Frisboyz
UK-based Frisbee Entertainers & Performers
DAVE LEWIS INTERVIEW!
Welcome
to our exclusive interview with 9 - time and current World Freestyle
Champion Dave Lewis !!!!!! This interview was carried out by Johninho
and Joe 'The Flow' !!
ENJOY !!
Discstyle :When did you first become a pro player? How did you get involved?
Dave :About 12 years ago in 1992, I got back into the sport after a long break and entered my first tournament in Redondo Beach, California in July of that year and came one place away from dead last. There were a lot of teams at that tournament. My result wasn't that great, but it was an incredibly fun
tournament. My game was really rusty so I busted my but over the next three months and practiced a couple hours a day, watched a lot of video and learned a lot of moves. Z Weyand let me copy his video collection of
freestyle tournaments from the 1980's and also gave me a copy of the '92 FPA Worlds held in San Diego. I studied all of those tapes. I'd pick a move I wanted to learn and slow it down and rewind it a hundred times until I figured it out. About three months later I teamed up with Dave Zeff and a legendary player named Joey Hudoklin at a big beach tournament in Ventura California. I hung out with Joey a lot at the time and he taught me about "the zone" and basically the principles of good freestyle. I'd attribute a lot of my success to what he taught me. I was lucky to get to play with those guys. There were also some great players at that tournament who I was at the time a little intimidated by at the time, like Tom Leitner and Dave Schiller. Well, we actually won, and I was in shock. I'd never won a tournament before, and we received some prize money and a fleece jacket along with the trophy.
Discstyle :When did you first become world no.1? How did it feel?
Dave :I first became number one in July of 1997 or '98, can't remember exactly. I was only number one for a month that first time. It was a blast. It really felt good since I had been ranked in the top 3 for three or four years before that and never could get above number two. In a way, though, it was bitter sweet. I had a re-occuring neck injury at the time and couldn't actually play that summer. I thought it was very ironic that when I was ranked number one, I coudn't even freestyle. It's a very strange feeling imagining that you're actually ranked number one in the world at something.
But that's what's cool about freestyle, not everyone does it. It's unique. But I'd say it was more of a high to win a World title. That's a much bigger deal, I think. Maybe because it's an event, something that happens on a particular day in front of a crowd. It's acheived with a team, and you've been working hard together on the routine all year for this one event. It's about coming through in the moment on a particular weekend when the pressure is on, where as number one is an individual thing and something that's earned over a long period of time.
ENJOY !!
Discstyle : Hi Dave!! Great to have
you here at ukDISCSTYLE!! At what age did you begin freestyling? How
did you find out about the sport?
Dave :I first saw freestyle my first year of high school when I was 14. I went to Redwood High School just north of San Francisco . There were quite a few guys who would freestyle on the main field everday at lunch.I was blown away with what I saw and from the first second I saw freestyle, I decided I had to learn this sport.
I was amazed at what these guys were doing. This one guy named Mark Mallard was the best of the group. He was a counter player who was great at air brushing. It seemed like he could levitate the disc just above he head for like twenty seconds while he brushed the disc into the wind. He used to call it a chop. He'd be increasing the spin by glancing the outside of the disc with his right hand in a chopping motion just above his head while the disc hung there in the wind. He had total control and I was amazed. It looked impossible. But I had to learn it. A bunch of my friends all got into freestyle at the same time. We'd play everyday at lunch on the school field, and after school. I remember learning how to do the nail delay. My buddy Chris Schardt and I would jam a lot. We'd try to see how long we could hold the nail delay until the spin almost ran out then drop the disc down for a catch. At the time we didn't know that you spray the disc with silicone spray, so we used Armoral on the bottom of the disc instead. At the time Wham-O had all of these different
sized discs. They had the 165gram, 141, 119, and even a 97 gram. I had to get all of them and practiced my control of the nail delay with all of them. We mostly played with the 141 gram and 165 gram.
A group of us made a road trip 1 1/2 hours north to Sonoma for the Sonoma State Championships in California. And the best freestylers in the world were at the tournament. To me it was like Christmas seeing all of these moves I'd never seen before, I had a note pad and just wrote everything I could understand down. Two years later I entered the competition with Scott Weaver, and by that time I had learned quite a few moves and knew a lot of catches. I had been practicing pretty much everyday. I was very obsessive. We didn't make it out of the first round, but it didn't really matter. I have a video tape of it to this day. At the tournament some of the better freestylers at the time to came up to me and started teaching me different moves and catches. That psyched me up even more.
My senior year in high school I started practicing with Angus Wagner, he was an ultimate player who was really good at freestyle. He had a really flowing game. My game at the time was very technical fast and choppy. I didn't have a lot of flow. We decided to practice for the Sonoma competition. And we put together a routine and played quite a lot that year. We went to the Sonoma tournament and made it out of the first round into the semi finals. During the summer that year we practiced as a team everyday for hours at a time as well as meeting up with one of the best players of all time Skippy Jammer (Kevin Givens). He gave us lessons and we learned how to really bring our game to the next level. Then we travelled down to LA to the Beach Bowl and came in 2nd place.
Dave :I first saw freestyle my first year of high school when I was 14. I went to Redwood High School just north of San Francisco . There were quite a few guys who would freestyle on the main field everday at lunch.I was blown away with what I saw and from the first second I saw freestyle, I decided I had to learn this sport.
I was amazed at what these guys were doing. This one guy named Mark Mallard was the best of the group. He was a counter player who was great at air brushing. It seemed like he could levitate the disc just above he head for like twenty seconds while he brushed the disc into the wind. He used to call it a chop. He'd be increasing the spin by glancing the outside of the disc with his right hand in a chopping motion just above his head while the disc hung there in the wind. He had total control and I was amazed. It looked impossible. But I had to learn it. A bunch of my friends all got into freestyle at the same time. We'd play everyday at lunch on the school field, and after school. I remember learning how to do the nail delay. My buddy Chris Schardt and I would jam a lot. We'd try to see how long we could hold the nail delay until the spin almost ran out then drop the disc down for a catch. At the time we didn't know that you spray the disc with silicone spray, so we used Armoral on the bottom of the disc instead. At the time Wham-O had all of these different
sized discs. They had the 165gram, 141, 119, and even a 97 gram. I had to get all of them and practiced my control of the nail delay with all of them. We mostly played with the 141 gram and 165 gram.
A group of us made a road trip 1 1/2 hours north to Sonoma for the Sonoma State Championships in California. And the best freestylers in the world were at the tournament. To me it was like Christmas seeing all of these moves I'd never seen before, I had a note pad and just wrote everything I could understand down. Two years later I entered the competition with Scott Weaver, and by that time I had learned quite a few moves and knew a lot of catches. I had been practicing pretty much everyday. I was very obsessive. We didn't make it out of the first round, but it didn't really matter. I have a video tape of it to this day. At the tournament some of the better freestylers at the time to came up to me and started teaching me different moves and catches. That psyched me up even more.
My senior year in high school I started practicing with Angus Wagner, he was an ultimate player who was really good at freestyle. He had a really flowing game. My game at the time was very technical fast and choppy. I didn't have a lot of flow. We decided to practice for the Sonoma competition. And we put together a routine and played quite a lot that year. We went to the Sonoma tournament and made it out of the first round into the semi finals. During the summer that year we practiced as a team everyday for hours at a time as well as meeting up with one of the best players of all time Skippy Jammer (Kevin Givens). He gave us lessons and we learned how to really bring our game to the next level. Then we travelled down to LA to the Beach Bowl and came in 2nd place.
Discstyle :When did you first become a pro player? How did you get involved?
Dave :About 12 years ago in 1992, I got back into the sport after a long break and entered my first tournament in Redondo Beach, California in July of that year and came one place away from dead last. There were a lot of teams at that tournament. My result wasn't that great, but it was an incredibly fun
tournament. My game was really rusty so I busted my but over the next three months and practiced a couple hours a day, watched a lot of video and learned a lot of moves. Z Weyand let me copy his video collection of
freestyle tournaments from the 1980's and also gave me a copy of the '92 FPA Worlds held in San Diego. I studied all of those tapes. I'd pick a move I wanted to learn and slow it down and rewind it a hundred times until I figured it out. About three months later I teamed up with Dave Zeff and a legendary player named Joey Hudoklin at a big beach tournament in Ventura California. I hung out with Joey a lot at the time and he taught me about "the zone" and basically the principles of good freestyle. I'd attribute a lot of my success to what he taught me. I was lucky to get to play with those guys. There were also some great players at that tournament who I was at the time a little intimidated by at the time, like Tom Leitner and Dave Schiller. Well, we actually won, and I was in shock. I'd never won a tournament before, and we received some prize money and a fleece jacket along with the trophy.
Discstyle :When did you first become world no.1? How did it feel?
Dave :I first became number one in July of 1997 or '98, can't remember exactly. I was only number one for a month that first time. It was a blast. It really felt good since I had been ranked in the top 3 for three or four years before that and never could get above number two. In a way, though, it was bitter sweet. I had a re-occuring neck injury at the time and couldn't actually play that summer. I thought it was very ironic that when I was ranked number one, I coudn't even freestyle. It's a very strange feeling imagining that you're actually ranked number one in the world at something.
But that's what's cool about freestyle, not everyone does it. It's unique. But I'd say it was more of a high to win a World title. That's a much bigger deal, I think. Maybe because it's an event, something that happens on a particular day in front of a crowd. It's acheived with a team, and you've been working hard together on the routine all year for this one event. It's about coming through in the moment on a particular weekend when the pressure is on, where as number one is an individual thing and something that's earned over a long period of time.
Discstyle :When did you win your first F.P.A. World Title?
Dave : My first World Title was in 1996 in New York City with Arthur Coddington at the FPA World Championships. We won on a rain soaked field against a field of amazing players. Some of the players and teams we competed against we grew up idolizing, like the Velasquez Brothers, Joey Hudoklin, Krae VanSickle and Larry Imperiale. The tournament was a rollercoaster ride for us. The prelims went well. In the semis we played very solid but only came in third in that round. We felt that if we played really strong for us and only came in third, how were we going have a shot a winning the tournament? We really wanted a world title badly. Arthur and I had been winning smaller tournaments as a team but could never break through at the
Worlds. Since it looked at the time that no matter how well we would play in the finals we wouldn't have a chance to win, we said to ourselves, "fuck it", let's just do our thing. Let's just do the routine the way we want and not worry about it." So the pressure was off. When the pairs finals was about to begin the field was muddy and slippery because of a two hour downpour. So we reviewed the routine and changed a few things to fit the conditions and decided we would just keep the disc off the ground so we can keep the disc from getting muddy. Well, as we were warming up with this new attitude Arthur said, "I think we can win this." We went out there very very relaxed and everything went our way, and we went dropless, the disc never hit the ground. That was truly satifying.
Discstyle :You were featured in a 'Nike' T.V advertisement in early 2003 that indirectly promoted the sport of Pro Disc Freestyle. Did you enjoy being part of this hit commercial?
Dave :Absolutely. I think it was one of the coolest things I've ever gotten the opportunity to do. I definitely appreciated how lucky I was to be in the commercial and have a chance to show Europe freestyle. Because I love freestyle so much, and I believe that if people just see it, they'll love it too and want to learn it. I think it's the greatest sport in the world and I get the best high from playing. There had never been a pure freestyle commercial before the Nike commercial. It was always frustrating in the past that when a company wanted frisbee in a commercial, they'd get the best players then say, "just throw it and do a pancake catch." No freestyle. This one was all freestyle! Those Nike people really know what they're doing. They have vision. I was incredibly impressed with them, and there is a reason why they are the top sports company in the world.
Discstyle :Did you get paid by Nike or receive any free gear?
Dave :We got paid for the commercial and that was great. It was the most I ever made at one time playing disc. It helped a lot. We also got some cool gear.
Discstyle :What is it like playing alongside the Stickman?
Dave :Funny! Because the stickman was actually Dave Murphy in a black wet suit. He looked like a frogman. As well as playing himself, Dave jammed as stickman and he wore all black so they could erase him later in post and replace him with the animation. So I had fun laughing at him at the commercial shoot. If you know Dave Murphy's style, you can tell it's him because the stickman does one of Murf's signature catches, the gitis roll. And no one else in the world does that catch like him. Nike wanted to make sure the stickman did the more spectacular moves, so Murf and I had to hold back a little bit on our moves not to overshadow the stickman.
Discstyle :Where you pleased with the outcome of the advert?
Dave :I thought it was fantastic, way better than I thought it would be. I was worried they would cut out all the good stuff and just show basic throws and catches which is what most commercials do. Murf and I went to the editing place to see it for the first time and were really blown away with how good of a job they did. Some people have commented to me that I didn't do any really big moves. I did most of my big moves and catches during filming but they didn't show them in the commercial, but I was happy they showed the moves that they did. I think they showed a nice variety of moves throughout the commercial and it was paced really well.
Dave : My first World Title was in 1996 in New York City with Arthur Coddington at the FPA World Championships. We won on a rain soaked field against a field of amazing players. Some of the players and teams we competed against we grew up idolizing, like the Velasquez Brothers, Joey Hudoklin, Krae VanSickle and Larry Imperiale. The tournament was a rollercoaster ride for us. The prelims went well. In the semis we played very solid but only came in third in that round. We felt that if we played really strong for us and only came in third, how were we going have a shot a winning the tournament? We really wanted a world title badly. Arthur and I had been winning smaller tournaments as a team but could never break through at the
Worlds. Since it looked at the time that no matter how well we would play in the finals we wouldn't have a chance to win, we said to ourselves, "fuck it", let's just do our thing. Let's just do the routine the way we want and not worry about it." So the pressure was off. When the pairs finals was about to begin the field was muddy and slippery because of a two hour downpour. So we reviewed the routine and changed a few things to fit the conditions and decided we would just keep the disc off the ground so we can keep the disc from getting muddy. Well, as we were warming up with this new attitude Arthur said, "I think we can win this." We went out there very very relaxed and everything went our way, and we went dropless, the disc never hit the ground. That was truly satifying.
Discstyle :You were featured in a 'Nike' T.V advertisement in early 2003 that indirectly promoted the sport of Pro Disc Freestyle. Did you enjoy being part of this hit commercial?
Dave :Absolutely. I think it was one of the coolest things I've ever gotten the opportunity to do. I definitely appreciated how lucky I was to be in the commercial and have a chance to show Europe freestyle. Because I love freestyle so much, and I believe that if people just see it, they'll love it too and want to learn it. I think it's the greatest sport in the world and I get the best high from playing. There had never been a pure freestyle commercial before the Nike commercial. It was always frustrating in the past that when a company wanted frisbee in a commercial, they'd get the best players then say, "just throw it and do a pancake catch." No freestyle. This one was all freestyle! Those Nike people really know what they're doing. They have vision. I was incredibly impressed with them, and there is a reason why they are the top sports company in the world.
Discstyle :Did you get paid by Nike or receive any free gear?
Dave :We got paid for the commercial and that was great. It was the most I ever made at one time playing disc. It helped a lot. We also got some cool gear.
Discstyle :What is it like playing alongside the Stickman?
Dave :Funny! Because the stickman was actually Dave Murphy in a black wet suit. He looked like a frogman. As well as playing himself, Dave jammed as stickman and he wore all black so they could erase him later in post and replace him with the animation. So I had fun laughing at him at the commercial shoot. If you know Dave Murphy's style, you can tell it's him because the stickman does one of Murf's signature catches, the gitis roll. And no one else in the world does that catch like him. Nike wanted to make sure the stickman did the more spectacular moves, so Murf and I had to hold back a little bit on our moves not to overshadow the stickman.
Discstyle :Where you pleased with the outcome of the advert?
Dave :I thought it was fantastic, way better than I thought it would be. I was worried they would cut out all the good stuff and just show basic throws and catches which is what most commercials do. Murf and I went to the editing place to see it for the first time and were really blown away with how good of a job they did. Some people have commented to me that I didn't do any really big moves. I did most of my big moves and catches during filming but they didn't show them in the commercial, but I was happy they showed the moves that they did. I think they showed a nice variety of moves throughout the commercial and it was paced really well.
Discstyle :Which freestyle equipment do you use and why?(disc, nails, spray etc.)
Dave :I use the Discraft Sky-Styler. It's the best freestyle disc in the world, hands down. Nothing comes close to it. It's 160 grams, and is great for air brushing as well as delay work. I use Krylon silicone spray to slick the bottom and top of the disc. Without slick, it's very difficult to delay the disc for long at all. Everyone uses slick. Krylon's one of the best, some other brands get dirty quick. I glue Yarnails on top of my fingernail. I only use one nail on each hand, on my index finger. Yarnails are basically dental plastic, so it's a really hard material. To secure the nails, I use contact cement on my fingernail and the fake nail and let it dry for 15 minutes while I stretch, then I use a drop of superglue to secure the nail and wrap athletic tape around lower part of the the nail so if it comes off, I don't have to look for it in the grass.Nails help a lot for harder moves and for getting into rim moves. The disc spins longer when you use them. But I think there is an advantage to learning how to freestyle without nails, or at least practicing occasionally without them.
Discstyle :You, along with John 'Z' Weyand, recently released a DVD called 'The secrets of Pro Disc Freestyle'. What was the aim of the DVD, do you think it has and continues to achieve this?
Dave :The main reason we did the DVD is because we want people to know the secrets of freestyle. People will come up to us when we jam and say, "how do you do that?". Most people don't know we spray silicone spray on the bottom of the disc and that we actually spin the disc on the fingernail, not on the finger. And, of course, throwing is all wrist. In the DVD we show people to the basic elements of freestyle as well as showing the top pros doing hot moves throughout the DVD. I just feel that the information is not out there and that there are tons of people out there who would get into freestyle if they just knew how to do it. I feel like it's very successfull so far because there are some players brand new to freestyle who have started to learn freestyle from our DVD. You really can't ask for more than that. They seem to have found the DVD inspiring and informative. Which has in turn inspired us.
Discstyle :How are the top freestylers over in the USA recognised? Are they famous?
Dave :Right now Pro Disc Freestyle is still an up and coming alternative sport, and the top players are not famous. However, we get to do a lot of cool TV shows. Last year Arthur and I got to freestyle live in the studio on a popular national sports show called the Best Damn Sports Show Period. The segment is actually on the instructional DVD Secrets of Pro Disc Freeestyle in the bonus section. We've gotten to do quite a lot of other national shows as well over the years. The best thing about being a top player is the respect you get from people who are really into sports. Especially athletes themselves. They really seem to understand what an achievement it is to get your game to a world class level.
Discstyle :Has anyone ever asked you for your autograph?
Dave :Murf, Arthur and I had a signature freestyle disc with Wham-O for a few years that was sold in stores throughout the U.S., and Wham-O also used our photos on the packaging for a couple more. I've signed a lot of those discs for people.
Discstyle :Finally, what are your favourite moves? Which moves in freestyle do you think are the hardest to pull off?
Dave :My favorite catch right now is the double spinning barrel gitis catch. If my game is on and I concentrate on the set for the catch, I can get it. I do that catch on the Eurosport Watts show that I have on my website.I think the hardest catch is a double spinning standing gitosis catch. Osis means reverse. So it's a spinning reverse standing gitis. If it's done correctly, I mean. Some people cheat on the catch and it doesn't look right. They make it look like a fake standing gitis catch or a version of a triple fake. But if you do it right it's a very difficult spinning catch and looks really cool. There is a tiny window for error. So if you spin your body counter clockwise, as you're spinning the second time your left leg travels over the disc and you catch a left handed standing gitis around your planted right leg. It's a weird reverse standing gitis catch, you get to it the opposite way than you naturally think you would. It takes a long time to learn.
Discstyle :Thanks a lot Dave!! Good luck with the rest of your career!! Johninho and Joe 'the flow'
Dave :Thanks
Please take time to visit Dave's great website at : www.prodiscfreestyle.com
Dave :I use the Discraft Sky-Styler. It's the best freestyle disc in the world, hands down. Nothing comes close to it. It's 160 grams, and is great for air brushing as well as delay work. I use Krylon silicone spray to slick the bottom and top of the disc. Without slick, it's very difficult to delay the disc for long at all. Everyone uses slick. Krylon's one of the best, some other brands get dirty quick. I glue Yarnails on top of my fingernail. I only use one nail on each hand, on my index finger. Yarnails are basically dental plastic, so it's a really hard material. To secure the nails, I use contact cement on my fingernail and the fake nail and let it dry for 15 minutes while I stretch, then I use a drop of superglue to secure the nail and wrap athletic tape around lower part of the the nail so if it comes off, I don't have to look for it in the grass.Nails help a lot for harder moves and for getting into rim moves. The disc spins longer when you use them. But I think there is an advantage to learning how to freestyle without nails, or at least practicing occasionally without them.
Discstyle :You, along with John 'Z' Weyand, recently released a DVD called 'The secrets of Pro Disc Freestyle'. What was the aim of the DVD, do you think it has and continues to achieve this?
Dave :The main reason we did the DVD is because we want people to know the secrets of freestyle. People will come up to us when we jam and say, "how do you do that?". Most people don't know we spray silicone spray on the bottom of the disc and that we actually spin the disc on the fingernail, not on the finger. And, of course, throwing is all wrist. In the DVD we show people to the basic elements of freestyle as well as showing the top pros doing hot moves throughout the DVD. I just feel that the information is not out there and that there are tons of people out there who would get into freestyle if they just knew how to do it. I feel like it's very successfull so far because there are some players brand new to freestyle who have started to learn freestyle from our DVD. You really can't ask for more than that. They seem to have found the DVD inspiring and informative. Which has in turn inspired us.
Discstyle :How are the top freestylers over in the USA recognised? Are they famous?
Dave :Right now Pro Disc Freestyle is still an up and coming alternative sport, and the top players are not famous. However, we get to do a lot of cool TV shows. Last year Arthur and I got to freestyle live in the studio on a popular national sports show called the Best Damn Sports Show Period. The segment is actually on the instructional DVD Secrets of Pro Disc Freeestyle in the bonus section. We've gotten to do quite a lot of other national shows as well over the years. The best thing about being a top player is the respect you get from people who are really into sports. Especially athletes themselves. They really seem to understand what an achievement it is to get your game to a world class level.
Discstyle :Has anyone ever asked you for your autograph?
Dave :Murf, Arthur and I had a signature freestyle disc with Wham-O for a few years that was sold in stores throughout the U.S., and Wham-O also used our photos on the packaging for a couple more. I've signed a lot of those discs for people.
Discstyle :Finally, what are your favourite moves? Which moves in freestyle do you think are the hardest to pull off?
Dave :My favorite catch right now is the double spinning barrel gitis catch. If my game is on and I concentrate on the set for the catch, I can get it. I do that catch on the Eurosport Watts show that I have on my website.I think the hardest catch is a double spinning standing gitosis catch. Osis means reverse. So it's a spinning reverse standing gitis. If it's done correctly, I mean. Some people cheat on the catch and it doesn't look right. They make it look like a fake standing gitis catch or a version of a triple fake. But if you do it right it's a very difficult spinning catch and looks really cool. There is a tiny window for error. So if you spin your body counter clockwise, as you're spinning the second time your left leg travels over the disc and you catch a left handed standing gitis around your planted right leg. It's a weird reverse standing gitis catch, you get to it the opposite way than you naturally think you would. It takes a long time to learn.
Discstyle :Thanks a lot Dave!! Good luck with the rest of your career!! Johninho and Joe 'the flow'
Dave :Thanks
Please take time to visit Dave's great website at : www.prodiscfreestyle.com