Fundamentals of throwing the softball

[Danica]

I'm a former softball player, parent of a 10 year old softball player, and unofficially helping coach my daughter's 10U travel team. One of my biggest annoyances that I see as a coach is young players not being taught the proper way to throw a softball. It drives me nuts to see girls, year after year, not being corrected and taught how to fix poor throwing mechanics. I see coaches working so hard on all the other parts of the game but just glazing over bad throwing techniques or even worse yelling at girls to throw the ball the right way but never instructing.

My point is this...I want to help girls throw accurate and hard. I am passionate about throwing correctly! So many errors are made from bad throws and games are lost due to over throws. I've looked all over YouTube for good drills for young girls and I can't find much. I am a big fan of throwing from one knee to isolate the arms, making an L shape with the throwing arm, and pointing with the glove. This drill seems to really help but I need more ideas to help these young girls!

If anyone has any drills to share or good advice, please do! Thanks

 

[Danica]

This is the video I use the most when teaching a young girl how to throw.

 

[John 800]

I am trying with my 10u kids. Had 4 practices so far and it’s starting to get better, they do it properly when we are practicing throwing and discussing it but the second we put them in a situation or add an element other than throwing some revert back to where they started. One thing I have stressed is to NOT try to go any faster in a game than you practice at. I saw that most bad throws are rushed throws.

 

[Danica]

I am trying with my 10u kids. Had 4 practices so far and it’s starting to get better, they do it properly when we are practicing throwing and discussing it but the second we put them in a situation or add an element other than throwing some revert back to where they started. One thing I have stressed is to NOT try to go any faster in a game than you practice at. I saw that most bad throws are rushed throws.

I like that idea.. "don't go any faster in a game than you practice at.". Great advice! Muscle memory is what has to set in with the proper techniques and that can't be achieved solely at practice. I'm trying to get my daughter to just throw in the back yard for 15 minutes a day really concentrating on the right form. And these girls pick up on bad habits so quickly! Persistence is key!

 

[John 800]

I like that idea.. "don't go any faster in a game than you practice at.". Great advice! Muscle memory is what has to set in with the proper techniques and that can't be achieved solely at practice. I'm trying to get my daughter to just throw in the back yard for 15 minutes a day really concentrating on the right form. And these girls pick up on bad habits so quickly! Persistence is key!

there are times when I have slowed down practice and told them “give me one perfect throw at a time” an dthere have been times when I put a stop watch on them and tell me howmany throws thaey can get back and forth in a minute. Catch for warm up? Lazy as @&$!.... thats when I usually stop them amd have them give me good throws.

And by all means go faster, just practice faster first.

 

[lancer360]

Many throwing drills you see online are outdated. The gold standard for modern throwing is High Level Throwing by Austin Wasserman.

www.highlevelthrowing.com

Search for him on this forum and you will find recommendations for him everywhere. The arm in an L with the ball facing away is outdated. So are wrist flicks. His throwing is based on him starting his career in physical therapy. He understands arm mechanics at the physiological level.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Travis Lassiter]

Another good source on Youtube is Dan Blewett, Snap Softball.

 

[efastball]

Most kids throw with the front arm down. Fix this simple thing. Make them do this. Stop a practice if you see anyone do this.

 

[fanboi22]

Most kids throw with the front arm down. Fix this simple thing. Make them do this. Stop a practice if you see anyone do this.

I am not following this, can you elaborate? 'front arm down', 'Make then do this'. thanks.

 

[efastball]

I am not following this, can you elaborate? 'front arm down', 'Make then do this'. thanks.

here's one from the interwebs (glove hand)

Both elbows should come up to shoulder height together, then go around together.

'make them do this' is the coaching/yelling/staring/glaring part