One of the things I want to see in a coach is, is he/she watching the kids throw in warmups and stressing good form.
The lost art of throwing
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This has been a source of bewilderment for me as a town travel coach. I believe I know the mechanics of throwing and I have told the players the correct method and shown them where their body/arms/legs should be during the throwing process. I have told the parents they need to work on it and to reinforce the lesson from the practice. I have written step-by-step instructions with pictures in team emails.
However, few have made any changes to their motion. By 5th and 6th grade it seems their methods are so ingrained, it will take an extremely determined parent to make a significant change.
One girl in particular, I have shown the process many times; she throws with her elbow extremely low. She’s a strong girl who has the strength to throw it out of the ball park, but she’s reduced to throwing lollypops. After I show her she will do the process for max 3 repetitions before she reverts to form.
Once you teach the player, how do you get it to stick and become a part of muscle memory? I think the answer is many, many supervised reps with the new method.
However, few have made any changes to their motion. By 5th and 6th grade it seems their methods are so ingrained, it will take an extremely determined parent to make a significant change.
One girl in particular, I have shown the process many times; she throws with her elbow extremely low. She’s a strong girl who has the strength to throw it out of the ball park, but she’s reduced to throwing lollypops. After I show her she will do the process for max 3 repetitions before she reverts to form.
Once you teach the player, how do you get it to stick and become a part of muscle memory? I think the answer is many, many supervised reps with the new method.
I agree - I see some excellent girls at all levels who have terrible, terrible throwing form. I hate watching it.
It is hard to change mechanics the older the players get. We start teaching proper technique in T-Ball in our league and it is a big focus of our coach clinics and player clinics. Most of the coaches don't spend enough time on it at practice even with our emphasis and encouragement. I currently am coaching a 10U team travel team that is all from this rec league and 1/2 have great technique (as many of our players come from 2 teams that myself and one other coach teach it at every practice) and 1/2 we had to really work hard with and are rapidly improving. Work in progress still though.
We start every practice with several throw drills:
We have a bunch of variations and other drills we use, but the above seem to be the ones that move real well on the field and the players and coaches both really like them.
With concentration on proper technique and throwing in a competition situation (with coaches able to throw out bad technique throws even if the result is good) the players have been rapidly improving and we have been very pleased with where they have progressed to.
It is hard to change mechanics the older the players get. We start teaching proper technique in T-Ball in our league and it is a big focus of our coach clinics and player clinics. Most of the coaches don't spend enough time on it at practice even with our emphasis and encouragement. I currently am coaching a 10U team travel team that is all from this rec league and 1/2 have great technique (as many of our players come from 2 teams that myself and one other coach teach it at every practice) and 1/2 we had to really work hard with and are rapidly improving. Work in progress still though.
We start every practice with several throw drills:
- Warm Ups: Pairs start at 15' and one takes a step back after every 2 successful catches. If there is a drop they take a step forward. It is our first competition of the practice and we have got as far as 100' throws with 4 of the girls
- Net Throws: Three lines, 4 in each line, bucket of balls for each line: We put a 'Bigmouth' Bownet at 40' and all players go through throwing into the net. We work with the girls until we are happy with everyone's technique then we move to 50' and 60' (distances your choice). At the last distance, when you make a good throw with good technique you are 'tapped' and sent for a drink until we have tagged the whole team.
- 20 Balls: We put two 'Bigmouth' bownets (the ones with the socks) at 1st base next to each other. Divide the team into 2 lines at SS and 3rd. Two coaches at home plate have 20 balls which they throw grounders to the two lines (so two balls at once) and the two 'teams' throw at their target net (yes bad throw can score in the other 'teams' net.) Bad technique throws are called by the coaches and don't count. Winning team gets first drink, losing team picks up the balls. "teams" switch fielding position and repeat
- 20 Throws: Same two teams - throws from Home to first for one team, throws from 2nd to 3rd for second team (so the teams put half their players at one base, and half on the other). One ball per team. Teammates need to backup throws. First to 20 'outs' wins (so a bad throw needs to get back to the player on the base to make an out - thus proper backup). Winners get first drink, losers have to run the bases or similar (normally we do best of 3 before declaring a winner)
We have a bunch of variations and other drills we use, but the above seem to be the ones that move real well on the field and the players and coaches both really like them.
With concentration on proper technique and throwing in a competition situation (with coaches able to throw out bad technique throws even if the result is good) the players have been rapidly improving and we have been very pleased with where they have progressed to.
- Oct 12, 2009
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If the shoulder is sore, it could very well be due to a mechanical problem.
While I like long-toss, I have seen some cringe-inducing mechanics in guys who are trying to put up a big number on the radar gun.
Long toss is no panacea.
I'm convinced we do not spend enough time on throwing. It's all about what you focus on as a team. I believe we need to make a conscience effort to improve throwing. It's fall now and neither of my dd's teams spend enough time in practice learning the basics. It seems there's always a tournament coming up and we need to work on situational drills or hitting.
I don't remember the percentage of errors attributed to throwing. Something like 70-80%. Seems like the logical first step to improving.
I don't remember the percentage of errors attributed to throwing. Something like 70-80%. Seems like the logical first step to improving.
One of my favorite Wooden quotes applies here: "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
I have used removable painter's tape to put a stripe on the balls as a training aid. There may be 1 out of 10 travel players in our town that can throw the ball so the stripe has a reasonably stable vertical spin. The throwing hand seems to come off the outside of the ball as if they are throwing a type of slider or a football. With the big blue stripe the player can clearly see the spin.
How many of players do you see that can throw a ball with the spin near vertical?
How many of players do you see that can throw a ball with the spin near vertical?
- Oct 12, 2009
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As was made obvious by watching the 2006 world series, most throwing errors start with not getting sideways to the target.
Of course, not getting sideways to the target is a MAJOR problem with girls, so that's a good place to start.
It's funny, but my 9U DD doesn't take SB that seriously (yet?), but she's got a very good arm, in large part because both of her older brothers are pitchers and she learned from the first day that, when you want to throw, you start out sideways. Of course, the boys were starting out in the set position, and she needs to tone down her leg lift at some point, but the important thing is that she doesn't throw without first getting sideways to the target.
One thing I did with the SS on my daughter's rec team, who is quite an athlete but who doesn't throw enough, is walk around her in a circle while we play catch. That forces her to move her feet to get sideways before every throw. When she starts getting lazy with her feet, I circle her faster.
It also gives me a bit of a workout, so it's a win-win. ;-)
Another thing, players will emulate the adults. Pay attention to your own mechanics.
Throwing is a bit project of mine. DD is a pitcher with a fairly strong arm. Throwing mechanics are good, nit perfect. DD's pet miss is the dreading "ground spike" - like a football QB coming to the line of scrimmage and spiking the ball. That throw is U-G-L-Y; caused by DD not moving her feet when she throws.
It took an entire winter to correct the 1st time and 2 months the following year. There are still occasions when this will rear its ugly head (one game when she pitched, there were 9 come-backs to the circle; first 3 were various throwing errors to 1st base. Coach came out and told her to underhand toss the ball to 1st, that worked as a short term fix. The next 3 games she pitched she fired the ball to 1st like Derek Jeter on every come-backer).
It took an entire winter to correct the 1st time and 2 months the following year. There are still occasions when this will rear its ugly head (one game when she pitched, there were 9 come-backs to the circle; first 3 were various throwing errors to 1st base. Coach came out and told her to underhand toss the ball to 1st, that worked as a short term fix. The next 3 games she pitched she fired the ball to 1st like Derek Jeter on every come-backer).
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