Flying Discs Books

Essential Ultimate is written by 2 of the best coaches in the Junior scene. It is targeted at beginner and intermediate coaches of high school and college/university clubs, yet is very applicable to most senior clubs.

I compared Essential Ultimate to Parinella and Zazslow's "Ultimate Techniques and Tactics" as they have a similar audience, and you may know that text.

Essential Ultimate:
- has a better format as a teaching resource (examples of drills with diagrams, trouble shooting tips, as opposed to large chunks of prose, though it could improve even more)
- includes a better introduction for those new to ultimate: 10 simple rules, the field dimensions, and notes on self-refereeing
- has more on non-ultimate coaching elements such as warm ups, cool downs, the mental game and starting a team.

The difference between the 2 texts is encapsulated by the section on throwing. Baccarini and Booth talk about the key mechanics and how to coach them: correct grip (photos shown), wrist snap and follow through, troubleshooting tips for backhand, forehand and the hammer, how to throw in the wind, and a simple drill for teaching beginners to throw. In comparison, Parinella and Zazslow start with 4 principles of throwing that assume decent throwing skills, then discuss handling tactics, how to break the mark and more.

Essential Ultimate is aimed at coaches, while Ultimate Techniques and Tactics is aimed at experienced players (who probably lead and are player-coaches on their team).

My only significant gripe with Essential Ultimate is that it still has a bit of the flaw that Ultimate Techniques and Tactics had: parts of the book are large slabs of text. It is mostly a reference book, but at times tries to be more of an essay.

The text can explain some good general philosophies that may open you to new ideas, such as "Rather than just react, defenders should pre-act... so that an offensive player's explosive movement is preempted by an equally explosive anticipatory action on the part of the defender."

Unfortunately there are a number of self-evident observations that are unlikely to impact on how a coach coaches, if they have played more than a little ultimate, e.g. on man-on-man defense "What you hope will result is that covered receivers are scattered and clogging the passing lanes and thrower's choices are limited throwing into coverage, punting a Hail Mary pass downfield, or being stalled... And no-one ever wants to be stalled". Or the details on how a disc doesn't fly like a ball in the first paragraph. Truisms like these are clear once you have played even a little ultimate, where they are better learnt, and they feel superfluous to the book.

In comparison, pretty much all the diagrams, drill explanations, breakout boxes with tips, and troubleshooting lists are gold. They are very clear and very applicable. If a coach has a need for a certain type or drill, or issues with teaching a specific skill, they can easily refer to these tools. I've played at numerous World Championships, and coached for 8 years, and found quite a few concepts and drills I am now keen to use.

My wishes for the second edition are:
- communicate some ideas and tools through tables, case studies or acronyms as well, with more concise text.
- examples of session plans and season plans
- an index of the drills for quick reference

Lastly the sections on fitness, psychology and starting a program are brilliant. Any quality coach should consider these aspects and they give a good basic coverage of how they apply to an ultimate team. An experienced ultimate player who is a coach, will learn the most from these 3 chapters. A coach or teacher coming in from another sport will likely learn more from the rich chapters on ultimate specific skills.

Essential Ultimate has set the bar for all coaching resources in Ultimate.

As a player-coach for several years, I was very impressed by the supplemental information provided in this book. The text has helped me articulate the mechanics involved in fundamental ultimate techniques such as throwing, catching, etc. as well as supplying important information about defensive and offensive strategy.

I heartily recommend Jim Parinella's book as well, and have found it particularly useful for my own individual development. However, in terms of coaching and teaching your team and the players on it, I think this is the best ultimate book on the market today.
-Ben
PS
In my opinion, the three most useful sections: throwing, offensive strategy, and fitness for ultimate players.

"Wow" was my first reaction when Essential Ultimate arrived in the mail. With the rapid growth of juniors, high school, college, and club ultimate, finally, there is a textbook to teach skills correctly. For those who learn through pictures, this book rocks.

--Erik Sebesta
The Ultimate Showcase Series (USS)

Whether you are an experienced coach or an aspiring ultimate player this book will help you improve every facet of you game. I had the pleasure of meeting Michael at a coaching clinic and I must say he is the cream of the crop in terms of coaching. This book covers everything from core fitness, learning ultimate and some tips to even help the advanced players. As a fairly new coach myself I really enjoyed the way different drills and skills are explained this book. It has become my Ultimate Bible very quickly.

Take notice that the author, Stancil Johnson, will soon be updating this disc classic and having it published for it's second printing. More news to follow. Shortly, it won't be so hard to get your hands on this bible.

This book is amazing, although it has not yet been re-released as is claimed here. If it were, the world of frisbee would be so pleased, though. Packed full of historical and technical information, this cyclopedia of all things frisbee is an absolute neccesity for the frisbee-obsessed. And the pictures are worth the price, not to mention the iconistic rhetoric.

You can discount the entire sections on frisbee catching and this is still a wonderful book for any dog owner. This dog teaches how to correctly and humanely train your dog so that you can enjoy each others company. The frisbee training is simply outstanding.

I enjoyed Karen Pryor's direct, simple approach to teaching my dog to play frisbee. She has many tips on training in general written in an easy reading style. The best part is-- her advice works! My yorkie is already retrieving the frisbee and can hardly wait to play with it. I checked this book out at the library and decided I need a copy for myself!

Wow! What an incredibly lucky find! I found this book at a used bookstore and although somewhat outdated, I have found it to be an incredible reference source for me being a devotee of slightly alternative sports, games, hobbies, etc. (see my listmania lists to see what I mean *grin*). The book covers yo-yo's, kites, marbles, and table-top games, all with game rules, variations, and histories of each subject. I was so impressed with the marbles section, the day after I made this purchase I bought a set of marbles. Also, I'd like to thank Dr. Meisenheimer, for his yo-yo collecting guide (I am an aspiring yo-yo collector) and his reviews at amazon.com for it was perusing his reviews and the review of this fine book that made it stand out in my memory at the used bookstore.

This book has 24 pages devoted to the history of the yo-yo including some great photos. This is not a trick book. It is a great read for the yo-yo history and collecting enthusiast. Many excellent chapters on Kites, Frisbees, Marbles and Board games as well. Unfortunately the book is long out of print so good luck in getting a copy. Lucky Meisenheimer M.D. author of "Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos...History and Values"

Spinning Flight is for the reader who is curious about spinning and flying things. Some may wonder why do skipping stones veer to the right, why does a Frisbee veer to the left at the end of its flight, why do golf balls have dimples, how does a boomerang work. Others may be interested in spin stabilization of bullets, bombs, rockets. Still others will be fascinated by the role of spin in spaceflight, the landing of probes on distant bodies or by what spin can tell about the formation and life story of asteroids and comets. Lorenz uses a minimum of vector mechanics and equations to explain these phenomena and provides many illustrations based on cleverly instrumented flight experiments. Next time you skip a stone, you will think of it as a rewarding experiment not just an idle pleasure.

(I am the author - I think the book is not half bad - but let me quote from a recent
review of the book by H. K. Moffatt {whom I do not know} in Nature magazine (Vol.444,
14 Dec 2006 p.820):
'In his fascinating book Spinning Flight, Ralph Lorenz provides a rich feast of examples
of such spinning bodies, some occurring naturally, some contrived for pleasure or for a
practical purpose, some exotic..........Lorenz covers these phenomena and their various
manifestations with great skill and economy of exposition, whetting the appetite for the
more detailed treatments that he cites in an extensive list of references, many quite recent...
The book is well organized....there may be something for every one within its attractively
designed cover

This is such a bitchen book! That Alex chick is not only hot, but way better than Trav (she's got the accuracy, he's got the style) and she should have had top billing. I can't believe how old school this book is, but its relevance still permeates my every pore. I also love checking out the sweet outfits...jordache, sick vans, rocking the dophins, and let's not forget about the dude in sweats and leg warmers! I am proud to own a copy and think everyone should have one.

Being an old dog, I was around for much of the late 70's, early 80's history that Victor alludes to. It was great to take this look down memory lane, as well as find a lot of new information. The disc trading guide has already proved itself helpful. I strongly recommend this book for any flying disc enthusiast.

I love this book! It's the only one I have as a reference as to the history of Frisbee/Frisbies. I admit, the prices in my edition (1998) are out of date--they continue to go up!
I refer to this book all the time and each time I pick up something new. It's loaded with tons of great photos. It's a MUST for any Frisbee/flying disc lover.
I'm disappointed in the direction Wham-o has taken lately and the quality of the product they are now producing, but the history of Frisbees and the people involved along the way make this book a must-have!
One will have a much greater appreciation for those little flying discs (no matter what they're called or whose name is on them) once they have read this book.

This book is a must for anyone associated with or interested in Frisbees, golf discs and Frisbie Pie Tins. Not only does it provide a guide for determining value of many highly collectible discs, it's entertaining, well-written, and well-designed. A collector's item in its own right and I highly recommend.

From a Frisbee professional, and the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life," and "The Things I Wish I'd Said," McKenna Publishing Group

If you're buying this book as a priceguide to old or collectable frisbees, you should know this. Since the advent of online auctioning after 1998, many more frisbees have come out of the closet. Therefore, the priceguide part of the book is woefully out of date. Most collectable Frisbee prices as stated in the book are overvalued by 30-60%. I hope a revision of this book is printed soon.

Don't be fooled by the title, this is not the complete book of frisbee. Ultimate only rates a couple of pages, for starters. There is nothing to speak of on throwing technique. It is not particularly well edited, either - many assertions and heresay have slipped through the net. Lots of nice pictures of collectable discs, if that's what you're into. A bit of a disappointment given the dearth of books-in-print about throwing technique and ultimate.

This book is very interesting for anyone into the sport of golf. Very good reading.

This book is great for both the beginner and more experienced players. It covers the history of the sport, styles, gear, etc. Well worth the price.

This is the only book on disc golf that I have and it has really helped my game a lot. The most important thing that I learned from this book is that you do not throw a disc golf disc like you throw a Frisbee! This is very important to remember. I have always been a very good Frisbee player but found that I was having lots of trouble throwing a disc golf disc straight and level or to even get any distance from them. This book helped me fix those problems. I still do not throw perfectly every time but at least now when I screw up a throw I have an idea of what I did wrong.

This book goes over the history of the sport which is very interesting and covered pretty well. It also covers the basic rules and customs of the game so you will not look like a fool when playing with more experienced players. Most importantly for me is that this book covers most of the different kinds of throws that you will see in the game and each throw is broken down into its basic elements (grip, approach, release, etc.). What I did not like and why I did not give it 5 stars, was that the drawing were not as clear as I would have liked. I found myself rereading the descriptions about things like how to grip the disc for a certain type of throw over a few times and wishing there were a few pictures showing a real hand holding the disc from a few different angles.

This book also has a funny chapter on the Tao of disc golf which get funnier once you get more experience playing the sport.

To sum up I would recommend this book for anyone starting out in the sport or for anyone like me that has been playing for a year or so with little real guidance as to how to improve their play.

I got this for my dad for Christmas. He said he has looked everywhere for a book on Disc Golf and was unable to find one. He LOVES this one. He said it is filled with quick, easy tips and info.
Thanks!!!

just picking up the sport? dont trust yer friend, no matter how long he's been playing. You need to learn a good grip, a good stance, and shot selection that is right for you. This book helped me get started after my good friend, who is a serious player (and money winner) tried to just show me. His discs and windup were killing me. after ONE read i tried out some standard practices and was throwing consistantly. This is a great book to have if you want to keep rules handy and see guides on foot placement and grip etc. there are some fluffy parts that you can ignore, but they are to flesh out what could be a solid 10 pages. its worth the money.

I played ultimate in college and was looking to get a team together here in san diego. This book helped refresh my memory on basic rules/strategies and also offered lots of new insight into the finer points of the game. Very easy to understand, lots of helpful photos and diagrams throughout. This guy definitely knows his stuff!

I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to learn more about ultimate frisbee. Twenty years ago I was playing this game in a midwestern college, only to return to West Virginia and receive blank stares when I mentioned the term. Now the sport has grown, with West Virginians as well as people from all over the globe playing! This title is evidence of the sport's growing popularity.

Studarus starts with the basics of ultimate, including the rules of the game, the spirit of the game, and numerous descriptions of how to throw a disc. He then covers a number of offenses, defenses, and drills to sharpen skills. The book concludes with some historical information regarding prominent ultimate teams and well-known ultimate players.

If you're new to ultimate frisbee and want to learn more, this title is the one to get. If you're a seasoned ultimate player and don't have this book in your library, it would be a wise investment as a basic primer.

I would highly recommend this book. I was a novice and looking for a good book to help familiarize myself with Ultimate, and this book helped me out. I learned individual skills, basic throwing and team skills, plus read some interesting interviews with experienced players.

i wouldn't recommend this book to any frisbee player,who's playing in a team,the lack of lessons and drills was disappointing,
if you browse the web for informations about ultimate,you get ten times more input then this book is able to give,so if you choose this book,be aware that it's just giving an oversight,but no interesting infos for more advanced players.

This book does an OK job of laying out some of the "fundamentals of Ultimate," but as others have said it's not as polished as it could be either visually (it looks like someone just printed it straight out of MS Word) or content-wise. The sections are often too brief, leaving out some of the subtle (and even some not-so-subtle) facets of the game.

If you're going to buy a book on Ultimate, either to teach yourself or to get ideas for coaching a team, a much better investment is Parinella and Zaslow's book, which is about same price and has a LOT more material (even though it, too, isn't perfect).

When this book first came out, it was basically the only one of its kind widely available. Nowadays, the only thing that this book has that Parinella's doesn't is a brief player/team profile section, which is nice but doesn't really add to one's understanding on the field. Back in 2003 I might have given this book 4 stars but now it scratches out a 3 for me.

What a great book about having fun with your dog. The book has very descriptive training methods, funny cartoon through out, a fun read for a fun time with your dog.