Totally Epic FlashJam 2020 #1

Not Your Normal, Everyday Flash Jam

A normal Jam in a Flash has been 5 tricks, much like a card game. 5 Card Stud is the originally Jam in a Flash game. 5 tricks drawn in order, assembled and played out in 5 reps – 4 reps with waits and 1 rep of live speed play.

A normal Flash Jam often winds up with 5 Set Up MovesSet Up Moves are tricks that are used to establish timing and position in disc dog freestyle. Traditional tricks include: Around, Through, Backwards Through, and Scoot, but any or all of your tricks,... More, which is cool for learning, but sometimes rough on the dog and handler if there are not enough disc play involved. We’re not dog dancing out here…

Tesla Style – 3 or 6 Throws

3 and 6 Throw Sequences guarantee that not all of the tricks will be Set Up Moves. There will be at least 3 or 6 throws. This encourages players to keep all their Set Up Moves in play and to experiment with putting those moves together in interesting and novel ways.
A 3 Throw Flash Jam will probably be pretty short and sweet, or at most a 5 or six trick sequence. This places the focus on linking tricks. A 6 Throw Flash Jam is likely to be much longer and more about FlowFlow is a key component of the modern day disc dog game. Keeping your dog moving with seamless, ever moving and flowing sequences with little to no set up time is the goal... More and getting set up. GiveThe Give is a retrieve to the hand. A cued Give is a foundational skill that is not super useful in the actual performance of disc dog freestyle, and has huge applications for... More each a try.

The Lesson

Every Jam in a Flash yields at least 1 lesson. This jam delivered 3 good lessons:

Separate Jazz and Epic Vault

I do a Jazz VaultThe dog uses the player´s body as a launching pad to jump for a disc. A Vault is a leaping catch from the handler’s body. The dog leaves the ground for the target... More (the one I was supposed to do) which is a somewhat standard reverse back vault with a lefty Jazz throw delivery – I should be standing up and Eppie should be vaulting off my hip or my lower back.

I also do an Epic Vault with the same throw, but it’s inverted and nasty. I’m leaning over and he vaults off my right shoulder.

In all the reps in this jam, except for the first one, I was caught between the two vaults in terms of position. I need to make sure I am doing one or the other. Conflating these two vaults and their positions is all but guaranteed to be unsuccessful.

Vault to Flank with Front Cross

This was an unexpected foundational lesson. I just did a vault to flank lesson on the blog and a few months ago I learned a very similar lesson when revisiting an old Flash Jam.

Using the Front CrossOn a Front Cross, your dog switches Flanks in with you in front of them. From Clock to Counter Clockwise Flank or vice versa. Taken directly from the canine agility world, the Front... More after the vault asks the dog to pay attention to the handler and look for connection with the handler after the vault and gives the handler greater control over the release from vaults.

A few reps of this and your dog should land and look for the flatwork hook up.

Rut Counter to Clock Flip

There is something about this trick that is interesting. I’ve got to give it some thought. It’s a very interesting move, and I’m not sure how it works or what it means, but I’m going to be looking into it…

The Jam

Most people look to Jam in a Flash to create bold and fresh new sequences – stuff completely out of the box that is super sweet. Not every draw yields a sweet sequence. But many draws yield sweet pieces of sequences or super useful movements between tricks if you’re looking for them.

Thru Clock to Counter Vault

This is most likely a very standard set up move for many people. Not for me though. The Counter Clock Back Vault is not really my jam – I like to go clock on this move. So this movement is not in my quiver of tricks.

Putting them together in this jam was both a great lesson and super useful for our jam.

Vault to Front Cross

The Vault to FrontFront is a stable position directly in front of the handler. Front is an traditional obedience skill. Usually your dog sits in this position, but standing is often acceptable as well, especially in... More CrossA Cross is an canine agility term that describes a change of working sides. Your dog moves from your left to your right (Heel to Side) or from Clock to Counter. Crosses are... More is super smooth and emotive. I really like it. Pulling the dog off the standard release after a vault will be quite useful. I think it will get much play in our game in the future.

Rut Counter to Flip Clock

I see this move becoming a Counter Clock Rut n Flip. The Set Up Move and flip will combine to become one trick. It’s both a variation of a Mo Move and a complex Set Up Move.

I’m excited to play around with it.

Jazz to Jakie Twist

The Jazz Vault, a move we’re stealing from Tzahi, an Israeli jammer, is pretty sweet. The JakieThe Jakie is a trick where the dog intercepts the disc on the way to the handler's body and then uses the handler's body to safely and stylishly flip to land the trick.... More Twist will fall right into place with it. These two tricks together are a keeper.

In addition to the sweet new 2 trick move, the concept of a Rebound to Jakie, something Loot and I are familiar with will be happening in Epic’s game too. It’s funny that we have not used this sequence before…

Reverse Leg Vault to Sidearm

The Sidearm after the Rebound is real nice. It’s cool making a throw while looking into Eppie’s giant eyes as he’s wrapping up the reboundA Reverse Vault is a vault in which the dog flips off the handler’s body. The Reverse Vault, aka Rebound, can be done off of any part of the body, and the part... More. Super stoked about this one as well.