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Sidearm, breaking the cycle.
Troy Tulawitski
Annonymous asked: I coach 7,8 and 9 year olds. Explain to them that good throwing mechanics will allow them to throw more accurately, less stress on their arms, and increase their velocity and distance. It doesn't mean they won't need to develop other throwing platforms such as sidearm, submarine an other additional throwing platforms that will come into play at some point; but everything throwing and receiving develops off of the basic fundamentals. The players images above are just a few of the many launching positions players end up in. When they see that you believe the throwing mechanics are important, they will think so also. Stretching your muscles is "warming up". Think about playing catch before practice and games, not as warming up; but working on throwing and receiving mechanics. When they have their arm slot correct, the released baseball will be spinning front to back. If they are throwing sidearm, the ball will rotate sideways, and over a longer distance will slice away from their intended target. They can see that, and start to make some adjustments. It all takes time and patience; but will pay big dividends for them over their time in baseball. They will see a difference in accuracy, once they start looking to keep the throw under the button of their partners cap, outside the edge of each shoulder, and above their belly button. Specify the number of throws you want each of them to make at a given distance, then they back up to the next distance and repeat....an so on until they are basically throwing long toss( at whatever distance you feel they can handle.) Then, end it with a set number of throws, or a time limit, from where they ended long toss, and work their way back down to where they began. Each day they should be getting more accurate, their ball rotation should be getting more consistent, their footwork should be more animated and you should see them moving to and around the baseball, setting their feet and making a return throw, all the time keeping their glove and their throwing hand in close proximity to each other, working on their take-up time, as they reset their feet. Lot of stuff going on, all beneficial. Play Catch, Not Fetch! Good luck as you go forward. Yours in baseball, Rick |
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