Wrist/Forearm Control

I think wrist/forearm control is a big building block for throwing forehands.  Two other big building blocks are 1. Grip, and 2. KW best practices.  Wrist control is a big one that gets glossed over too often in my opinion.

I am generally referring to your ability to translate power into the disc.

To be specific, when I say wrist/forearm control, I'm referring to your ability to move your forearm and wrist smoothly through a good range of motion at a variety of angles and positions.  For example, your forearm and wrist will be at different angles relative to each other when you throw high releases, wide releases, low releases, quick releases, and with different shapes.  It's critical that your release is smooth, compact, and stable at all of these spots and others, so that your flick is a versatile weapon.

I think that once players can get the disc from point A to point B with regularity, the next stage should be to dive into adding shape, touch, and throwing at different speeds.  Central to this idea is wrist/forearm control.  Everyone seems to freak out about how short touch forehands are the hardest throw in the game.  In my mind this is not true, it's just that people don't prioritize them well in practice.  With good wrist/forearm control, soft inverts to space and soft upline leading passes improve dramatically.

Here are a couple drills I like that work on different pieces of wrist/forearm control.

Isolating the wrist in a high position:

Sam O'Brien Drill:

The goal is to work on wrist snap in isolation.  2 partners, about 5 yards apart.  Hold the disc in a forehand grip.  Bring the disc up in a blade in front of your throwing shoulder.  Forearm should be vertical, upper arm should be parallel to the ground.  Supinate your wrist so you are now holding the disc flat, then throw to your partner using primarily your wrist.

This drill will challenge your wrist mobility.  Releasing the disc smoothly is your goal.  This drill is tangentially also helpful for developing throw and go style quick releases and high releases.

Coordinating the wrist and forearm:

Bed Throws:

The goal of this drill is to improve smoothness of release.  The idea is to develop coordination and the force translation pattern between the forearm and the wrist.  This is a one person drill with only one disc needed.  Lie on your back.  Hold the disc in a forehand grip.  Throw flat flicks straight up at the ceiling.  The floor should prevent you from making a full draw, and should force you to use almost exclusively forearm and wrist to throw.  Your goal is to throw flicks with no wobble, that just lightly brush the ceiling.  

This drill will help decrease the amount of draw you need to throw smoothly.  It will also improve the link between wrist and forearm so that you can add power more effectively.

Removing the legs- Bringing Wrist/Forearm Control to other throws:

One Leg Drill:

The goal of this drill is to remove any kind of leg or excessive core motion from short range forehands.  This drill would be a good option for helping to bridge the gap between the above two drills and in-game throws.  As a thrower, I do not want to be married to any extraneous movement that might slow me down or distort my ability to deliver a good throw.  So I want to practice throwing while underbalanced.  2 partners, about 20 yards apart.  Throw forehands to each other while balancing on one leg.  Switch legs every other throw.  You will probably be weaker on one leg than the other, practice that one extra.

This drill will make your forehand more versatile by allowing you to throw from a variety of balances or leg positions.  This is also a good way to get quality focused throwing reps in without taxing the legs.