Session Recap | Epic Flatwork & Flow Jam 06.12.2020 Part IV + Bonus
Part IV of this Epic Flatwork
Flatwork is the stuff that happens between the catches. How the team moves and transitions, often without the disc, is flatwork. Flatwork concepts in disc dog are taken from the agility and herding... More series was focused on tightening up the placement and flight stability of the Foot Brush and the Weightless throws.
Block Practice Warmup | 0:20 – 1:35
I took the opportunity to do a Block Practice warmup using a simple Go AroundAn Around, or a Go Around is the traditional disc dog set up move. The dog goes around the handler’s body in a clockwise or counter clockwise fashion allowing dog and handler to... More. 6 reps of the Counter Clock Around to Weightless throw followed by 6 Clockwise Arounds to the Foot Brush at a target distance of 8 yards.
As mentioned above, the focus here was on clean releases and solid placement. Given the last few days of focus on these two throws, this worked out pretty well. Throws were delivered to within a yard or two of the desired distance and were well placed in space and time for the most part.
Giz Gaz |1:40 – 2:15
The Giz Gaz
The Giz Gaz is like the opposite of a Zig Zag. A Zig Zag moves agressively in a straight line from left to right and right to left (clock and counter) in front... More is dueling Rear Crosses, which builds upon Part III of this series, and it was pretty easy compared to the previous sessions. Hitting the 8 yard target distance with clean releases happened on nearly all the reps and wasn’t too difficult, which was a big improvement from the last session.
Eppie did have a drop issue on the last rep, so I killed the game on him to gather up discs. I think it was an effective punishment. I really do need to get better at randomizing the cued Drop – need to wait to cue sometimes until after the next move (like 2:58) and also need to mix in the Catch cue to give Eppie the option to drop on his terms after the flatwork move…
Free Flowing Flatwork | 2:26 – 2:58
This was the goal from the get go – to be able to comfortably make these throws during free flowing flatwork. I tried this during the Pandemic Cup and got my ass handed to me for the most part and had to dump the idea.
After 4 sessions of this focused work I think that I’ll be far less likely to get my ass handed to me on this stuff in the future.
I need to do a bit more work on these 2 throws with a focus on tightening up the delivery, placement, and flight and continue to improve on dropping it into flowing flatwork.
I also need to add a bit more flash with some Old Skool variations of these tosses. Kickin’ it Old Skool is cool – It’s like back to the future these days…
Bonus Session | Flipping Sequences
Towards the end of the session, I realized I wanted to get a bit tighter in terms of timing and see if Eppie & I could sequence a bit with these throws. Looks like we can…
Flip to Foot Brush
The simple flip to Foot Brush is kind of sweet. It requires a 2 disc toss (talk about Old Skool) which was no problem for the static flip. While doing this I started to get the idea that I might be able to go underneath Eppie with the Foot Brush. I’m gonna be taking a serious look at that…
The other thing that we worked that I think is pretty cool is the Heli Flip to Foot Brush. Working the Clockwise Heli In seems to work pretty well. The toss with 2 discs is a bit tough, having to throw it horizontal and all… The throw kicks out right in front of the dog’s face. It’s a nice look and feel.
I probably need to give the Heli Out another look, as the throw can be made vertical just like our standard, static flip. I hope I don’t forget about that…
Flip to Weightless Throw
I don’t think I worked a static flip to the Weightless throw, probably should try that…
Working the Counter Clock Heli In seemed to work pretty well. The horizontal toss on that flip is pretty difficult – it’s a cramped flip toss anyway, and adding a disc in hand makes it quite a bit more challenging. It’s totally doable though. Just need to serve up the Weightless toss a bit earlier – MOVE WHILE!
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