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Throwing to 2nd
Should you throw off your knees or not?
Short answer without going into the proper footwork, throw from the standing position, not from your knees. If the catcher is squatting with a runner on 1st, she's in the wrong position and is not ready to throw down.
You abide by the ramifications of your decisions.
Wouldn't being on your knees mean your shoulders will still be square or restricted from moving back?
Also the time it takes to get the throwing arm to be ready to throw allows the legs time to get you up and orientated. So don't be lazy :-).
on her knees???
Im not sure how strong of a catcher you have to reach 2B with a strong and accurate throw from her knees. I want my catcher to be up in a throwing position with a solid base and to follow through.
Why would she be catching on her knees?
Vdubya,Originally Posted by vdubya
The throw from the knees actually begins from the crouch. But instead of standing up to throw, the catcher drops to her knees, glove side first, then throwing side and makes the throw. I have found little value throwing to 2nd from the knees since as Spice of Life has pointed out the throwing arm still have to get back into the throwing slot allowing time for the legs to get set.
Our catcher on our travel team last year (12U) would throw from her knees when taking the ball down to start an inning. The ball would never get above shoulder high, and was practically always a strike. This girl had the strongest arm I've seen by far on a 13 year old girl (and one of my buddies who coaches 16U said stronger than any catcher he had seen at that level also).
I asked her one time why she did it, because she never did it during the game, and she said something to the effect of "just to let them know that they don't want to steal second", with a little sneaky grin.
Her nickname was "Rocket", and it wasn't because she could run fast (although, she did indeed run very fast).
I love that story, she has a true catcher mentality, the kind of girl you want behind the plate. Nothing makes me more poud of my daughter, than when girls on the other team quit trying to steal. That intimidation factor is very valuable.
Play Sunday Softball
AGREED, Whole-Heartedly, THOUGH Megan Willis (former Texas STANDOUT catcher), threw from her knees propelling her body forward into her throw and was DEVISTATING! She also had an incredible snap to 1B.
So, although TRADITIONALLY, and old coaches don't like to teach what is not traditional, there MAY be consideration if the catcher develops a cannon arm.
*** Many catchers have STRONG arms, but their transition time from glove to release is what slows their Glove-Glove (Pop-to-Pop) time. MAYBE this mechanic saves the .1 or .2 needed to get a runner???
I don't teach throwing from the knees, but my friend and I used to practice it. She would be on her knees at 2nd and I would be on my knees at home. We thought it was fun. It made for great upper body strength and accurate throws. Plus, we only owned one ball. It was the mid 1960s.
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