruptly stops and its spin increases. Again, as with body rolls, airbrushing is much easier when the disc is nose-up into the wind.
As a skill, brushing does not fit neatly into the Correspondence matrix. It is obviously percussive, as names like chop and bash suggest, but it clearly relies on friction to accelerate the disc. Likewise, the Turbo Roll has a percussive feel.
Guide. It is possible to delay the disc along its lip by letting it ride on the skin of the hand or the nails. Over a sustained period of time, this is called a push, because the player has the sensation of pushing the disc into the wind. The nails are obviously more effective for longer lasting pushes, but this calls for much more precision than it takes to let the disc ride in the curved palm. Deflections are an abbreviated sort of guide in which the disc is gently batted on the edge. The batting may be done slowly so that there is some pushing involved, but the disc is usually close to horizontal and the wind's role in keeping the disc elevated is not as crucial. The deflection often precedes a reaching or a turning catch, but other types of tricks may follow. The point is to add difficulty to a move by extending the arm somehow to make the deflection and then extending a different way to make the catch.
Skip or Bounce. Not only is it possible to throw the disc so that it leaps up from the ground, it's also possible to position the body so that the disc skips off the limbs. Consider the example of a disc flying straight toward you. You can position the arms and legs or even the back so that the disc hits you on its edge somewhere between its nose and its skip shoulder. Precisely where is a function of the circumstances--the disc's velocity, attitude, and where you want it to go. Obviously, this is much easier if the disc is flying with its skip shoulder down.
Be careful when skipping a high velocity flight. The disc could deal quite a blow to the body if it hit straight on. The fact is, percussive moves like tipping, airbrushing and skipping can be painful, especially for the beginner, who is likely to make more errors and receive more bruises and blood blisters. Stay alert while playing, and remember that fleshy parts of the body are safer than the bony parts for percussive moves.
Sliding. You can see how this works by spinning the disc and setting one edge down on a hardwood floor or some other relatively smooth surface. (In practice, as the disc is closer to vertical, the sliding occurs at the lip.) For a few moments the disc will seem to stand in place, precessing slowly, until friction takes over and the disc starts to roll. (With enough forward momentum, a throw which skates long distances can be made to mark out shapes like a "C," an "S," or a "?". Throws of this type are named Roundhouses.) Freestylers exploit this phenomenon to control the disc while it behaves in this manner while riding on the body. Lubrication is critical here; working up a healthy sweat helps tremendously.
Samurai generally refers to sliding the disc up one side and down the other on the same arm. The name arises from the fluidity and understated power of the movement. Starting near the back of the wrist, a clockwise spinning disc could slide along the back of the right arm up to the shoulder. By swinging the arm to the right at the proper moment, the player can carry the disc over the top to the inside of the arm, and friction will pull it back toward the hand. Note that the disc would follow essentially the same path if it were rolling. The Samurai is another one of those hard-to-classify moves because there is usually some rolling involved and because the contact shifts between the edge and the lip. The more the disc slides than rolls, however, the more it will precess, providing a stunning visual effect.
Fluff refers to hitting the disc upward on several points of the edge at the same time, using one or both arms. Like a skip, a fluff is percussive, but the disc's attitude is not likely to change.
Up to now, in our survey of continuation techniques, we have considered several rows and columns of the Correspondence Table, beginning with the different types of contact at the disc's center, then moving on to look at various types of skills that relied on Sticking, and following with a survey of skills performed at the lip and edge.
We have already discussed Sticking and Striking on the cheek--ringers and in-flips. What about Sliding? Here we have to stretch the Correspondence Matrix a little and accept an analogy between the cheek and the ditch.
Rim Delay. A rim delay is different from a flat delay because the finger is placed in the ditch (the junction between the rim and the flight-plate) so that the disc rides at an angle. The simplest type of rim delay--a The rim delay--involves holding the hand vertically and about head high so that the disc can precess around it without bumping into the skin of the finger or any other part of the body.
It helps to work with long nails and a lubricated disc, but rim delays require considerably more Z's than flat delays. During a rim delay, each revolution of the disc involves more contact with the plastic than flat delays would, because the nail travels a greater distance on the disc's surface. While flat delays can last over a minute, rim delays will reach 15 seconds at best.
Precession is much easier to observe during a rim delay than during a flat delay. The disc will tilt down and start to precess around the support point until it runs out of spin. What's interesting about this is that the disc doesn't tilt straight down (as it would if it weren't spinning). Even though gravity pushes the unsupported side of the disc toward the ground, angular momentum carries that force with the spin, so the disc slowly wobbles. As friction slows the spin, the precessional wobble speeds up until the spin stops altogether.
The Crank. You may recall from our discussion of Isaac Newton that a spinning body's axis traces out a cone as it precesses. It's possible to sustain a rim delay so that the player is at the center of this cone. By turning at the proper rate, going the same direction as the disc's spin, the disc will precess just once per turn, but from the player's point of view, it will maintain its angle without precessing (This is good practice for the beginner). By the same principle, rim delays can be made to orbit through the entire inversion cycle, pivoting around the player's hand. Many freestyle moves take advantage of this property, controlling the disc through segments of the inversion cycle, carrying the delay into and out of various self-limited forms.
Half-Crank. The first half of the crank, from the supinated to the inverted phase, is very useful for moving the disc from the Opposite to the Natural side of the body out of self-limited forms. By this I mean moving a clockwise disc from left to right or a counterclockwise spinning disc from right to left. This is often used to carry the disc from behind the back to the front, or to carry it out of a flamingo.
Swoop refers to a rim delay in the supinated position that may be swept under the legs, behind the body, or across the chest. Most of the pivot occurs at the shoulder, rather than the wrist or the elbow. Since it is so much easier to move with the spin, Natural hand rim delays often begin in the supinated position-- the very beginning of the inversion cycle. Therefore, left-handed or right-handed swoops require, in turn, clockwise or counterclockwise spin. The swoop is not the same as the rim delay described in the previous paragraph because, in this case, the wrist does not invert.
Scoop is a term I created for a rim delay that starts along the inverted phase of the inversion cycle and then travels toward the supinated position. Again, in order to work with the spin, the scoop should start on the Opposite hand.
The Draw is similar to the scoop in that it describes a rim delay on the Opposite hand from the inverted to the supinated phase of movement, but the draw "pulls" the disc from the Natural side. This facilitates moving a clockwise spinning disc from left to right, especially from self-limited positions such as the Flamingo, and from behind the back (as shown).
Zing. It is possible to launch a rim delay into the air as a way of passing it around the body or to another player. Simply wait for the disc to precess around until it points the direction you want it to travel, move the finger in that direction and let the disc go. The zing sets up rolls, airbrushes, and other moves where it helps to have the disc at an angle.
Lift is a move invented by Dan Roddick that preceded the delay by several years. By modern nomenclature the same movement might be called a forward zing. Its purpose was to angle the nose of the disc up in order to facilitate body rolls or airbrushing. Note that "lift" implies a raising of the nose; to be mechanically correct, this skill relied on a controlled dropping of the tail. The lift usually followed a series of tips. At the chosen time, instead of poking at the center, the player's finger would aim at the ditch close to whatever point he or she wanted to lift, allowing for the direction of spin. If clockwise, the finger curved in from the left; if counterclockwise, it curved in from the right. As the disc began to settle down the finger would move up and forward, hooking in the ditch and then projecting the disc away to set up the next move.
Flick-Pass. This move is similar to a Finger Throw, in that the finger is placed in the cheek and gyrates the disc around until it is launched, but this move is more like a zing, because it starts out as delay and because the finger is against the cheek for just a moment.
007. Rim delays have been performed during somersaults and one-handed cartwheels. If you stop to consider the possibilities for self-limitation and multiply them by the number of different hand positions and multiply all this by the different ways of standing and kneeling, you'll realize that it could take another book this size to explain them all. As far as I have been able to find out, only one of these variations already has a name, and it is one of the most bizarre moves in freestyle. The originator of the 007, Connie Bond, was the 1981 Women's Freestyle Champion and particularly limber--a very important quality to complete this move. The hand reaches straight back between the legs, hooks the ditch to start the rim delay, and then carries the disc around to the side and to the front, keeping the appropriate leg raised in order to let the hand pass under it. By my nomenclature, this Natural hand rim delay involves the segment of the crank from the inverted to the forward inverted positions, moving from out of the third position. Ideally, you want to stand straight while doing this.
Invertigo is the name I've given to a variation of the 007 that's similar, but much easier. Let the Natural hand pass under the leg as the rim delay transits from the inverted to the forward inverted segment of the crank. As the fingers start to extend forward, raise a leg to let the disc pass underneath. (This may lead into either the fourth or second positions, depending upon which arm/leg combination you use.) The Invertigo may start in front of the body, but I often start from behind the back or from the fourth position.
Whirling Dervish. Holding a rim delay while physically turning the same direction of the disc's spin is not very difficult, and is fun to do, too, because you flow along with the precession. A Whirling Dervish requires that you spin the other way. The name here is inspired by the wild visual effects that result from speeding up the disc's precession.
Claw. This term refers to multiple-finger rim delays, usually going against the spin. Even if you're doing a crank with the spin, it's not easy to keep the disc from bumping into your skin. When the limbs pivot opposite the disc's spin, the rate of precession increases and the margins for error are hair thin. Unless the player goes to extraordinary lengths bending the wrist and the fingers, an against the spin rim delay will immediately bump into the player's limbs and kill the delay. It's possible to prevent the disc from precessing and force it to travel against the spin by spreading several fingers inside of the ditch. The thumb as well as the index and middle fingers all work to keep the disc in place. The name "claw" appropriately describes the sensation of such a delay.
Turnover. Chris Taylor, who first thought of the idea, spent six months working on it before his first success in 1977. The basic principle involves forcing the disc to precess through the vertical plane so that the upside-up disc becomes upside-down and vice-versa. From the player's perspective, a 180 degree shift in the disc's spin plane effectively changes the direction in which it rotates (of course, it doesn't stop and go the other way--the change results from a new point of view). To master the turnover it's necessary to master delays of either direction.
The simplest kinds of turnovers switch the disc between hands as it passes through vertical. To move the disc from the Natural hand, it is easiest to press down near 12 (thinking of the disc as a clock, with 12 at the point furthest from you), with the Opposite hand, or else the two hands will get crossed up. For example, if the disc is spinning counterclockwise on the right hand, pressing down at 12 with the left hand forces 9 down. As the disc reaches vertical, the left hand presses toward the right, forcing the lowermost side up. The right hand may press down somewhere around the new 11, acting as a couple with the left hand to bring the disc toward horizontal. In this situation, the fingers do cross somewhat, with the disc between them, but both hands have convenient access to the disc.
In the opposite case, if the disc is spinning counterclockwise on the right hand and the left hand presses down at 6, 3 comes down. The left hand would have to press left under the right hand in order to finish the turnover. Obviously, this is not a very comfortable position. For the same reasons, it is easier to turnover the disc from the Opposite hand to the Natural hand by pressing near 6. Two-handed turnovers can be performed under the legs, behind the back and even shared between two people. The same principles apply whether the disc starts out upside-up or upside-down. Some players have even learned how to substitute an elbow for the top hand, or a foot for the bottom.
One-handed Turnovers. There are at least three types that are performed in the ditch; the other is performed on the slope. Two of them begin with a rim delay on the index or middle finger of the supinated Natural hand, like the start of a swoop. The first involves lifting the thumb into the ditch and pressing the heel of the palm against the edge so that the whole hand forces the disc through vertical. In the second, the player runs in a closing spiral going the same direction as the disc. This acceleration produces a torque that moves the disc through vertical.
Whippersnapper. This trick was invented by Randy Silvey, but the name comes from Don Daniels). The newest one-handed turnover is performed rather quickly, making it quite dramatic. Like the others, this turnover begins on the Natural hand, but it is not like a swoop, because the rim opposite the hand must be tilted up rather than down. Therefore it is rather difficult to set this move up from a rim delay; instead, it must follow a well-placed throw or airbrush. Starting with the finger in the ditch as close as possible to 6, move the hand out to the side of the body (the left hand goes left, etc.) and up, bringing the disc to vertical. The finger then moves from the ditch, spiraling toward the center, at the same time accelerating the hand back across the body and down. Considering the disc's angle at the start of the move, this is nearly a 270 degree turnover.
Feather. Another advanced turnover requires the use of just one hand while the disc is angled nose up into the wind. Since the disc experiences lift as the air flows past it, you don't need to hold it up until it turns past vertical. The move begins as a simple nail guide on the disc's lip. The fingers move up the rim to apply downward pressure on the slope, and continue moving toward the center of the disc while it moves through vertical to an upside-down position. Pressing down exactly at 6 will turn the disc sideways, so apply the force to the plastic at a point slightly ahead of 6 (say, 6:30 for counterclockwise and 5:30 for clockwise). In this way, feathering will increase the angle of attack and keep the disc suspended in the wind until it approaches vertical.
Braineater. The principle is similar to a feather, but the braineater is not a complete turnover. Angle the disc into the wind, but you press against a good portion of the slope and the flight plate with the back of the Opposite hand, instead of touching a precise point with the fingernail of either hand. The idea is to turn the disc over as far as vertical and then roll the slope over the back of the hand into the palm (note that this could lead into a butterfly). By this time, the disc will be completely out of spin and benign in the hand, facing back toward you. Snapping properly against the lip to reaccelerate the disc will bring it back to horizontal, upside-up, very close to your head.
You may have noticed that we moved from the ditch to the slope during the discussion on turnovers. The single remaining continuation skill is also performed at the slope.
Mac is an acronym for "'Midflight Attitude Change," which means hitting the disc on top, somewhere within the quarter that includes the trailing edge and the roll shoulder. This produces the same effect on precession as a skip, but requires a quicker, lighter touch. Logically speaking, a skip is also a mac, because it produces the same change in attitude, adding Mung, but mac is taken to mean a brief, usually percussive, contact on top of the flying disc. Macs are used to set up delays, rolls, and brushes, but as we'll see later, they're most appropriate for passing the disc to other players.
That covers the basic skills of freestyle, with just a taste of the variety that's possible. It remains to be seen how we start the disc spinning, and what the different styles of play are.