Throwing

[finalcloud]

Background: I come from a family that has only known baseball. The girls never played sports. So I have a daughter now and she into softball. I have managed 8U and 12U/14U. The older girls don't have much experience to begin with.

Problem:
I've noticed girls throw more on their sides and the arm bent in a "L" shape. Then they seem to push the ball out. I run drills where they stand to the side, point with the glove straight out, get their arm up, step and throw. Works great in practice but in the games they revert back.

Is there a way to break them of this habit or is more of me not knowing the natural throwing habits of young ladies?

 

[quincy]

Trying to teach kids how to throw is the worst, I do not have any hair left.

If you are willing to spend a few buck get wosermans Ebook.

Someone will give you a link.

I do not think girls throw different then boys.

 

[Eric F]

Trying to teach kids how to throw is the worst, I do not have any hair left.

If you are willing to spend a few buck get wosermans Ebook.

Someone will give you a link.

I do not think girls throw different then boys.

This is what quincy is referring to...
https://wassermanstrength.com/high-level-throwing-softball-edition-e-book/

Austin Wasserman's methods for teaching proper throwing patterns are the best out there...by far. There is a lot of free info under the "blog" tab on www.wassermanstrength.com, too.

 

[quincy]

I got really annoyed with DD's team so we went to the lake and skipped stones.

I am not sure it accomplished much but it was a lot of fun.

 

[shaker1]

Read through this whole thread, lots of good info here. Wasserman's ebook is good also.

 

[grcsftbll]

I used the water bottle drill recently which completely changed my DD's throwing for the better and, at least so far, seems to have fixed her recurring elbow pain. This link is helpful too.
https://wassermanstrength.com/why-your-softball-players-have-elbow-pain-wrist-flick-edition/

I had to save the page then open the file to get the videos to load.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

Wasserman. The water bottle drill has been the most helpful. Also, the #1 thing to look at and fix is footwork - can't emphasize that enough.

 

[Mark H]

I'd suggest using baseballs when trying to fix young girls throwing mechanics. The larger ball combined with smaller hands can promote poor throwing mechanics. Not suggesting it as a panacea. Just as one of your tools.

 

[mudrunner]

I used the water bottle drill recently which completely changed my DD's throwing for the better and, at least so far, seems to have fixed her recurring elbow pain. This link is helpful too.
https://wassermanstrength.com/why-your-softball-players-have-elbow-pain-wrist-flick-edition/

Same story with my DD. Last summer towards the end of the season her throws were getting lazy. Her elbow was hurting and she was sailing everything. I came across the water bottle drill on here and she hasn't complained since. Plus her velocity has picked up.

 

[02Crush]

Throwing is tied to footwork and timing (sequencing). So if you want to correct the end result you must correct the process. Wasserman is a great place to start. I teach this a lot. Every year I have girls who may throw great but lack power. We then teach them the sequencing/timing between their footwork and upper body then amazingly the power increases. Other girls have poor throwing mechanics and merely need explanation of the right way. So I teach footwork and sequencing (age 12-13 mind you) and re-enforce it with drills that promote mental recognition and muscle memory of smaller pieces of the sequence (Kind of like the water bottle drill) and it clicks. That said, changing a habit takes time. I see consistent real time changes at about 1,000 correctly thrown balls.