FrisbeeDog fail

The local FrisbeeDog club had a playdate today, and they had another throwing workshop. They pulled out an entire case of frisbees, and we just practiced throwing back and forth.

Before we started the workshop though, I practiced a few throws with Duke. Unfortunately, Duke and I haven't played with the frisbee in a month. To keep the energy high when we play, I cheer him on and praise constantly. With the plague wrecking havok on my lungs, yelling and cheering is out of the question. Being outside in the cold is also not an option. Fortunately, even with the lack of practice, Duke did really well today. He seems to do better at the club meetings than at home. I suspect it's because he sees the other frisbee-crazed dogs as competition, and he doesn't want them getting HIS frisbee. And even with the slight wind today, I was throwing better than I normally do. I still suck, mind you, I just suck less. Duke even agreed that I suck. One of the more experienced guys was standing a few feet behind me watching, and Duke would catch his frisbee, turn around, and run right past me to drop the frisbee at the guy's feet. Repeatedly. I was not feeling the love.

So why the fail? After we started the workshop, we were all doing so well with the regular backhand throw that they decided we needed to learn new throws. First new one they taught was throwing it under our leg. Step forward on the left, then a big step forward and to the side on our right. As we step on our right leg, we basically do a lunge and reach our right hand behind our right knee and release the frisbee. If it sounds contorted and ugly, then you're picturing it exactly how I do it. I went through the motions a couple times to make sure I understood what he was saying before I attempted to throw. The frisbee landed 2 feet in front of me. After practicing a few more times, the frisbee still landed 2 feet in front of me. And my knee protested the abuse.

Second throw was behind the back. Step forward with the right foot, then the left foot. With the step on the left foot, we're moving our entire body so that our left shoulder is towards the direction we're throwing. As we're taking that step, we reach behind our back and release the frisbee. This time, the frisbee landed four feet in front of me. I also managed to kidneypunch myself in the process. Besides the obvious lack of control, I need to work on adjusting the angle of release so that it goes up, rather than straight down. I only got the frisbee to go up once on the new throws. That one time, one of the other handlers was retrieving frisbees in the middle of the field. I smacked her right in the back of the head. Oops. Good thing the frisbees are relatively soft, and I'm too much of a weenie to get much force behind them. Since I'm horrible with names, I don't even know the name of the lady I hit. I only know her as "treat lady" because she always has a treat bag, and Duke the begger keeps going through his repertoir of tricks for her to get a treat. Her husband is the guy I mentioned earlier, who Duke kept returning his frisbee to.

Duke is currently napping after his exciting afternoon, and I am vegging out in front of the TV. My tired body needs a rest after the torture I put it through today.