Outfield Footwork Throws – 10 Throws 90-120 feet.Swing-Shuffle Drill – 10 Throws 55-90 feet (move back slowly).Infield Footwork Throws – 15 Throws 50 feet.Here’s a sample throwing routine into which you can insert your own drills: Your routine of softball throwing drills is critical to your longterm goals. If you’re a player and you give away throws by not focusing on improving your mechanics with every single throw, other girls are catching up to you and passing you. What a Good Throwing Drill Routine Looks LikeĮvery throw counts! I cannot say this enough: EVERY. Part of being a good thrower is understanding how the body works together–it’s not just the legs, arm or any other body part–they’re all connected. ![]() Integrate these Softball Throwing Drills Into Your Pregame Routine.Įven one throwing drill for softball can make a big difference if it connects with the player and helps her understand her mechanics better. This one is a great throwing drill for working on pulling the shoulder blades back, which helps prevent “pushing” the ball later on in the throwing motion. 1 | The Lawnmower Throwing Drill for Softball It’s one of the first drills you should be doing in a throwing progression, and I do it with nearly EVERY player I work with. This drill, the Lawnmower Drill, helps create the proper joint angle in the elbow and the proper timing of the delivery, so that the hips sync up better with the arm. Want to Throw at an Elite Level? It Starts in the Pregame Routine So, let’s take some lessons from baseball, and use some of the best drills that are producing elite-level softball throwers. 20 million dollar pitching contracts are becoming the norm for average Big League pitchers. Why? Because there are million-dollar payouts for the best arms in the country every time the MLB draft rolls around. In the baseball world, millions upon millions of dollars are being poured into helping young men throw faster. More of us need to be asking: Why we are doing this drill? What purpose does it serve? What does it improve? More of us need to be asking why we are doing this drill. Few coaches and players are pushing back and challenging this old knowledge. There are a LOT of old throwing drills in softball that just keep getting passed down from generation to generation. Why Softball Throwing Drills From the Past Aren’t Very Effective These drills below will help! Use this Table of Contents to Skip Aheadīe sure to watch the video above to learn the WHY behind all the drills below. Average throwing speed for a collegiate softball player is in the 56-64 range, so getting to the 60mph mark is key. But, with consistent focus and using many of the drills found below, players can make consistent improvements until they throw at least in the low 60s. With anything, practices makes perfect and no drill is a magic pill that will fix a player over night. If you want a shortcut, step-by-step throwing program, check out my two free throwing resources below. In this article, you’ll learn two of the best drills that are both easy to perform and great for longterm throwing routines.įor serious fastpitch players, they should make a goal to gain 3-5 miles per hour per year, which is realistic with hard work and a focus on learning every throwing drill and getting better at each over time. Softball throwing drills can make a big difference in a player’s throwing velocity. Smith’s team recently evaluated pitchers before and during two- and three-day tournaments and found progressive increases in shoulder pain, fatigue, and weakness.*This article may contain product links which pay me a small commission if you make a purchase. And when the researchers looked more closely, they found that part of the reason may be that softball pitchers frequently pitch several games in succession, particularly during tournaments. Louis, and his colleagues found that 40 percent had some type of shoulder or arm injury during the season. Studying pitchers in highly competitive softball leagues, Smith, associate professor of orthopedics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. They report their findings in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. Smith and his colleagues evaluated more than 100 athletes, ages 14 to 18, to understand the risks faced by softball pitchers. In a pair of recent studies, sports medicine specialist Matthew V. One reason is that softball pitchers throw underhand, a motion thought to stress the arm less than the overhand throws seen in baseball. But for girls playing fast-pitch softball, such guidelines are rare. Youth baseball leagues often have fairly strict limits on how many innings pitchers can pitch, or how many pitches a player can throw. ![]() LouisĪlthough fast-pitch softball may be less risky than youth baseball, the potential for injury still exists.
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