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What we teach for basic throwing...
Take a ball and use electric tape and divide the ball in half so the fingers will be positioned to throw a four seam ball and wrap it around the circumference of the ball. This is done so when throwing if done properly you will see the tape rotating as half and half and if not it will appear to be tumbling.
The idea is whoever you are throwing with will be able to see it and you will know if you are staying on top of the ball and releasing it properly.
Start by taking your throwing arm and placing it inside the pocket of the glove so the elbow and forearm are some what restricted as we only want the thrower to be able to move their wrist up then down.
Hold the ball in the hand and think holding it more with your finger tips and not in the palm of the hand, you should be able to at least get a baby finger between the palm of the hand and ball.
Throw the ball using mainly your wrist so as to induce back spin so the ball will fly in more of a straight line and so the ball is moving with the tape coming at you in a half and half pattern.
Once you have mastered that we progress to demonstrating how the lead arm elbow is used. Have the thrower lie on their back and give them a ball and have them get their elbow above the shoulder at minimum with the back of their ball hand in contact with the floor. While keeping the back of the hand in contact with the floor have them raise only their elbow 10 times while their hand stays on the floor as we want them to grasp the concept of the elbow leading the hand. Many throwers want to keep the elbow below the shoulder and just pivot it and throw. Usually the shoulder and elbow are hurting when they throw this way.
Now have them throw the ball up in the air leading with the elbow and catch it. If they can catch it we consider it a good throw.
We predict one of three things will happen; if they throw the ball towards their feet they may have palmed the ball or did not lead with the elbow, if it goes behind them the ball is being held primarily with the finger tips and if it goes straight up it was a good throw.
Now have the player stand up and get at least a shoulders width separation in their stance and bend at the waist and soften the knees and start with the glove and ball in the gathered position in the center of the chest.
Slide the right foot to the left foot instep and as you step with left foot, break the ball out of the glove downward with the elbow above the ball and make a circle upwards and lead with the elbow and throw. The lead elbow is flexed so we can see the back of the glove.
Did the back leg release and follow forward?
If not stress landing on the ball of the foot with a flexed front knee and get the player to think nose over the toes and to finish with the throwing hand coming to the left thigh to slow the arm down after release as 80 % of the arm injuries are after deceleration not during acceleration or the act of throwing.
After a few more throws introduce the martial arts move of tucking the lead hand in under the arm pit however do not touch the rib cage area. When punching in martial arts we do not extend our punches by allowing the shoulders to go beyond parallel from where we started. So as we pull the glove hand back we are turning the hand so as we tuck it in we are palm up. We do this by standing in front of the player and inter locking the glove hand fingers and as I throw I tuck my arm back under the shoulder and say tuck me in or pull me in so they feel the force generated to the actual throwing arm side.
We see many players just pull the glove back to the chest area resulting in a less than powerful throw.
As they continue to progress make sure they are striding forward and their momentum is going straight ahead. Some times if they are landing with a stiff front leg they will be throwing across their body and moving towards their left.
This is not situational throwing and is only the basic concept of throwing, lets say from the outfield to the cut off person.
After we teach this phase we have them get in their hitting stance and inter lock their fingers like a golf grip and with the ball in the top hand have them load, toe touch and throw the ball with both hands to see if they squished the bug. I stand behind them so my foot is against the side of their back foot to prevent them from squishing the bug.
Take a ball and use electric tape and divide the ball in half so the fingers will be positioned to throw a four seam ball and wrap it around the circumference of the ball. This is done so when throwing if done properly you will see the tape rotating as half and half and if not it will appear to be tumbling.
The idea is whoever you are throwing with will be able to see it and you will know if you are staying on top of the ball and releasing it properly.
Start by taking your throwing arm and placing it inside the pocket of the glove so the elbow and forearm are some what restricted as we only want the thrower to be able to move their wrist up then down.
Hold the ball in the hand and think holding it more with your finger tips and not in the palm of the hand, you should be able to at least get a baby finger between the palm of the hand and ball.
Throw the ball using mainly your wrist so as to induce back spin so the ball will fly in more of a straight line and so the ball is moving with the tape coming at you in a half and half pattern.
Once you have mastered that we progress to demonstrating how the lead arm elbow is used. Have the thrower lie on their back and give them a ball and have them get their elbow above the shoulder at minimum with the back of their ball hand in contact with the floor. While keeping the back of the hand in contact with the floor have them raise only their elbow 10 times while their hand stays on the floor as we want them to grasp the concept of the elbow leading the hand. Many throwers want to keep the elbow below the shoulder and just pivot it and throw. Usually the shoulder and elbow are hurting when they throw this way.
Now have them throw the ball up in the air leading with the elbow and catch it. If they can catch it we consider it a good throw.
We predict one of three things will happen; if they throw the ball towards their feet they may have palmed the ball or did not lead with the elbow, if it goes behind them the ball is being held primarily with the finger tips and if it goes straight up it was a good throw.
Now have the player stand up and get at least a shoulders width separation in their stance and bend at the waist and soften the knees and start with the glove and ball in the gathered position in the center of the chest.
Slide the right foot to the left foot instep and as you step with left foot, break the ball out of the glove downward with the elbow above the ball and make a circle upwards and lead with the elbow and throw. The lead elbow is flexed so we can see the back of the glove.
Did the back leg release and follow forward?
If not stress landing on the ball of the foot with a flexed front knee and get the player to think nose over the toes and to finish with the throwing hand coming to the left thigh to slow the arm down after release as 80 % of the arm injuries are after deceleration not during acceleration or the act of throwing.
After a few more throws introduce the martial arts move of tucking the lead hand in under the arm pit however do not touch the rib cage area. When punching in martial arts we do not extend our punches by allowing the shoulders to go beyond parallel from where we started. So as we pull the glove hand back we are turning the hand so as we tuck it in we are palm up. We do this by standing in front of the player and inter locking the glove hand fingers and as I throw I tuck my arm back under the shoulder and say tuck me in or pull me in so they feel the force generated to the actual throwing arm side.
We see many players just pull the glove back to the chest area resulting in a less than powerful throw.
As they continue to progress make sure they are striding forward and their momentum is going straight ahead. Some times if they are landing with a stiff front leg they will be throwing across their body and moving towards their left.
This is not situational throwing and is only the basic concept of throwing, lets say from the outfield to the cut off person.
After we teach this phase we have them get in their hitting stance and inter lock their fingers like a golf grip and with the ball in the top hand have them load, toe touch and throw the ball with both hands to see if they squished the bug. I stand behind them so my foot is against the side of their back foot to prevent them from squishing the bug.
