Correct throwing mechaincs

[RayR]

Amy, I think the issue is how every girl is taught to get the arm into the "L" position and pause and then it is more like a gate throw (hips and shoulders turn together) and they push the ball....

Why can't instruction be more geared to what we see here? Creating separation....

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It must be regional. I don't know anyone that teaches you to pause during the throwing motion.

I like the stuff from Jaegersports.com and Alan Jaeger is pretty good to talk to on the phone.

I still think that overhand throw isn't stressed enough and that girls can throw much further and better than they do. Having been a first baseman, I am amazed that the teammates that I have had, that can't throw accurately for 80 feet.

Girls want to pitch and hit, but it is difficult to do either, if they can't throw the ball.

 

[RayR]

It must be regional because that is all I see around here....that whole thumb to the thigh song has them pause at the top....

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I hate that song. In fact, I had never heard it until this year. Not everything needs a jingle.

 

[Wellphyt]

Here are some quotes from my Hodge material if anyone is interested.

"The essential key for throwing with power and throwing with control is to time your throwing arm with your stride leg."

"When your throwing arm and your stride leg are out of sync you will in fact put stress on your rotator cuff."

"I can't emphasize this enough. It's the external rotation of your stride leg that externally rotates your arm. When you do that you take all of the stress out of the throwing motion. Because what happens is if you externally rotate too early as you stride, what you've done now is you've totally used up the elasticity in the rotator cuff. So now when you go to throw you'll put a lot of stress on a stretcher that is already fully stretched. It's like stretching a rubber band, and then stretching it even more, just before you let it go (ball)."

"What you want to do is preserve all of the elasticity in your rotator cuff so it's there when you need it. You get that by waiting (until the stride leg rolls over). You will preserve a lot of the elasticity in your rotator cuff if you let the stride leg rotation dictate the arm movement."

"If you bring your arm up before your thigh rolls over, you've used up all of the elasticity(rotator cuff). Now when you go to land and throw, you're already stretched out and it's going to hurt you."

"The critical timing in the stride is not foot strike, it's just before foot strike, it's when you feel your thigh roll over to land. That's very important, I can't stress it enough."

"The throwing arm remains internally rotated behind you (horizontal) until the lead thigh externally rotates."

"What I will tell kids to do, is when you throw, keep your arm and head back until you feel that stride leg role over. And then go ahead and bring both. What this does is it keeps you from rushing, it keeps you from externally rotating your arm too early and risking shoulder problems, this keeps your balance, this keeps your direction. There are like six things that coaches will talk about in terms of throwing mechanics; this does it automatically. If I keep my head back and my arm back until I feel my (lead) thigh roll over, now I know it's safe to bring both."

"You don't get on knees to isolate the upper torso, you don't kneel down or whatever so you get rid of the lower half. I know a lot of coaches, they have these drills that, I don't know, they pull out of a hat some place or something, and it's to isolate certain things. They don't understand the importance of the relationship between the lower half and the upper half. Yeah they say you need to coordinate both to throw well, but they don't know how to do that, they don't know how to explain it certainly. So, you have to understand that you can't learn to throw well if you kneel down and just cut off the bottom half. Because now you are going to be using all torso and arm, and that's not the way you throw either."

The coach in the video did not mention one time the relationship between the rollover of the stride leg and the throwing arm. What she teaches actually destroys the relationship between the two. Taking the arm back up into the "L" position before the front thigh rolls over is how you throw darts. IMO it's not recommended for throwing a heavy object hard over a long distance, like a softball.

 

[RayR]

I will send you the mp3 so you can put it on your Ipod

It really puts so much emphasis on getting the ball up in the "L" position that there is virtually no sequencing....and in a live situation it forces girls to either stand up and throw with no moving towards the target or extra steps to build in time to get the ball up there....

 

[Wellphyt]

It must be regional because that is all I see around here....that whole thumb to the thigh song has them pause at the top....

I think most will agree that a pause in any throwing motion is not good. The pause in the video clip is not an issue for me because it is a drill. My concern is what is being taught overall. When you take the arm back and make an "L", the roll over of the front thigh is out of sync with the throwing arm. Even if you don't pause at the "L" position. The connection between the front thigh and throwing arm is gone.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Oh, yeah. I ran into a mom teaching that last year. She hadn't played softball. She said to me "Know know about Big Al." Heck, I thought she was talking about a man, until I realized she was trying to say L.

 

[#14's_Dad]

Can someone post a video of correct throwing mechanics for outfielders, we are having our 2nd practice this saturday and I want to make sure I am teaching the correct mechanics. Should I videotape each player?

Thanks for your help, this site is always constructive for us volunteer coaches.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Can someone post a video of correct throwing mechanics for outfielders, we are having our 2nd practice this saturday and I want to make sure I am teaching the correct mechanics. Should I videotape each player?

Thanks for your help, this site is always constructive for us volunteer coaches.

Video taping the players would help and direct the conversation towards details leading towards improvement.

There is a lot of good information in what Wellphyt posted. It is very true that throwing 'power' & 'control' is a strong function of the synchronization between the lead stride leg and the rear throwing arm. During 'hand break' you want both arms to internally rotate as they abduct (move away from the center line of the body) ... and this will setup a more natural synchronized external rotation of the 'lead upper leg within the front hip socket' along with the external rotation of the 'rear upper arm within the rear shoulder socket'. The importance of internally rotating the lead arm during the 'hand break' serves a different function than the rear arm ... that being that it promotes not flying open prematurely with the upper body.

Post some videos and that may stimulate a more detailed discussion.