Throwing High

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May 12, 2016
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Sorry Folks, not sure if there is a dedicated discussion area for throwing. My daughters has always had a strong arm, however it has been known to be a little wild sometimes. For quite sometime she side armed and became very accurate and hard with her throw, She plays 3rd base almost all the time. The coaches kept telling her and training her to come over the top more, and she listened and trained in doing so. Unfortunately she is no longer throwing has hard, and the ball for some reason keeps sailing over her targets head. I cannot put a finger on what's going wrong. I am think it's release point, but I am also thinking that maybe she is not getting her feet set. I am having a terrible time diagnosing this one, anybody else experiencing this? And what did you do to resolve it.

Cheers
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Can't give specific help but can say that accuracy is a learned skill that takes time to form. Throwing every day helps. If it's nerves, your DD will come around with time. How old is she?
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Can't give specific help but can say that accuracy is a learned skill that takes time to form. Throwing every day helps. If it's nerves, your DD will come around with time. How old is she?

She just turned 12, started playing "A" competitive ball last year. Like I said, this became more of a problem when her coach asked her to change to a more over the top approach vs 3/4's arm position which is what she use to throw like. I think she is not getting on top of the ball enough which is causing it to sail on her... and because she throws so hard (on a line) the ball does not drop much from 3rd to 1st base which causes the ball to sail high. I honestly believe she needs to get on top of it more, but I am not sure what to do to fix it
 
Jan 4, 2012
3,852
38
OH-IO
Make sure she has a hold of the ball ...4Seams

Make sure the arch of her back foot is pointed to Target

Make sure she points the index finger... in glove... at target...

Things that helped my DD.... JMHO :cool:
 

Greenmonsters

Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Feb 21, 2009
6,168
38
New England
Search Austin Wassermann and high-level throwing here and on the web. Compare her to those examples and my guess is that you will discover an underlying mechanical issue. Complaints about a sore elbow would suggest the same. Better to retool and fix now rather than later!
 
Feb 16, 2015
933
43
South East
Sorry Folks, not sure if there is a dedicated discussion area for throwing. My daughters has always had a strong arm, however it has been known to be a little wild sometimes. For quite sometime she side armed and became very accurate and hard with her throw, She plays 3rd base almost all the time. The coaches kept telling her and training her to come over the top more, and she listened and trained in doing so. Unfortunately she is no longer throwing has hard, and the ball for some reason keeps sailing over her targets head. I cannot put a finger on what's going wrong. I am think it's release point, but I am also thinking that maybe she is not getting her feet set. I am having a terrible time diagnosing this one, anybody else experiencing this? And what did you do to resolve it.

Cheers


My DD is a catcher and likes to throw from the knees when practical. In the beginning she would sail a lot of throws high which I believed was caused by her release point. What we did to help this issue was set up a bunch of targets ranging in distance from 15' - 100' and she had to do her best to hit the targets. This seemed to help her throwing accuracy a lot. We tried making throws to a target at a fixed distance over and over but didn't seem to help much then we went to variable targets and her accuracy seemed to really respond to this method. It sounds like that her mechanics are probably pretty sound if she can cut the across the diamond with ease. Also I am not sure if you know of Austin but he has a lot of good information (IMO) on throwing here is a link https://wassermanstrength.com/
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I will check out Austin Wassermann. I like the idea of target accuracy as well.

Cheers
 
Apr 8, 2013
192
0
Sorry Folks, not sure if there is a dedicated discussion area for throwing. My daughters has always had a strong arm, however it has been known to be a little wild sometimes. For quite sometime she side armed and became very accurate and hard with her throw, She plays 3rd base almost all the time. The coaches kept telling her and training her to come over the top more, and she listened and trained in doing so. Unfortunately she is no longer throwing has hard, and the ball for some reason keeps sailing over her targets head. I cannot put a finger on what's going wrong. I am think it's release point, but I am also thinking that maybe she is not getting her feet set. I am having a terrible time diagnosing this one, anybody else experiencing this? And what did you do to resolve it.

Cheers

One of the best shortstops ever to play college softball is Madison Shipman. SEC player of the year, finalist for national player of the year. Defensively she was on point, all day every day. Her arm is a missile. She throws three quarters side arm because...drum roll please...it works for her and she makes plays and gets outs that your average player would not. Imagine if some yahoo tried to change her when she was 12, 13, 14, whatever? You will be hard pressed to find an infielder that throws harder and as accurate as she does. But when you look at her mechanics it's not "text book" and most of the experts in the softball world would shun her and try to convince everyone that she needs to change.

I will never understand why coaches/parents/instructors think every player should have the same form/mechanics, whether fielding, throwing, hitting or pitching. Everyone is built differently. Jimi Hendrix was left handed, but his dad almost caused us to never know his name as he tried to get him to play right handed. Maybe your DD's coaches are related to Jimi's dad? :)
 
Jan 4, 2012
3,852
38
OH-IO
One of the best shortstops ever to play college softball is Madison Shipman. SEC player of the year, finalist for national player of the year. Defensively she was on point, all day every day. Her arm is a missile. She throws three quarters side arm because...drum roll please...it works for her and she makes plays and gets outs that your average player would not. Imagine if some yahoo tried to change her when she was 12, 13, 14, whatever? You will be hard pressed to find an infielder that throws harder and as accurate as she does. But when you look at her mechanics it's not "text book" and most of the experts in the softball world would shun her and try to convince everyone that she needs to change.

I will never understand why coaches/parents/instructors think every player should have the same form/mechanics, whether fielding, throwing, hitting or pitching. Everyone is built differently. Jimi Hendrix was left handed, but his dad almost caused us to never know his name as he tried to get him to play right handed. Maybe your DD's coaches are related to Jimi's dad? :)

or M.Jordan's high school coach...:cool:
 

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