Curing the beginner 'shot put' throw

[Coachinagin]

I have a beginner on my DD's 14U rec league team who shot puts the ball when she throws. I've tried everything I can think of to train her to lead with the elbow as the weight shifts from back to front. Nothing is working. Any drills, cues, tools, anything to help cure this?

Appreciation from WA.

/Jeff

 

[absdad]

Rolling the wrist, and following through, and REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITION.

 

[Hustle Coach]

This may sound simple, but i have had girls get about 15 feet from fence turn them sideways and throw like baseball pitcher. High leg kick , push and throw. I tell them to throw as hard as they can into fence and dont worry about where it goes so much. Make sure they reach back everytime and bring it. I use this more for getting good weight transfer and throwing harder, but might help with shot put. Most girls dont get into good position to throw , which causes shot put throw. Look at top of screen, get her in that postion, then have her throw.

 

[JC heir]

I tend to go the other way & take the bottom half completly ouy of the picture.I have a rh thrower get down on the right knee with the left foot extended out to the reciever & isolate the upper half mechanics.....point the glove at the target & really isolate the throwing arm.....

 

[obbay]

Two problems I'm always fighting with girls is the shot put and the throw-like-a-girl. I find a lot of the problem stems from them wanting to face their target when they throw rather than being sideways to it. I would work on the "L" starting position rather than trying to tell them how their elbow should go. I find I can't make them stop the girly throw until they can feel the correct way. even then it takes a lot of repetition and time to break them of this.
1) Wrist snaps,


2.) One Knee: (same as JC said) Have the players proceed to the one knee position, “glove” side leg in front pointing towards their partners. The players should move back to approx. 15-20 feet. This focuses on upper body mechanics and accuracy. Again, the players should follow through with their throwing elbows outside their knee with bend in at the waist.


3.) Crane: Players begin in the "crane" position. That is, with their glove side leg raised in the air (knee bent), their glove hand pointing at their target, their throwing hand in the launch position (ball outside ear), players hold in this position for 2-3 seconds before releasing the ball. To ensure proper follow through, the players then take one full step towards their partner after releasing the throw. This helps the players focus on properly using their glove hand for emphasis on shoulder, hip and knee rotation. What I tell the girls is that (if righty), their left shoulder, hip and knee point at their target at the start and when they are done, their right shoulder hip and knee should be pointing at their target.
4) Teach them to throw a football. they should keep doing this.
5) I really like Hustle Coach's suggestion

 

[shockcoach]

To add to the one knee drill, their extended leg should be pointed at the target and their back leg should be a 90 degrees. This way, their shoulders and hips are in the proper position. Also, stress a good follow through where their chin ends up over their knee and the throwing arm crosses over the the extended leg.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

This may sound simple, but i have had girls get about 15 feet from fence turn them sideways and throw like baseball pitcher. High leg kick , push and throw. I tell them to throw as hard as they can into fence and dont worry about where it goes so much. Make sure they reach back everytime and bring it. I use this more for getting good weight transfer and throwing harder, but might help with shot put. Most girls dont get into good position to throw , which causes shot put throw. Look at top of screen, get her in that position, then have her throw.

Good stuff.

MY 8YO daughter throws pretty well, due in part to the fact that both of her older brothers are pitchers. She has spent a lot of time watching them pitch from the set position. When she throws, she even does a bit of a hip load like a baseball pitcher. Now, we're going to have to get rid of that at some point, since it's too slow in the field, but what matters is that she...

1. Instinctively gets sideways to the target.
2. Loads her weight onto her back foot before throwing.

Also, Howard has talked about the importance of making sure they transfer the weight onto the back foot. I didn't used to emphasize that but now do after independently finding that it helped a couple of my pushers and wrong foot steppers last year.

 

[Wellphyt]

This may sound simple, but i have had girls get about 15 feet from fence turn them sideways and throw like baseball pitcher. High leg kick , push and throw. I tell them to throw as hard as they can into fence and dont worry about where it goes so much. Make sure they reach back everytime and bring it. I use this more for getting good weight transfer and throwing harder, but might help with shot put. Most girls dont get into good position to throw , which causes shot put throw. Look at top of screen, get her in that postion, then have her throw.

I actually like this approach because it incorporates both the upper and lower body. Learning how to sync up the lower and upper body is crucial to throwing overhand correctly. One thing I would add is that if you start the teaching process from a sideways position, make sure to teach the girls how to get sideways once they get the basic mechanics down. Many girls will point their plant foot towards the target.

 

[Wellphyt]

I have a beginner on my DD's 14U rec league team who shot puts the ball when she throws. I've tried everything I can think of to train her to lead with the elbow as the weight shifts from back to front. Nothing is working. Any drills, cues, tools, anything to help cure this?

Appreciation from WA.

/Jeff

Have her trigger her throw from a position where both arms are bent, internally rotated and close to horizontal. If you want an AHA moment, throw a ball while watching your front leg. Your front leg will automatically externally rotate as your front foot approaches the ground during the weight shift from back to front. I had no idea I did this. I also had no clue how big of a role the external rotation of the front leg plays in synching up the upper and lower body.

The externally rotation of the front leg is what triggers the throwing arm. I was showing a dad this last week and he got this big grin and said; "Wow! I didn't know I did that". I was like; "Don't feel bad, neither did I".

Big thanks to Tom G for turning me onto Hodge.