Throwing

[redhotcoach]

I started this thread with the frustration of struggling to get certain girls to overcome very bad mechanics.

I have yet to hear about a foolproof method. I have seen Hodges, and yes I appreciate the mechanics discussions and they are of course good to learn and think about.

I could be 100% wrong, but the more time goes by the more I believe less in drills and methods and more in "just throw". For example, an eye opener at the end of 8U TB practice last summer was how incredibly fun the game of pickle was to the girls. I wouldn't have necessarily guessed that they would love it at that age. It gets them to stop thinking about it and motivates the heck out of them to make fast accurate throws. Ton of reps in a short time.

I am thinking the same T. Between the two teams (league and tb) we have practiced 4 times since I posted Saturday. I have put a lot of throwin in the practice and I was thinking last night that it her throw was actually looking a bit better. I do think that she may have been over thinking or aiming her throws a bit instead of letting it fly. That might explain some of the quick improvement.

Thanks FFS, for posting on pronation. I almost coached it out of her. I never got into the mechs of throw much, and it looked weird in slo mo. There still isn't much info out there on throwing. I still don't know about Hodges. Sorting through all of the baseball pitching info....those guys disagree even more than hitting instructors.

 

[Mr T]

Let's look at a another throw .....

And let's again slow it down ....

Yet another high level thrower with a similar mechanic. That is, catchers throw this way also ... and catchers make A LOT of throws during the course of a game ... go figure that they know to throw this way.


One more .....

By now it's probably getting pretty obvious what to look for ... but let's slow it down anyway ....

Even a high end Olympic caliber player throws with a similar mechanic.


You won't see much of this being taught ... there is a lot of "not so good" information demonstrated on the Internet throughout Youtube and whatnot. Review the drills shown earlier in the thread ... they work.

Oh I've really been away from this forum for too long. Saw there was very interesting input on this thread. Thanks Five for posting these. The drills you are talking about are the AB ones right?

 

[Mr T]

Found this on Tewk's youtube videos. It's very interesting to me because it's the clip he chose to use of an example of bad form. Yet it isn't really an example of 'L' throwing.

The girl (who BTW I think he shows in other vids with awesome throwing power, at least I hope that is her) does seem to get her hand pretty far back behind her head and shift her weight to some degree from back to front, which sort of seems to be what Tewks is advocating.

This begs a few questions. What makes this girls throw so obviously bad? What is it precisely about the throw? Does she need to get out to an 'L' downstream?

Not saying Tewks is wrong about anything. Not saying his method or drill is bad. But I think this clip perhaps serves as an illustration of just how subtle the differences between a good throw and a bad throw can be. And how difficult it can be to correct.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Oh I've really been away from this forum for too long. Saw there was very interesting input on this thread. Thanks Five for posting these. The drills you are talking about are the AB ones right?

Yes. The drills will give an important feel of establishing a linkage from the lower back upwards.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Found this on Tewk's youtube videos. It's very interesting to me because it's the clip he chose to use of an example of bad form. Yet it isn't really an example of 'L' throwing.

The girl (who BTW I think he shows in other vids with awesome throwing power, at least I hope that is her) does seem to get her hand pretty far back behind her head and shift her weight to some degree from back to front, which sort of seems to be what Tewks is advocating.

This begs a few questions. What makes this girls throw so obviously bad? What is it precisely about the throw? Does she need to get out to an 'L' downstream?

Not saying Tewks is wrong about anything. Not saying his method or drill is bad. But I think this clip perhaps serves as an illustration of just how subtle the differences between a good throw and a bad throw can be. And how difficult it can be to correct.

Big differences in this girls 'good' and 'bad' throws. The follow through is hugely different ... here you see none ... she's not making use of the whip, but more a reliance on momentum ... the result is more a 'push' than a 'throw'. The breakdown in the throw occurs earlier when she basically disconnects from her lower body ... notice that the elbow leads 'lower' in the 'bad throw' and that the hand release is considerably 'lower' in the 'bad throw'. One could argue that the start of the throw started off similarly, but the under-the-hood mechanics are significantly different. Perform the AB drills and feel the linkage from the lower back on upwards ... then mimic both this girl's 'good' and 'bad' throws and you'll feel a big difference.

The entire Kinetic linkage is different. In the 'bad' throw you see a complete absence of the Hodge Trigger Drill mechanics (linkage from the front leg to the throwing arm) ... and in her 'good' throws the linkage is there.

Basically ... the under-the-hood mechanics are different. She's using a different Kinetic sequence between the two types of throws.

 

[Mr T]

Thanks Five. Yes I agree. And no arm whip. Yes she pushes ball.

So, still interesting to me how he got her to throw so well. How he got her to lead with elbow and get arm whip. Interested in terms of I wish I could be a fly on the wall. Wonder if the drills really connect the feeling for the player, or what was said, what cues, etc.. So hard to get girls who throw like this to change.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

While I was trying to teach a 20 YO to throw (video is on this site), 8 yo boys were having practice. They couldn't throw either. The
coaches were playing a game with them. They were lined up down the first base line and the coaches had put 3 tees out in right field and had placed a colorful ball on each of them. The boys were throwing at the balls. It was a nice practice.

I have a 16 yo female student that came to me wanting to play travel. She only had 2 years of rec ball, to draw from. It took 7 months of twice a week practices with me, numerous practices with her TB team and every day practice with her JV high school team. She looks great, now, and is an excellent SS. But, it took practicing 5 days a week and extra practices, for her to get it. She said today, that now it feels natural.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

The differences are quite significant.

 

[rdbass]

FFS,
Hodge Trigger Drill is that on AB site?Seen this mentioned before.Where can I find info on this or get an explaination?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Rdbass ... the Hodge Trigger Drill is basically about having the lead thigh turn over (i.e., lead leg externally rotates) as a triggering mechanism. It is a feel of keeping your throwing arm back until the lead thigh begins to roll over.