We are studying the NECC DVD and we both love it. I won't preach to the choir, you know how good it is. The thing is, we've been doing some work with Austin from AB and DD's throws have gotten insanely better and with more velocity. We specifically do the "sitting hand behind" drill, the "standing hand behind drill" and the "water bottle drill."
So, we're watching the "Throwing" section of the NECC DVD and I was somewhat surprised to see that they teach the catcher to bring his/her throwing hand back into the "L" position before the throw-down which we've pretty much found out by now that's incorrect teaching when learning to throw (along with the wrist-flick drill).
So, being that my DD is working on her throwing, and doing quite well, BTW, we decided to deviate from that portion of the DVD and use the "hand behind" method for the throw-down and change nothing else from what we learned from the DVD. We went down to the field yesterday, went over proper footwork for a while, and I measured out to 2B. I have DD make her first throw-down attempt: perfect! I am shocked, but was confident it was a fluke. Then she threw down another perfect one. Then another. She was throwing the ball right at my glove side, waist-level, 9 out of 10 times. The times her throw was off I instructed her to "freeze" in her position and check her foot positioning. Sure enough, improper footwork was causing the errant throws to 2B.
Needless to say, DD and Dad are on cloud 9. If there's anyone on the fence about talking with Austin from AB Development, please reach out to him. I swear it looks like my daughter has been practicing the throw-down for months. I also believe that there's a natural catcher in her, I just couldn't convince her to try it before now
So, we're watching the "Throwing" section of the NECC DVD and I was somewhat surprised to see that they teach the catcher to bring his/her throwing hand back into the "L" position before the throw-down which we've pretty much found out by now that's incorrect teaching when learning to throw (along with the wrist-flick drill).
So, being that my DD is working on her throwing, and doing quite well, BTW, we decided to deviate from that portion of the DVD and use the "hand behind" method for the throw-down and change nothing else from what we learned from the DVD. We went down to the field yesterday, went over proper footwork for a while, and I measured out to 2B. I have DD make her first throw-down attempt: perfect! I am shocked, but was confident it was a fluke. Then she threw down another perfect one. Then another. She was throwing the ball right at my glove side, waist-level, 9 out of 10 times. The times her throw was off I instructed her to "freeze" in her position and check her foot positioning. Sure enough, improper footwork was causing the errant throws to 2B.
Needless to say, DD and Dad are on cloud 9. If there's anyone on the fence about talking with Austin from AB Development, please reach out to him. I swear it looks like my daughter has been practicing the throw-down for months. I also believe that there's a natural catcher in her, I just couldn't convince her to try it before now