Throwing Sidearm

Throwing your disc sidearm is a throwing style where you throw the disc with your palm up and off to the side.  It offers many advantages and disadvantages when compared to the backhand technique. 

First off is what feels natural to you.  Give both backhand and sidearm a shot and see what feels best.  If the are about equal, stick with backhand for most shots because it is the most common and you will most likely learn more from people.  The forehand is also more versatile because you can more easily tilt the disc to get it to do what you want more easily. 

Normally the disc will curve to the left when throwing with the backhand technique but when throwing sidearm, it will curve to the right.  This can come in very handy when trying to get around an obstacle.  Most pros actually practice both sidearm and backhand throws so that they can use the correct technique no matter what situation they are in.

Also, throwing sidearm will give you more spin (speed).  This means you can throw a disc with a high speed ranking with more control and distance (in theory at least).

In a perfect world, you should pick a throw technique and practice, practice, practice it until you feel that it is solid.  Then move on and try another technique for those special situations where you need it.

For how to throw using proper sidearm technique, check out this very helpful video.