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Teaching Catching: Two Drills
by Lou Burruss
It is a common misperception that catching cannot be taught. Learning how to catch comes down to repetition and focus. Here are two quick drills for teaching new players to catch and for honing experienced players' skills.
The first drill (unnamed) involves two people and ten (or more) discs. The players (thrower and catcher) stand about two yards apart. The thrower tosses disc after disc to the catcher. The thrower should place the discs so that the catcher is forced to catch high, low, left, right, one- and two-handed. Then switch the thrower and catcher. Repeat.
The second drill, called Throwing 100s, is a small piece of Kung Fu Throwing. Stand about two yards away from your partner and start throwing a disc back and forth as fast as you can. Don't change your grip and move the location of your throws around, just as in the first drill. Complete 100 throws each. It's fun to run this as a race at practice. (Start over if you drop one).
Developing and maintaining focus is a huge topic and one that deserves its own column, but I'll leave you with a couple thoughts. Practice how you want to play on game day. If you don't extend to catch a disc in warm ups, you probably won't extend in a game either. And always remember what my dad, Bill Burruss, taught me: "If you touch it, you should catch it."
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Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 |
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