This is, by far, the most common way that new players throw. Fortunately it is very easily corrected. If I saw her in person I'm confident that I could have her throwing flat and straight in 5-10 minutes.
Are there any experienced female players that you guys know? Another woman would be the ideal teacher. A boyfriend of husband is usually the worst teacher; I speak from experience.
Here are some suggestions:
- Make sure she is using the right disc. Get her a 150 gram Shark in DX plastic. Used if possible. Use light base plastic and Do Not use a disc that is too stable. If anything err on the side of using a disc that is too understable.
Here are some training steps to begin with until she throws flat:
(This would take 2 minutes to show but takes many words to explain.)
1) Do not use a run up or any foot work at all. Have her stand with her feet slightly wider than her shoulders. If she is right handed have her right shoulder pointing toward the basket. You could also draw a straight line from her left toes through the right toes to the basket.
2) Have her locate the bottom of her sternum/ aka breast bone. (I just learned that this called the
Xiphoid process.) This is the spot where both sides of the ribs come together. She should press in on it with her finger to locate it. For guys the general area is the pec muscle, but that is rather general. (Other people sometimes suggest a popular part of female anatomy, but I think this is a little too high. Plus the discussions quickly get sidetracked by juvenile comments.)
3) Have her hold a disc with the near edge touching the bottom of the breast bone/ Xiphoid process.
4) Now use some imagination. Pretend that there is a long flat counter that is the same height as this point on the bottom of her breast bone. Move the disc straight back in a line along the "counter" top then bring back straight through on the counter until the disc is released. The motion is similar to pulling a lawn mower cord.
5)
THE KEY is that all edges of the disc remain flat. Most importantly the far edge and near edge are flat and on the same plane. You can practice this and see it by dragging a disc in a straight line on a kitchen counter or a long desk. If needed, without even holding the disc, just push it in a line on a counter to see what it looks like flat. If the far edge (away from the body) dips down then the throw will go left.
5) Keep the shoulders straight. Do Not dip the left shoulder. The up angle comes from lowering the left shoulder, leaning back, and throwing the disc from low to high. The hand and disc should stay on a straight line.
Practice this on a private open field where it is just the two of you so that she doesn't get embarrassed until she gets the hang of it. Don't worry at all about distance; once she is throwing flat she will gain more distance. Throw toward some object if you like.
Once she learns how to throw flat, later on she can add footwork to gain more power.
I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions about what I have said.
I'm confident that she will get this resolved very quickly!
