Showcasing Your Team
One of the key aspects of any spectator friendly sport is to put on a show. What qualifies as a show is left to free interpretation, but definitely does encompass the basic requirement of being able to capture the attention of a significant proportion of spectators from beginning to end. The same rule applies to freestye disc dogging. Mimicking moves that we see on video or at competitions is a good way to start, but building entire routines on mimicked moves takes away from the basic requirement of what makes for a show. If the spectator starts to think- 'seen that, seen that- know what is coming next'- well that show has just ended for that spectator!
I have been guilty of trying to do a little of that when I started out. The only problem was, Aryan and I were simply were not equipped to pull off a lot of the moves that we had seen. So there were actually two problems with our routine- first, we were not looking as good as the teams we tried to imitate, secondly, there remained nothing unique that we were offering to the spectator. Very soon we realized that if we had to get people to notice us, we would have to bring something unique to the table.
Fortunately for us, innovation turned out to be more of a necessity than an option. Without harping on big Aryan is, I just want to mention that we had to consider alternatives to moves that we could in all practicality, never pull off! While I worked on relatively complex releases, we also got a game plan going to highlight all of Aryan's strengths. Our routine geared itself to highlight Aryan's ability to catch at a good success rate and his ability to move really fast in straight lines, while I provided the complex releases. It took a while for the routine to get set and look appealing, but I think we have our game plan working out now!I'd be lying if I said all of our material is unique- in fact most of our moves are twists on moves that we saw other people do- It actually takes a while and a lot of imagination to have a routine that is synthesized 'de novo' !!! But we present it differently enough so that the spectator is entertained for the 90 seconds that we are on. I appreciate players coming out and trying moves on a whim- Tossing discs with your teeth as a release for a back stall, tosses with heels of your feet, a butterfly release on a thru- that is innovation- that is what keeps the sport growing!!! I had the chance to watch live at a recent National Qualifier a player by the name of Erich. I watched spellbound at the diversity and novelty of his releases just admiring the extent of innovation that Erich and his dogs had in their routines. By virtue of having seen a large number of freestyle routines, both live and on video, I fall under the 'not easily impressed' category. This team took me way beyond impressed and I am sure they will feature heavily at the highest level on the disc dogging circuit in the next few years.
I would like to end this snippet by saying that a freestyle team needs to look great- maybe the dog is the show, maybe it is the handler is or even better- both are the show! So, please go out there and make things up- that is the key!!!
~Krishnan