How I Practice: Kyle Weakland

I, like a lot of kubbers out there, am isolated from any other players so I am always practicing on my own. In order to challenge myself and push myself to the next level, I have to make practice more difficult than the normal game. Playing phantom games against myself will only get me so far, so I have developed and borrowed a few games that mimic kubb situations that have helped me to get better as an overall player.

Inkasting

This first game that I do, I’ve taken from Eric Anderson at Wisconsin Kubb and adapted it to make it more difficult. The 3-4-3 that Eric does focuses on inkasting three or four kubbs into a pile. This is very important because you’ll see piles of three to four kubbs more often in a match than eight, nine or 10. If you can develop the skill to take out three to four kubbs in one to two batons early in the match, those extra batons could be the difference between winning and losing. I’ve taken this game a step further and made it more difficult. In my version, I inkast a pile of three kubbs, four kubbs and three kubbs, but instead of throwing to a corner pin, I inkast in space. This makes it way more difficult to keep the pile together not having a sideline to force kubbs together. Then I blast the piles with my six batons, the goal being to take out all three piles with six batons. I also have an “ultimate goal,” that I have only achieved once before, where I blast the three piles with five batons and I use the last baton to take out the king. Watch the video below to see me demonstrating the game.

8 Meter / Baton Accuracy

I don’t really have any games or special drills to improve my 8 meter game, but I suggest finding a way to control your rotation. To me, that is the most important aspect to becoming a really good 8 meter player. The only secret that I use, is to almost never throw to a kubb at 8 meters. Whenever I practice this distance, I’m always throwing at one of the corner pins. The corner pins are obviously much more narrow than a kubb, so if I can hit a corner pin two to three times out of six throws, I feel pretty good. This leads me to baton accuracy, I use the same idea as 8 meter accuracy. I will set up my six corner pins spread out at different distances. Usually I have one at 4 meters and 8 meters and the other four a various distances in between. Then I use my six batons to try and hit each pin once. This not only helps with general accuracy, but helps with all that in-between accuracy (about 5 to 7 meters) that you normally never practice for.

All Around Practice

I’ve gotten a little bored with phantom games over time, so I created this game to challenge myself. It includes most phases of the game. It’s game-like and it’s a real but achievable challenge. In this game, I inkast all 10 kubbs, like I would in a normal game. I set them up and make the pile as difficult as possible, with penalty kubbs getting placed at about 7 meters and neighbor kubbs placed somewhere in the pile. Then I have six batons to clear the 10 field kubbs, hit the corner pin and take out the king. My goal is to always clear the pile in three batons, so that I have two chances at the 8 meter pin and one left over for the king. Then the “ultimate goal” is to clear everything with five batons or less. I have done it in five batons a few times, but it is very difficult which keeps me motivated to keep working to get better. Watch the video below of me demonstrating this game.