I recently started playing softball again, and although the spirit is willing, I am re-building skills. My batting is okay, catching is improving, but my throwing is just tragic.
I have read a few articles and tried to memorize the tips “Hold with your fingertips”, “flick your wrist”, “use your body”… any other tips come to mind? Once upon a time, I used to be able to do this!
When I hear “throw like a girl” I think of someone throwing with the foot on the same side as their throwing arm forward…
To my mind the definition of throwing like a girl contains one or both of these factors: stepping with the wrong foot (you should have the foot opposite your throwing arm forward as you throw) and throwing with your wrist inside of your elbow (it should be outside).
There is obviously more to it than that, but those are the tell-tale signs.
Lead the throw with your elbow, and follow through with your hand. The reason a lot of ‘girl’ throws lack force is because there’s no ‘whip’ effect; they’re more of a ‘push’ or ‘shotput’ motion.
Usually the elbow is too low resulting in the throw coming from the shoulder - not above and behind it. A good way to practice is to play catch without using a complete motion - just raise the arm with the ball straight up and throw with your wrist. Your elbow should be at shoulder height or higher. Once you get used to the feel of it, work on the first part of the motion that gets your arm to that position — The ball should be well above and away from the shoulder when released. Then work on stepping (with your opposite foot) while throwing. The real power will come when you learn to rotate your upper body and bend at the waist while doing all that other stuff.
I just helped my wife change her throw and am currently working with a coworker who is sensitive to it as well in his dodgeball league.
The trick is to extend your arm more. You throw with your chest muscles and shoulder 10x more than your elbow if you are doing it right.
The way my daughter’s softball coach taught her team was pretty amazing in its success rate was:
0. Look the entire time where you are going to get the ball to hit/land/be caught
6.your foot should hit the ground when you are at 10 or 11 o’clock. your left/glove hand will stop of its own accord at a natural place and time- just ignore it after starting the outward “swim” from your hands.
The tricks in this techique are several.
A) you can only step with your correct throwing foot
B) It trains you to use more of your body than just your arm
but must importantly
C) that twist in your arm helps to lock or at least restrict your elbow movement in a nearly ideal position.
I saw some girls really start to hurl the ball after doing this for only 5 minutes (they do revert to other bad habits but after a couple of practices and games, the motion becomes more natural).
I think of “throwing like a girl” as meaning throwing with the arm only, and not using the whole body. There’s a whole chain of physical movements (a pitching coach would call it the kinetic chain, but if I use that term you might be swayed into thinking I actually have any idea what I’m talking about) involved in throwing. You step forward with the opposite foot, with your throwing arm almost pointing the opposite direction from your target, and as you step forward, your torso rotates and your arm accelerates towards the target in an almost whiplike motion.