Sidearm tips

Things to work on to develop sidearm velocity:

1. A strong finger grip against the wall of the rim with your finger pads. Usually this is the index and middle finger pads. This can be done several ways and there are sites with pictures to help you here. The important thing is to use the pads directly into the wall and not the side of the fingers.

2. Use as quick of a whipping action as you can. Keep your arm loose for as long as you can.

3. The whipping action should cause the weight of the disc to pivot around where you are gripping, and rip itself from your grip. This is substantially aided by your wrist motion. When your wrist stops, the disc rips out. A really quick wrist motion to a steely stop will produce the best results. This must be in concert with a good strong grip controlled by your thumb.

4. Power comes from your shoulder turn, but the main acceleration, power transfer, and resultant velocity come from the whip which is your arm, wrist, disc pivot and grip.

5. Until you develop an efficient whip, there is no point to developing more power. It will just make you sore and tired. Any loss of quickness in the whip or slip in the grip will fail to transfer power into acceleration and escape velocity.

6. You don't have to pull through your whip with your shoulder at maximum speed, but you do need to pull with maximum power as the disc is being ejected. This should cause you to take a pivot step to follow through just like a properly thrown backhand.

7. A loose bent elbow is easier to produce a whip with than a non bent tight elbow. However, just like pitching, there are different styles that work for different people. The rubber arm technique is most efficient, least tiring, and least physical.

good luck

[DaveD]

I edited my original post to include a very important fact about the power and control of a sidearm that I had previously omitted. Although the sidearm does pop off the pads (not the side) of the fingers, the power and timing of that pop is controlled by opposing thumb pressure. The thumb pressure acts like a rim trap that holds the disc from escaping until you want. Without sufficient opposing thumb pressure, it would be very difficult to compact and time the acceleration of the whip and develop a powerful throw. Once you have your fingers in place, you can almost ignore them and concentrate on thumb pressure for the timing and power.

When you have developed sufficient acceleration, you may need to fine tune your release to avoid flutter or off axis torque. This can be accomplished by a slight supination (rolling clockwise for righties) of the wrist through the snap.

[C]

Great tips. I need to develop a precise side arm, it is going to be a great addition to my arsenal. My buddie can sidearm over 200 feet. It seems like every other shot breaks off to the left and turns into a roller, it is very aggrevating!

[david k. reisner]

mahalo for the tips , i have been experimenting with less power /more whip and it has added alot of distance to my R H F H throws.

[Mikey]

this was very helpfull, i really need to work on my sidearm game

[spiderwoman]

Sweet. Thanks for the tips. This will definitely give me a little more direction for improvement.

[joe p barnett]

thanks for the tips i have been shooting sidearm due to an injury on my shoulder and i can`t throw my disc`s any other way