HOW TO HUCKTHE DISC

ULTIMATE FRISBEE CHAMPION

"Huckingthe disc" is slang for a nice Frisbee throw. To do it, you want to throw your Frisbee with speed and spin. Speed carries it to your receiver, and spin allows it to fly steady. To get both, start with your feet, shoulders and torso sideways to the target, which should be to your right if you are a rightie. Have your throwing arm across your chest, elbow bent slightly. Hold the Frisbee with the thumb above and four fingers below. (If you've been holding your index finger at the rim, tuck it out of sight, now.) Keep your wrist straight but loose—no cocking—and your grip just tight enough to keep the Frisbee from slipping.

Now step toward the target with your right leg. As you do, your shoulders and hips will come around and face the target. By opening up the whole body toward the target, you're transferring the momentum of your weight from foot to hips to shoulders, and then to your arms and wrist. It's as though your body is the base of a whip, and your wrist is the tip, ready to snap. When you plant your forward foot, your arm flies out (that's speed) and your wrist and fingers whip out (that's spin). Your Frisbee slices the air. Congratulations.

However, your disk is possibly off course. Bizarre flight patterns come from inefficiencies in your throwing motion. To fly flat, hold the Frisbee flat, and carry through your throwing motion on that same flat plane.

Zaslow has won two world and four national Ultimate Frisbee championshipswith the Boston DoG (Death orGlory) team. A math professor at Northwestern University, Zaslow can huck adisc 100 yards. He majored in math andphysics.