DDC Drills

Escape Drill 1 - Learning to make calls

This one is for training a back how to make the correct call. It can be done with three or four people. Two players defend a court, including the back who is being trained. The other player(s) will be throwing attacks.

One of the offensive players will be throwing leads, and the other will be throwing attack shots. The leads should be flat backhands, since they are easy to read and to tip if necessary. The offensive players should throw the following attacks in sets of five:

  1. Burn is very late. The back catches the lead, tells his front "I'll throw", and then says "Off" after he releases a throw to the other court.
  2. Burn is very early. The back tells his front "Time". The front catches the attack shot and throws it into the other court, saying "Off" after he releases. The back catches the lead shot.
  3. Burn is slightly late. The back calls "Tip" and tips the lead disc. The front waits until he hears the tip, then catches and quickly throws the attack disc to the other court, saying "Off" after he releases. The back catches his tip.
  4. Burn is slightly early. The back calls "Go". The front catches the attack shot and quickly throws it back to the other court, saying "Off". The back milks the lead shot to the ground, catching it when he hears the "Off" call.

Repeat the above sets until the back is becoming comfortable making calls and escaping. At that point, stop announcing what the timing will be, and have the back practice recognizing the timing on his own. Making the right call consistently will take a lot of repetition. As the back gets better and better, you can start varying the style and difficulty of the attack (steeper leads, dump attacks, different lead shots, etc).

Escape Drill 2 - Waiting for a fourth

This drill is designed for three people. Each person takes a turn as the attacker. In the attacking court, place a marker at midcourt, and one halfway between that one and the front line. The attacker gets five attacks from each of those two marks, and five from the front line. Keep track of the points scored by the attacker after the fifteen attacks. Rotate to the next attacker, with the remaining two defending their court.

Throwing Drill 1 - Rally shots

Place markers at the 1/3 and 2/3 deep points in a court, dividing it into thirds. From the 2/3 deep point in the other court, throw rally shots. You get 1 point for each disc that ends up in the back third of the court, 0 points for a disc in the middle third, -1 point for a disc in the front third, and -2 for disc that goes out. Repeat until you get positive scores in each direction, then you get to throw burns.