- Oct 10, 2011
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I wasn't sure where to post this...
I've been studying (like most of you) hitting and more recently, throwing. My DD throws fairly hard, but was having a problem with a funny spin on the ball, side arming, and fielding the ball and taking it directly to the "L" position. Within one week span, her travel coach said while she was playing outfield, she had an "infield throw" and her Varsity coach said when she was playing 3rd, her throw was more of an "outfield" throw. Truth is, it was neither of them
I believe it was mid January we started to do some of Austin's drills that he had posted here. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to work on it with her before HS ball started.
Tuesday, I was able to get her a lesson with her hitting coach, and he said he would work with her on throwing for half the lesson. I was actually worried, because in his organization, most of the coaches start off with the wrist flick drill etc... I thought it might contradict what I was trying to get rid of. I was actually surprised that after he asked her how she normally warms up, he said he doesn't believe in doing wrist flick drills. In fact, he said if the coach has them do the drill, to lift her hand up higher, and do more of a "basketball" shot just to warm up the wrist and take stress off the elbow. After she was warmed up, he timed her at 53 MPH pretty consistently. He will time her again at a later date to see the improvement.
We talked about what some of the coaches were telling us about spin, side arm etc... Fortunately, he said the drills we were doing must have worked, because she didn't have a single side arm throw and the spin was very good (used a ball with a stripe on it for the practice).
What he did notice immediately, is that she takes the ball up to the "L" position and "strikes a pose" as he put it. She of course doesn't take it to the L position when we do the drills, but when fielding etc...she went back to her old ways. After working on infield technique on fielding the ball and taking the ball glove towards ear (3rd base technique he prefers), she started looking much better. The thing is, she still paused in that position. He said, you need to be more fluid...no pauses. After throwing awhile, she said how much better it felt; like she didn't have to try as hard to make a hard throw.
This made me think about hitting and how we have started to go with "the load is the swing" and making her swing as smooth as possible. It seems some of Tewks drills used for teaching a smooth swing correlates nicely to throwing. When I was watching the Varsity game yesterday, I noticed other girls "striking a pose" when they were throwing- and it wasn't because they were trying to figure where to go with the throw. It wasn't smooth. Have any of you focused on a "smooth throw/ smooth swing?" Maybe I'm late to the party, but this was enlightening to me. Sorry for going on so long, but I've had a lot of coffee
I've been studying (like most of you) hitting and more recently, throwing. My DD throws fairly hard, but was having a problem with a funny spin on the ball, side arming, and fielding the ball and taking it directly to the "L" position. Within one week span, her travel coach said while she was playing outfield, she had an "infield throw" and her Varsity coach said when she was playing 3rd, her throw was more of an "outfield" throw. Truth is, it was neither of them
I believe it was mid January we started to do some of Austin's drills that he had posted here. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to work on it with her before HS ball started.
Tuesday, I was able to get her a lesson with her hitting coach, and he said he would work with her on throwing for half the lesson. I was actually worried, because in his organization, most of the coaches start off with the wrist flick drill etc... I thought it might contradict what I was trying to get rid of. I was actually surprised that after he asked her how she normally warms up, he said he doesn't believe in doing wrist flick drills. In fact, he said if the coach has them do the drill, to lift her hand up higher, and do more of a "basketball" shot just to warm up the wrist and take stress off the elbow. After she was warmed up, he timed her at 53 MPH pretty consistently. He will time her again at a later date to see the improvement.
We talked about what some of the coaches were telling us about spin, side arm etc... Fortunately, he said the drills we were doing must have worked, because she didn't have a single side arm throw and the spin was very good (used a ball with a stripe on it for the practice).
What he did notice immediately, is that she takes the ball up to the "L" position and "strikes a pose" as he put it. She of course doesn't take it to the L position when we do the drills, but when fielding etc...she went back to her old ways. After working on infield technique on fielding the ball and taking the ball glove towards ear (3rd base technique he prefers), she started looking much better. The thing is, she still paused in that position. He said, you need to be more fluid...no pauses. After throwing awhile, she said how much better it felt; like she didn't have to try as hard to make a hard throw.
This made me think about hitting and how we have started to go with "the load is the swing" and making her swing as smooth as possible. It seems some of Tewks drills used for teaching a smooth swing correlates nicely to throwing. When I was watching the Varsity game yesterday, I noticed other girls "striking a pose" when they were throwing- and it wasn't because they were trying to figure where to go with the throw. It wasn't smooth. Have any of you focused on a "smooth throw/ smooth swing?" Maybe I'm late to the party, but this was enlightening to me. Sorry for going on so long, but I've had a lot of coffee