Throwing the Football Expert

The rotation of the football should be in a spiral or curvilinear motion. Due to gravity the football will not stay at a rectilinear motion. The mediolateral axis will play an important role in throwing a football due to balance and core strength.

Movement Skills to Help improve performance

This movement skill is to stretch out the rotator cuff, shoulder, upper body, lower back, and arm by keeping your lower body stationary. Your arm should move in general motion naturally when throwing or making a throwing motion. You kneel down at a 90 degree angle with your throwing arm 90 degrees away also. Start to twist your body/back from side to side to activate those muscles used in performing a throw and when ready, release the football in a throwing motion by using only your upper body.

For this movement skill, it is simply just aiming at a target and focusing at what target you want to throw at. By doing so this allows some individuals to throw better and to concentrate more in depth. Your body will perform this movement in the Sagittal Plane, Frontal Plane, Transverse Plane, and the rest of the body planes.

 

This movement skill is a weighted lifting exercise called the barbell shoulder press. This exercise starts in an Anatomical Reference Position which will help strengthen the shoulders and other muscle groups that will help and increase throwing abilities. The barbell will be superior to your head and will be holding the weight anteriorly where your anterior deltiods will play a big role in this exercise. As you push the weight away from your head the bar will move inferiorly.This exercise is performed by using both hands with an overhand grip to push/raise the bar straight over your head and back down. By performing this exercise will also minimize injury/prevent any shoulder problems from occuring. Your body will go along the Anteroposterior Axis and your arms will be using flexion and extension to push the weight above your head and bring it back down. Hyperextension can cause injury so be careful to not go too far on the extension and flexion part of any exercises or movements.  

This movement skill is also a weighted lifting exercise used to strengthen the rotator cuff that is commonly injured during sporting events and most commonly known for in throwing motions or shoulder movements. This exercise should be done before any type of weight bearing exercise involving the shoulder or throwing motion to help stretch it out. You do not have to go particularly heavy on this exercise, light weight for multiply repetitions will do the trick. Hold a weighted plate or dumbbell in your hand with your forearm/wrist supinated at a 90 degree angle and move your arm away from your body using horizontal abduction and then back to your body using horizontal adduction in a 90 degree horizontal motion by using. This exercise should put some stress on your shoulder by using any heavier weight then your rotator cuff can handle.

Throwing the Football Step by Step Instructions

1. Stance.  The stance for throwing a football at your desired target should be with your feet shoulder with apart. Your knees should be bent a little bit and your body should be in a straight line in line with the target.

2. Foot work. The foot work for throwing a football should be a 3-5 step drop back with 1 foot crossing over the other one as you approach backwards in a straight line aiming at the target.

3. Arms Up. Your arms at this time should be raised up high with the football being able to throw it at any time in case of an emergency. Both hands should be on the ball protecting it and up high ready to release.

4. Elbows Up. Your elbows should be up holding the football with your hands. Your elbow should be aimed right at the target and up a little high and not pointed downward or else the ball with drift downward in a angular motion after the throw is released. The arms should be up with the ball right next to your ear.

5. Release/Throw. At this time the ball will be released and thrown aiming at the target with your body, elbow, and eyes. Your non-throwing arm should move foward first as if your pushing a defender out of the way. Your throwing arm should follow your non-throwing arm in the beginning of the release. Your throwing arm should release the ball with your finger tips last touching the ball and then your arm should come across your body on a horizontal angle as your weight, body, and hips shift and follow through.

Anatomical Reference Position- erect standing position with all body parts, including the palms of the hands, facing forward; considered the starting position for body segment movements.

Sagittal Plane- plane in which forward and backward movements of the body and body segments occur

Transverse Plane- plane in which horizontal body and body segment movements occur when the body is in an erect standing position.

Frontal Plane- plane in which lateral movements of the body and body segments occur

Anteroposterior Axis -imaginary line around which frontal plane rotations occur

Mediolateral Axis- imaginary line around sagittal plane rotations occur

Anterior- toward the front of the body

Superior- closer to the head

Inferior-farther away from the head

Horizontal Abduction- “to take away” and moves a body segment away from the midline of the body on a horizontal angle

Adduction-“to bring back” and moves a body segment closer to the midline of the body

Supinated- combined conditions of plantar flexion, inversion, and adduction.

Hyperextension- rotation beyond anatomical position in the direction opposite the direction of flexion.

Extension- movement that returns a body segment to anatomical position from a position of flexion.

Flexion- anteriorly directed sagittal plane rotations of the head, trunk, upper arm, forearm, hand, and hip, and posteriorly directed sagittal plane rotation of the lower leg.

General Motion- involving translation and rotation simultaneously

Rectilinear- along a straight line

Curvilinear-along a curved line

Weight- attractive force that the earth exerts on a body

Stress- distribution of a force within a body, quantified as force divided by the area over which the force acts

Throwing the Football- Novice Video