Zip Tip #4: Bring Your Disc

Carry around a frisbee while you walk from class to class or while sitting and watching TV and just mess around with it. One might say, “well spinning a disc on your finger or flipping it and catching it with one hand don’t actually ever come up in ultimate.” To this I respond: soccer players who can juggle the ball well are always very good at trapping and the harlem globetrotters are still nasty ballers. You will be better if you are very comfortable with a disc in your hands.

Jarrod

Zip Tip #3: Backhand Power

To improve the power you have on your backhand throws, find a partner and stand about 10-15 yards apart. Throw on the backhand side, but keep your legs planted at a little wider than shoulder width. You can do a trunk-twist type motion to throw and this will work a lot on your arm mechanics and force you to put good spin on the disc (rotation=stability). After about 10 minutes of this you can step across with your right leg as you normally would and your throwing power and stability should be dramatically increased. When you begin to step across try not to change your arm motion, just add power from your lower body.

Cheers!

Jarrod

Zip-Tip #2: Always be Moving

As some of you may know, I am very big fan of acronyms. Todays; ABM, always be moving, both on D and on O. This serves three purposes. 1) When you are playing d you should always have an eye on your man, but sometimes it is very helpful to be able to check upfield and see whats going on. If your man (or you) has his hands on his hips then a good defender (or your defender) will have a chance to check. 2) For your man to be absolutely beat towards the end of a hell point on the fourth game of the tournament and look up and see you bobbing and jumping is absolutely devastating. you've already gotten the D at that point. 3) The best O cutters are always moving; as soon as a play develops they are ready to react, often quicker than their defender because they were already in motion (why do you think they call false starts in football?)

Cheers,

Jarrod

Zip Tips!

For those of you who haven't heard of him, Joshua "Zip" Ziperstein is a former Brown University Ultimate superstar who led the Brownian Motion team to the UPA College Open Quaters (2003), Semis (2004) and finally the National Championship in 2005.While playing with Brownian Motion, he was also a member of DoG (Death or Glory).

He continued to play with DoG until 2006 when he moved to Georgia where he began his career with Chain Lightning. From 2007-now they represent one of the strongest open level ultimate frisbee clubs in the world. They went to UPA Open semi-finals twice, won in 2009, and had a 4th place finish at the WGCC in Prague last year.


Joshua "Zip" Ziperstein (Region Freshman of the Year 2002, All-Region Team 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, Callahan Award Winner 2005, UPA College Open Champion, Team USA (mixed) World Champion 2006, UPA Club Open Champion 2009, Chain Lightning co-Captain)

Why am I telling you all this? Because he put out a ton of what were dubbed "Zip-tips". Basically general ultimate advice from as close to a pro as it gets. So this is not just from some guy on the sidelines or a theoretical coach, he's a been-there done-that guy sharing how he picks on his competition.

Zip-Tip #1: Catch Both Ways

When throwing on the green or when warming up make sure to catch "both ways." Alternate catching with your right hand versus your left hand on top of the pancake. For good throws, this doesnt make much of a difference, but if an errant throw is to the right of your body, it will be easier to catch left on top, and the same goes for the other side, but switched. The more comfortable you are catching both ways, the more natural it will be for you to catch with the correct orientation. I guarantee your drops will go down if you work on this.

Cheers,

Jarrod