Pancake: Left or Right hand on top?

[torre.hargett]

When going for that simple chest high pass, is your left or right hand on top ? and why? does it change depending on what side of your body the disc is?


*edit* changed the wording in the poll. dominate hand on top or dominate hand on bottom. */edit*

[kenkam3]

I think I use both. It depends on if there's a slight angle.

This is just a pet peeve of mine, but why do some people prefer to catch a straight on disc on the sides with the “little alligator” method? It just seems so limiting to me with the small window of the hand they have to catch in. Why get in the habit of that when you can’t use it to catch a disc coming in from the side of you? And you can forget catching a roller coaster disc in the wind like that. The only time for the “little alligator” is for layouts or skys, when reach is needed. Everything else should be pancake in my opinion. Use pancake. PANCAKE! :D
My other pet peeve is use of the word "Frisbee"....... It's a Disc .. unless it's whamo but you can't play Ultimate with a whamo duhh

Ken Kaminski
Kettnetic Thunder (http://kettneticthunder.com)

[torre.hargett]

I think I use both. It depends on if there's a slight angle.

This is just a pet peeve of mine, but why do some people prefer to catch a straight on disc on the sides with the “little alligator” method? It just seems so limiting to me with the small window of the hand they have to catch in. Why get in the habit of that when you can’t use it to catch a disc coming in from the side of you? And you can forget catching a roller coaster disc in the wind like that. The only time for the “little alligator” is for layouts or skys, when reach is needed. Everything else should be pancake in my opinion. Use pancake. PANCAKE! :D
My other pet peeve is use of the word "Frisbee"....... It's a Disc .. unless it's whamo but you can't play Ultimate with a whamo duhh

Ken Kaminski
Kettnetic Thunder (http://kettneticthunder.com)

after reading your post i was practically sweating thinking i had used "Frisbee" on accident. and technically, you could play Ultimate with a Wham-O if you so desired right? the captain/td clause allows for any changes to be made, right?

as far as catching goes, i've tried and tried and tried and still don't feel comfortable with my dominate hand on bottom(something i am currently trying to change again). i find most typically on contested in cuts i have my left(off) hand as a mini-gator on the bottom and my right (dominate hand) as a pancake on top- allowing me to each the disc sooner and keep 2 hands on it...however in the wind i'm much more likely to use a straight up pancake.

[rrudnic]

I think I use both. It depends on if there's a slight angle.

This is just a pet peeve of mine, but why do some people prefer to catch a straight on disc on the sides with the “little alligator” method? It just seems so limiting to me with the small window of the hand they have to catch in. Why get in the habit of that when you can’t use it to catch a disc coming in from the side of you? And you can forget catching a roller coaster disc in the wind like that. The only time for the “little alligator” is for layouts or skys, when reach is needed. Everything else should be pancake in my opinion. Use pancake. PANCAKE! :D
My other pet peeve is use of the word "Frisbee"....... It's a Disc .. unless it's whamo but you can't play Ultimate with a whamo duhh

Ken Kaminski
Kettnetic Thunder (http://kettneticthunder.com)


You actually stated why you should use the "alligator" catch in your own post. Its because you have greater reach than with the pancake catch. Its essentially the more aggresive or attacking way to catch in my mind. If I am even the slightest bit covered or the throw contested I will catch that way in order to get hold of the disc any bit faster than I would with a pancake catch.

As for the topic dominant hand on top always, don't know why just the way I'm comfortable I guess.

[kenkam3]

after reading your post i was practically sweating thinking i had used "Frisbee" on accident. and technically, you could play Ultimate with a Wham-O if you so desired right? the captain/td clause allows for any changes to be made, right?

No you didn't use it lol sorry about that, wasn't directed towards you, you got it right!


as far as catching goes, i've tried and tried and tried and still don't feel comfortable with my dominate hand on bottom(something i am currently trying to change again). i find most typically on contested in cuts i have my left(off) hand as a mini-gator on the bottom and my right (dominate hand) as a pancake on top- allowing me to each the disc sooner and keep 2 hands on it...however in the wind i'm much more likely to use a straight up pancake.

I'm not sure it matters to much how someone catches it, just as long as they focus enough to make it happen. In the long run it becomes second nature, but I just went to examine and I'll catch left hand on top when the top of the disc faces more left, and catch right hand on top when the top of the disc faces more right. Makes sense just cause the hands have an easier way of getting on those sides.

[kenkam3]

You actually stated why you should use the "alligator" catch in your own post. Its because you have greater reach than with the pancake catch. Its essentially the more aggresive or attacking way to catch in my mind. If I am even the slightest bit covered or the throw contested I will catch that way in order to get hold of the disc any bit faster than I would with a pancake catch.

As for the topic dominant hand on top always, don't know why just the way I'm comfortable I guess.

Yea but I wouldn't use both hands to get an extra reach, just my right. I just mean during warm-up or a hard cut I see people using small alligators to catch on the sides of the disc, and they'll drop a lot more often. Maybe cause that catch is easier on the hands? I just think pancake has the most potential for the standard catch you can always count on. But yea it shouldn't be used in all scenarios.

[muisyle]

Parinella on Claw Catch vs Pancake: http://parinella.blogspot.com/2006/04/claw-vs-pancake.html

[kyle.weisbrod]

I teach all of my players the claw/rim catch. You have greater reach and it is more difficult for a defender to get a D as they would essentially have to foul you to get to the disc. The clap/pancake catch gives defenders a clear look at a block. There are some specific situations where the clap is preferable (wind, not under any pressure) and in those cases I don't think the position of the hands matters too much, but throwing hand on the bottom allows for a quicker transition to the throwing grip. I can imagine that right hand on the bottom when pressured from the right side and left hand on the bottom when pressured from the left side would help shield a defender some, but if you're practicing switching hands for that reason it probably makes the most sense to just practice your rim catch.

As for the word "frisbee" I've gotten over it. I use it interchangeably with "disc" although I probably use "disc" more often. Using "frisbee" makes the game more accessible to outsiders. For the large majority of people a disc is a frisbee like a tissue is a Kleenex. And yes, I use "Kleenex" for any facial tissue.

[kenkam3]

Just to clarify my thoughts on catches that should be used more often.
One-hand claw > Pancake > Two-hand claw
My original post didn't clarify the one-hand and two-hand method difference I suppose. I strongly agree with the reach of the claw, but some players don't use that reach and prefer to catch with a hand on each side right next to their chest. That's what I was talking about originally and a lot of drops come from that.

And I've gotten better at making it seem like the word "frisbee" doesn't bug me, but I make my players say disc. Saying frisbee makes me feel like a hippie's child. But I can agree with it being needed to explain to outsiders. I'll say "I play Ultimate" first and then when they're confused I'll say "Ultimate Frisbee". I just have to remember to say that the first time even though I don't like what the word frisbee does to the perception of Ultimate.

[ambler]

A one-handed catch on the rim of the disc (claw catch) has a slightly better reach than a two-handed claw catch because the body can extend further with one arm than two. However, in my experience, getting two hands on the disc decreases the chance that the disc will either spin out of your grip or bounce out of your hand. Especially if a cutter is running hard onto a disc and shouldn't pancake the pass because of defensive pressure, using a two-handed claw catch is a safer bet for catching it than just using one hand. If a receiver can get to the disc with two hands, that is always what I would recommend.

[kenkam3]

A one-handed catch on the rim of the disc (claw catch) has a slightly better reach than a two-handed claw catch because the body can extend further with one arm than two. However, in my experience, getting two hands on the disc decreases the chance that the disc will either spin out of your grip or bounce out of your hand. Especially if a cutter is running hard onto a disc and shouldn't pancake the pass because of defensive pressure, using a two-handed claw catch is a safer bet for catching it than just using one hand. If a receiver can get to the disc with two hands, that is always what I would recommend.

Alright maybe i'm having a little difficulty explaining the bad technique I see often. But yea two hands are always better than one, it's just a difficult topic to put a label on when there's so many different situations. Practice makes perfect, right? :)

[torre.hargett]

Practice makes perfect, right? :)

wrong. practice makes permanent.
perfect practice makes perfect.

[kenkam3]

wrong. practice makes permanent.
perfect practice makes perfect.

haha very true. You know what I mean though.

[amyjared]

I always taught folks dominant hand underneath because it seemed like it was a quicker way to get control and to throw the disc if your dominant hand was closer to where you grip it for a throw...