toss n fetch catch

Toss N Fetch Catch | Practicing Under Pressure

Throw as many 42 yard throws as you want and you can still be surprised and affected by your rampaging frizbeast bolting up field and pressuring your throw. If only there were some way to practice Toss N Fetch throws under that kind of pressure… Well, grab a few discs and a partner and head on out to the field.

The Set Up

A 40-50 yard field, 4-6 discs and a partner are all that is needed to play this game. Set up at 40 yards apart if you can reach that distance, if not set up at your max distance for Toss N Fetch. Each player grabs a disc for throwing and drops the rest in a stack within convenient reach. Each player should have 2-3+ discs on hand.

* This game will probably not work at less than 30 yards, as mentioned at the end of the video.

Gameplay

Toss N Fetch Catch is a simple game of catch with a twist. One thrower leads (Player 1) the other thrower follows (Player 2) and the roles switch throughout the game.

The lead thrower sends a pretend dog around, taking care to read and imagine the pretend dog’s movement before throwing. As Player 1 releases the disc, the following thrower sends their pretend dog around, reads the dog, and fires out a throw to the lead player. After throwing, Player 2 acts quickly to make the catch of Player 1’s throw. Player 1 makes the catch to complete the circuit.

Repeat this sequence or circuit at least 3 times before switching roles.

Keys to Successful Play

There are several keys to getting the most benefit from this game. Be sure they are included in your play.

Send the Dog Around

Be sure to send your pretend dog around. This is important for both players, but is extremely important for Player 2, the thrower that follows. Sending your dog around replicates the pressure and timing of throwing Toss and Fetch to your dog.

If you don’t send your dog around, you might as well just be playing catch at a distance, which is a good exercise, but not very effective for bumping up your Toss N Fetch game.

Read the Dog

Read your dog on the around. Visualize your dog going around (or starting from Front position for those of you without a Go Around set up). Putting your imagination to work for you in this game is also key to getting maximum benefit from play.

Again, this is more important and more challenging for Player 2, but Player 1 can get benefits as well. It is good to compare and contrast your expectations without pressure with the reality of being pressured and under the gun as Player 2.

Make the Catch

Making the catch is THE key to this game. The need to check the disc coming in, read the dog, and complete your throwing set up and the throw itself before acting to make the catch creates quite a bit of pressure on the throwing process. It puts the pressure on and challenges your ability to time the operation and execute the process. This is the reason you are playing this game.

Making the catch can be difficult for newer players and for players who struggle to throw 40 yards. It can be impossible, actually. If it is, you might want to try another game that cultivates distance and accuracy, like Catch with Curves.

That said, many times the crucible of pressure that this game generates can create a sort of tunnel vision that can and does reinforce both distance and accuracy. Don’t knock it until you try it.

Imagination

Your imagination of your dog’s movement and your reading of that movement is a key element of this game. Be sure to dedicate at least some of your focus to this operation.

This imagination will become the bridge between this game and the game of Toss N Fetch. It will link the performance under pressure from this game to the performance under pressure in the actual game with your dog.

Without it, you will likely be taken by surprise by the addition of your dog.

Shorter Distances

As mentioned at the recap at the end of the video, this game can be played at shorter distances, but only slightly shorter. The full length of 40 yards is all but required to fit in all the key aspects of this game that connect it with Toss N Fetch.

Without that distance, you’ve got to eliminate one or more of the key aspects which will break the connection between this game and the game of Toss N Fetch which may or may not reinforce better throwing to your dog.

Related Articles

Throwing With Intent

Throwing with Intent is throwing a disc to your dog with the intent to make them look good. Throwing the disc to promote a big leap, to hit the dog in stride on the run or throwing a disc that your dog is going to flip for 10 yards away, is the sign of a mature handler.

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