with Megan Smith,
University of Kansas Head Coach;
six straight seasons of 30+ wins (2011-16);
Over 300 wins all time; former LSU Assistant Coach
Throwing and catching are fundamental building blocks in the game of softball. Unfortunately, they are also some of the most overlooked and under-taught skills in the game. Megan Smith gives you a comprehensive look at throwing and receiving techniques, sequencing, and progressions that can easily be integrated into the practice setting. This will allow your players to understand efficient movement patterns from a variety of receiving positions and also learn transitions that can be easily repeated to help create accurate throw and get outs.
Throwing Mechanics and Drills
Coach Smith takes you step-by-step through a throwing progression that will not only allow your players to loosen up their arms, but will help create a fundamentally sound throwing pattern. Using Smith's towel whips training, players use a towel to create and improve whip, resulting in more wrist snap and better throws. She also explains a throwing progression for use during warm-ups. Start by isolating the upper body, and then progressively add in the legs and work to achieve proper throwing footwork. Coach Smith helps you build your throwers from the ground up.
Receiving Mechanics and Drills
Smith first breaks down receiving and transfer techniques. Receiving is incorporated with throwing just as it occurs during a game, making it extremely transferable. These techniques are then synced up with footwork to help the viewer understand sequencing of footwork and glove work to throw the ball accurately. Players also learn how to deal with bad throws, which is when most errors occur and games are lost.
Coach Smith introduces seven kinds of footwork that receivers must use during the throwing progression, and explains when the receiver should use each. These receiving footwork drills will allow your receivers to practice every kind of reception they could possibly need to make during a game.
Special Throws and Drills
In addition to regular throwing, Smith teaches how to transition from fielding a ball to throwing using her ball-in-glove series of drills. She provides drills for infielders and outfielders to work on the movements necessary to take a ball from the fielding position to throwing position. She also covers different types of throws, like relays and off-balance throws, which may pop up at a critical moment in the game and force your throwers to make a highlight-reel worthy play.
Additionally, Smith shows how your throwers can safely strengthen their arms using long toss and weighted balls.
The most valuable part of this video is that all these concepts can be incorporated into the throwing routine that you are already doing. Coach Smith explains how to make throwing more than just a part of warm-ups and how to make it a component of practice in and of itself!
54 minutes. 2018.