Throwing Drill Needed – Elbow parallel to ground

[Wellphyt]

I know this is an old post but I have given up.

I am frustrating players and myself trying to fix their throwing motion. I have tried what was suggested above with no results. I have also showed them videos of themselves and they can see what they are doing wrong. If they have my full attention they will throw the ball more or less correctly, if my full attention is not on them, or we introduce any stress, they drop their elbow.

I have talked to a few of the parents and they are on my side and agree with what we are trying to accomplish but that has not seemed to have helped either.

Get some Nerf Footballs with the fin on one end.

1. Player holds football in the throwing hand. Hands are together in front of body at belly button height so that football is touching the glove. Feet are a little less than shoulder width apart and are sideways to target. The fin is pointing to the sky.

2. Player strides and separates hands. Palms turn down by internally rotating upper arms. Elbows are kept slightly bent as the hands separate. Freeze players when the arms are level to the ground. If you were to rest a yard stick or broom handle behind their neck it would line up from one elbow to the next. The fin is now pointing in and maybe slightly down. Point out to the players that this is the position that the throwing arm is in when the throw is triggered. The throw is not triggered with the arm in the "L" position from up behind the head. Stress to the players that the internal rotation of the upper arm when the hands break is what creates a stable structure in the shoulder socket. This is necessary if they are to prevent injury.

3. Once they get that position in their heads, you will need to make them aware of how their front leg and throwing arm work together. Just before the front foot lands, the thigh will roll over or externally rotate. Most of us do this naturally and aren't aware that we do it. This next part is critical and can not be emphasized enough. When the front thigh rolls over to land, the throwing arm gets triggered. IOW the front thigh and throwing arm are in sync. When the front thigh externally rotates, it triggers the external rotation of the throwing arm. If players don't get this sync correct they will almost certainly injure their arm at some point in their career. A good cue is to tell the players to keep their throwing arm and head back until they feel their front thigh roll over. When they feel the front thigh roll over they need to bring their throwing arm and head forward together.

4. The next step is to get the players to throw without any pauses. There should be no pauses in the throwing motion.

5. The internal rotation of the upper arm during the hand break is a mandatory. The sync between the front thigh and throwing arm is also a mandatory.

6. I know one knee drills are popular. My daughter had to do hundreds of them on her middle school team. I would highly discourage you from doing them. One knee drills remove the most important part of the throwing motion, which is the sync between the front thigh and throwing arm. It's critical that the kids feel the connection between the front thigh and throwing arm.

7. The "fin" is the key. The Fin points up at the start. The fin is "in" at the trigger position. The fin points back when the arm external rotates during the actual throw. Many kids will by-pass the "fin is in" position and point the fin back as soon as their hands break. This is called "premature external rotation", and is really bad for the shoulder. When the kids do this they have externally rotated their throwing arm before their front thigh has externally rotated, putting them way out of sync. Getting the throwing arm out of sync with the front thigh is probably the number one cause of arm injuries.

Don't give up. Teaching correct overhand mechanics is one of the best things you can do for young players. It's more important than hitting. If a player can't hit good, they strike out. If a player can't throw overhand correctly they can cause permanent damage to their throwing arm ending their career.

Good luck.

 

[RookKev]

What about throwing from a shuffling fielding drill? Have them start at the grass line behind shortstop. Put a cone at short, this will be where they field the ball. Then another cone five feet or so further, towards first. They field, and shuffle towards the 2nd cone, and fire. Maybe having them flowing towards first can help throw that lead shoulder towards the target, and help....?

My daughter twisted a lot of wrist and had a lowered elbow. We spent the last six months picking the apple from the tree before we threw. Really exaggerated, and anytime we throw, she knows to do it that way, every time the game speeds up, we slip back towards old habits. She seems to now be on the right path, which is great.

I've also noticed a tendency the when pointing the glove at her throwing target, she points the glove but has left her shoulders square...after explaining to her the pointing of the glove is to get her shoulders turned she realizes better. Finally, in a last ditch effort you could try to have them be baseball pitchers. Have a competition who can throw the best fastball emulating ubaldo Jimenez, or some other over the top pitcher. Show them how to come over the top and finish off over the opposite hip. Maybe that pretending to be someone else can open a doorway....?

 

[rowdy]

When warming up you so see a lot of bad technique. What we do is we throw in unisen and when we catch the throw we stop, turn side ways and then throw. We don't have many with less than great arms so I didn't do this for arm strength but I was noticing our accuracy was really getting bad. It will work for you.