For me, the underhand cast is great for distance, and I am getting to where I can drop a rock pretty close to my target. If I get good enough, I could perhaps catch dinner by dropping a rock on it from many yards away, where using the Apache style requires that I get within twenty yards or so (past that, my inaccuracy is enough to completely miss my target). of course, all I have hunted so far is stumps... but if I were a termite, I would be eating pretty good!
Taylor's Greek overhand is a good one to learn. If you haven't already, look at
Sv's video
of himself taking out the trash (putting a potato into a trash can from the other end of his back yard). He uses the Greek overhand to very good effect!
A few months ago, I catalogued all the slinging styles I knew of. I have been revising and expanding that catalogue, and this seems as good a time as any to "preview" the opening notes. Your comments and criticism would be appreciated (especially about trying to describe things in a "hand-neutral" fashion); I want this thing, if I ever finish it, to be readable and useful. These notes are not the whole catalog; they are just where I introduce the terms that I will use in the catalog, and describe the major classes of slinging styles.
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Some introductory notes on terminologyEvery slinging technique has three phases, which I will call the
windup, the
release snap and the
follow-through.
The windup gets the rock (or whatever is being slung) moving, helps you
get a feel for its weight, and get it into position for the release
snap. The release snap is the final quarter-turn or half-turn where all
the energy is added to the rock, by a combination of motions using the
arms, body, and often legs. The follow-through is simply whatever
motions are needed to keep your body and the sling under control and
bring them to rest after releasing the rock; follow-through is a part of
every throw, but I will not mention it again. I assume that you all
know you cannot just stop your arm after releasing, but must continue
the swing and bring your arm to rest in a controlled manner.
Slingers may be right-handed or left-handed (and a couple of us may be
both). Rather than describe everything twice, or from just one
perspective, I have chosen to attempt "hand-neutral" descriptions. The
hand you hold your sling cords in, is your
sling hand; the hand
you hold the rock or ball or whatever in, is your
rock hand. I
may also refer to your sling side, sling shoulder, etc. When you are
spinning your sling during the wind-up, if you would release the rock at
the bottom of the swing, you are spinning
underhand (this is
clockwise for right-handers, counterclockwise for left-handers); if you
would release at the top, you are spinning
overhand. These terms
are used whether the sling is in front of you, behind you, beside you,
or above you. If you are spinning the sling over your head like a
helicopter rotor, an underhand spin would release on your sling-hand
side, if you are facing the target. (Justification: spin a sling beside
your body in the underhand direction, and gradually raise your arm until
the sling is spinning overhead like a helicopter rotor; which way is it
spinning?) An overhand horizontal spin would release on your rock-hand
side. The Frisbee style is the only style I know of that uses an
overhand horizontal spin.
And this brings us to the major classes of styles, of which the author
recognizes four.
Overhand and
underhand styles spin the
sling in a more-or-less vertical plane; overhand styles release the rock
at the top of the swing, underhand styles release at the bottom.
Overhead and
side-arm styles spin the sling in a
more-or-less horizontal plane; overhead styles release the rock above
shoulder-level, side-arm styles release anywhere from shoulder to
hip-level. And none of these are defined rigidly; each slinger is going
to perceive and perform the styles differently. I, personally, have a
hard time distinguishing David Taylor's Greek overhand from his Greek
side-arm, unless I'm stepping through his videos a frame at a time. But
to David, they are distinct.
Please note that I categorize a style by how the sling moves during the
release snap. There are styles that have a wind-up entirely different
from the release snap. Can't have things too simple, you know.
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The original version of the style catalog, was posted
here
. It is useful mostly for the links to the original descriptions, pictures, and videos. Please note that it was written during a period when several people (including myself) had just "gotten" the figure-8 and were raving about it.