Flying disc freestyle

Flying disc freestyle (sometimes called freestyle Frisbee in reference to the trademarked brand name) is a sport and performing art in which athletes perform deft maneuvers ("tricks") with a flying disc. Usually slightly lighter than a disc for the game of ultimate, freestyle discs are about 160 grams. Freestyle is an extreme version of throw-and-catch and is often looked at as hacky sack with a disc . When the sport emerged in the early to mid 1970s, it featured fast-paced trick throws and trick catches and "tipping", epitomized by the performances of the Velasquez brothers, Jens and Erwin. "Tipping" consists of striking the bottom of the disc while in flight to make it fly upward. Tipping can be done with the finger, foot, or other parts of the body.

Freddie Haft was the first freestyler to demonstrate the "nail delay" trick and gave the name to the move. In a nail delay the flying disc spins while balanced on the fingernail. This allows the freestyler to change the flight path of the disc and perform numerous balletic moves with it. He first showed the move in the 1975 Rochester Open Frisbee Tournament. It looks similar to spinning a basketball on the finger. The nail delay (a reference to the fingernail) became the foundation of modern freestyle.

Athletes soon learned to move the nail-delayed disc under their legs and behind their backs, to pop the disc up and spin their body around and do another nail delay. By the end of the 1970s, thanks to groundbreakers like Joey Hudoklin, freestyle had evolved into an entirely different sportbuilt around technical and athletic nail delay skills. The "airbrush" trick developed in parallel with the nail delay. To airbrush, a player slaps the outside of the disc in the direction of the disc's rotation. The disc flies upward and away from the player.

In the wind, the disc will return to the player (or fellow freestyler) for the next move. The airbrushing game demands a less planned and a more improvised approach to freestyle, as the disc's interaction with the wind affects airbrushing more than that it does nail delaying. Airbrushing technique has developed to include brushing with other parts of the body, most often the foot. Players perform trick brushes under their legs or behind their backs. They can change the spin of the disc with one airbrush. Changing the spin refers to the disc spin change from clockwise to counter clockwise or vise versa. Experienced airbrushers can brush both into the wind and away from the wind. Airbrushing the disc around a complete 360 degrees[clarification needed] is called an "around-the-world".