Throwing

What's your thoughts on how much non pitchers should be throwing at practice. My DD is on a new team and they spend a large amount of time on throwing drills (star drill etc) than her old team and they are throwing full power. Much different than my dd's old teams practice Maybe the old way was wrong but to me it feels like too much especially for a catcher What do you all think ?


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How old? How much is a "large amount of time"?

As for catchers...no player on the field throws the ball overhand more than the catcher. Having a strong arm with endurance is pretty important.

EDIT: The "star drill" is much more than just throwing. It incorporates speed and accuracy, and requires proper body movement/positioning with efficient transfers. These are important skills for all players.

I think those drills are great. It amazes me how many players get through to 14U that really can't catch and throw. Obviously if you hit them in the chest they can all catch, but you really see who has good hands in those drills.

Throwing is left out of too many practices imho. Really shows come game time. Especially at the older levels

Throwing a key part of all of our practices, but make sure that the arms go through a thorough warm-up before letting 'em loose. For arm warm-up (after dynamic stretching), we have them pair up and do a simple but effective progression - 6 ft apart wrist-only flips, 12-15 ft apart "darts", 20-30 ft apart "ready-break-throw", 45-50 ft apart cross-over throw. All done on a cadence.

TMD said:

Throwing a key part of all of our practices, but make sure that the arms go through a thorough warm-up before letting 'em loose. For arm warm-up (after dynamic stretching), we have them pair up and do a simple but effective progression - 6 ft apart wrist-only flips, 12-15 ft apart "darts", 20-30 ft apart "ready-break-throw", 45-50 ft apart cross-over throw. All done on a cadence.

Click to expand...

You may wish to reconsider that type of training.

https://wassermanstrength.com/why-your-softball-players-have-elbow-pain-wrist-flick-edition/

ETA - Great timing

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-training/29438-high-level-throwing-updated-softball-edition-catcher-edition.html

While you can go crazy with anything, an emphasis on throwing will pay huge dividends. The figure I've always heard is 80% of all errors are throwing errors. So if you remove those, you can really bring down the reasons your team will lose a game by shooting itself in the foot.

When I am coaching a team and starting a new season, throwing is the first thing we work on. Sometimes it ends up taking up more than half of the first practice because of a drill I run: the entire team must be able to throw and catch with no drops and throwaways for one minute. No pressure on the number of throws and catches, just do it without drops or throwaways for a minute. You'd be surprised how long that can take to get through the first time out, even with experienced players. Especially since I stand there with a stopwatch calling out the time remaining just to add pressure to it.

But it sends a message about how much emphasis we place on good throws and good catches. After a few practices it usually only takes one or two times to get through the drill. At which point you rarely see a throwing error in a game - a point of pride for the whole team.

So while it may seem like a lot, it will pay off in the long term.

riseball said:

You may wish to reconsider that type of training.

https://wassermanstrength.com/why-your-softball-players-have-elbow-pain-wrist-flick-edition/

ETA - Great timing

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-training/29438-high-level-throwing-updated-softball-edition-catcher-edition.html

Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks. Will share with the coaches.

My daughters 10u team, after stretching spends the first 30 minutes (maybe a bit longer) of every practice throwing. Honestly, at tryouts, the difference in arm strength and accuracy from the returning players to the first year players was noticeable.