USA Ultimate

Catching The Pull & Transitions

by Nancy Sun

Catching The Pull
Mentally, catching the pull is often thought of as being a job that one can only mess up, but the flip side is to think of it as an opportunity for a team to jump start its offense. The seconds saved by catching the pull help to get the offense in motion before the defense can set. I think of three main steps when catching the pull: 

1. Anticipation. Learn about the opposing team's pullers, especially focusing on the distance of their pulls and angle of the throw (I/O or O/I are the predominant favorites). Obviously prior game experience will help, but this can be learned during the course of a game just as easily. 

2. Reading and Decision Making. For the pulls that I am going to catch, I try to get my body to where I can catch the disc at chest height. I turn to face the direction of its incoming path. For whatever reason I might decide not to catch the pull (for example it is raining and/or the disc is coming in at a really steep angle) I will get my body to where I think the disc is going to be easiest to pickup and throw right away. This is easy for a floating pull that settles nicely to the ground, but for a roller, anticipating the roll and getting to the right spot can be tricky. 

3. Execution. I want to pancake the pull at chest height and close to my body. I focus on keeping my hands at 90 degree angles to each other (as opposed to parallel) to eliminate misalignment and the chance that the disc might flip out of my hands. 

Transition From Catching To Throwing
The ability to catch and throw as quickly as possible is often undervalued as a handler attribute. Fortunately, it is easy to practice because it can be worked on as part of any throwing drill by trying to catch and release as fast as you can. 

Getting your feet into a balanced throwing position should be done simultaneous to catching. Tenths of a second can be the difference between hitting the swing or having the mark come on to prevent you from hitting the swing.(Sidebar: from playing the Japanese women at Worlds, this was something that they all seemed to excel at). As a right-handed thrower, I mostly pancake with my right hand on top so that sliding into a backhand grip is very quick. Coming out of the pancake, right-hand on top is also the most natural and secure motion for me to enter into my forehand grip.