scouts95

You would be surprised how many people just throw their guns on a prayer that it comes down the right way. It is poor technique. I start with a single, recognizing that the butt is verticle twice before the catch, a double the butt is verticle three times, triple....4 times, etc............ Really watch the rifle and understand it's every move in the air...... Be experimental also by throwing slow and lofty, fast and tight, throw a bad one on purpose, then throw a good one. I also throw half catches on purpose to train my self how to catch a "half" and not drop it. I do my "ladder" like this: single, single & 1/2, double, double & 1/2, triple, triple & 1/2, quad, quad and 1/2, five, five & 1/2, six, etc...... Then I do the ladder again with all fully rotated catches. Then again with all the catches on halfs. Then I mix them all up and tell myself random tosses and this trains your mind and muscles to recognize the process to make a solid catch. It's a work out for your brain, but takes the fear, anxiety, and guesswork out of tossing in your shows. You can also do the whole exercise off the right hand to. I know it sounds totally unconventional and useless...........but it makes a difference......... especially when the director needs a reliable soloist who doesn't drop.

Ideally you want the flag to balance where the bottom seam of the flag meets the pole. Some call this the "tape" area. The carriage bolts work well, I have a few different lengths so that I can adjust as needed for each flag. Put the bolts in the tips and on the pole with the flag tapped on, then balance the pole on your fingers to see if it balances near the "tape". If not, make adjustments. You can also use washers in the tips to get it perfect. Good luck!

In high school (90-93) we were taught all of the old school spins. We learned one called "pizzas" which were spins on the left where the right hand cuts over and bumps the rifle while twisting your pointer finger and thumb (kind of like snapping your fingers). These are probably the fastest spins you can do once you have the rhythm down. We learned the traditional double-time, but we also learned triple-time which is a hybrid spin of double-time and the "pizzas". Then we learned quad-time which is unique and difficult because you touch the rifle: bottom-bottom-bottom-bottom, top-top-top-top, but these spins are hard to get up to a decent speed, what looks impressive is the speed and rhythm of your hands. My first instructor also knew some others...one was called the "butterfly hand-over-hand" but she said it was only spun on the heavy rifles of the 60's and 70's.