| Most coaches face the difficult task of
teaching their players and pitchers how to throw overhand. It seems that too
many girls throw side arm, shot put, or any number of strange combination of
modified arm styles. Much of the problems seem to come from a preoccupation by
the girls with the arm and the upper body throwing process. Little attention is
given body balance and weight shifts and the importance of the step in the
rock-and-fire motion of throwing the ball forward. Additionally, kids it seem
get board with the repetition of the large amounts of rote practice that it
takes to train motor memory. Interestingly, there are a lot of parallels between
the proper overhand throwing technique and the step and stride fastpitch
windmill pitching motion. In this article we explore the common denominators of
the overhand throw and the underhand pitch.
As with the overhand throw, in the
windmill step and stride fastpitch pitching style you have some of the following
common denominators. Compare them against the checklist of the proper overhand
throwing elements following. Keep in mind that the difference is that in
overhand the arm is brought back and then brought forward overhand, over the
top. In the underhand delivery the arm is swung up and around and delivery is
accomplished under the shoulder at the waist instead of over. Considering these
parallels quite possibly we ought to have our pitchers practice overhand
throwing much more than we do?
Some overhand and underhand throwing common denominators:
(1) Initially, weight kept on the balls of
the feet with relaxed knees;
(2) hands and ball keep together brought back into the body prior to your extend
arms away from body and make throw;
(3) The ball is taken out of the glove at mid-chest level before hands reach
shoulder height;
(4) Rotate the wrist so the ball faces AWAY from target (thumb positioned at an
angle approximately between 150 degrees and 180 degrees;
(5) complete pivot of the throwing side foot following weight shift from stride
foot to pivot foot;
(6) relaxed and flexed throwing side knee while pivoting, thus allowing pitcher
to keep her weight back behind the pitch;
(7) step towards the target while pivoting and landing on the heel or side of
the foot,
(8) Shoulder, hips, and head should be aligned ( line of force) with the target,
with the glove hand loosely pointing at the catcher prior to launch;
(9) Push with bent pivot leg driving weight toward target rotating hips and
shoulders toward target
(10) on landing the stride side leg resists (pushes back into the center point
-- front hip) as the ball is being released.
Technique for overhand throwing mechanics:
1. Keep WEIGHT on the BALLS of the FEET;
KNEES FLEXED -- shoulders over the balls of the feet.
2. Keep HANDS TOGETHER, while bringing them
to the THROWING-SIDE SHOULDER. As the ball and glove are brought toward the
throwing shoulder, use the throwing hand and glove together to push the ball
into the throwing hand to get a good grip on the ball.
3. COMPLETE 90-DEGREE PIVOT ON THE BALL AND
HEEL OF THE THROWING SIDE FOOT.
4. RELAX AND FLEX THROWING-SIDE KNEE, while
pivoting --- will allow the player to keep her weight back of the throwing-side
foot.
5. STEP TOWARD TARGET, while pivoting and
LAND on the heel or side of the foot
6. SHOULDERS, HIPS and HEAD should be
ALIGNED WITH TARGET; throwing-side elbow should be even height with shoulder --
elbow and wrist should be at an angle between +15 degrees and +30 degrees with
respect to the horizontal line toward the back. The elbow should NEVER be
positioned at an angle behind the shoulder.
7. POINT opposite side ELBOW or glove at
target.
8. Take ball out of the glove JUST BEFORE
hands reach the throwing-side shoulder.
9. ROTATE WRIST so the ball faces AWAY from
target (thumb positioned at an angle approximately between 150 degrees and 180
degrees.
10. PUSH with BACK LEG driving weight toward
target; ROTATE HIPS and SHOULDERS TOWARD TARGET (righties --- bury left elbow in
left hip; lefties vice versa) as the ball is brought forward toward the target.
11. Opposite side leg resists (pushes back
into the center point -- front hip) as the ball is
being released.
12. HEAD UP; KEEP EYES ON THE TARGET
13. ELBOW of the throwing arm stays shoulder
high or slightly higher.
14. EXTEND ARM (WRIST BEFORE ELBOW) TOWARD
target.
15. FOLLOW-THROUGH by snapping wrist
downward toward target.
16. RIGHT-HANDERS: Right shoulder should
end-up pointed nearly at the target.
17. LEFT-HANDERS: Left shoulder should
end-up pointed nearly at the target.
Interestingly enough, if you
throw well over hand you can be taught to throw effectively underhand relatively
easy. Overhand throwing is a good warm up technique to get the weight shifts and
body balance before switching to the underhand pitching motion. It just has to
be done properly. And that, seems to be difficult for young female athletes to
do. Thus spend a lot of time working on this with your pitchers. |
