Re:Left Arm - Throwing Events Discussion

Does anyone have any drills to practice keeping your left arm out and not tucked?
I have trouble bringing my head around and exploding at the end.
Any practice drills or suggestions would help.

Kelsey,

Have you checked out the article by Todd Wojchik about Using an Effective Left Side? It is here on the site, this may provide some info on what you are looking for:

www.throwfarther.com/index.php...tional-throwing.html

I used to practice looking down my left arm when exiting the back of the circle, this helped me to make sure to keep it out and long... it may be a very simple way to do it but it seemed to work. You can even hold up your thumb and use it as a target to look at. If you are pulling in your left arm you should have a lot more difficulty 'exploding' at the end as you suggested since you can't get an effective 'block'. I'm sure there are a lot of suggestions out there... anyone else?

One thing that you could try to adjust in your technique that may help with keeping your left arm extended is keeping your left hand sideways with your thumb up.

Let me know if this helps you, it helped me.

Thank you guys for the advice! It helped me keep my left arm out until my explosion at the end.
I will continue to practice the tips.

One thing to keep in mind when working on any technique is don't over think. Too many throwers are look for some mythical, miracle cure for problems when the best course of action is "slow down and do it right".

A couple mental cues you can use. First Brian Oldfield told me how he used to think of brushing away the clouds before throwing through the "hole in the sky". So just try to think of reaching out and wiping away the clouds. A second thing you can try is try to have your left hand cover as much linear/horizontal distance as possible. So when you are in your power position your left hand should as far back in the circle as possible. Then swing in long and try to get it as far out towards the sector as possible.

Lastly, I go back to my initial point which is to slow down and practice a long left arm. Were talking 50-70% effort. If you throw hard every time, you will never be able to make changes.

Good Luck, throw far!!!

twojchik wrote:
One thing to keep in mind when working on any technique is don't over think. Too many throwers are look for some mythical, miracle cure for problems when the best course of action is "slow down and do it right".

A couple mental cues you can use. First Brian Oldfield told me how he used to think of brushing away the clouds before throwing through the "hole in the sky". So just try to think of reaching out and wiping away the clouds. A second thing you can try is try to have your left hand cover as much linear/horizontal distance as possible. So when you are in your power position your left hand should as far back in the circle as possible. Then swing in long and try to get it as far out towards the sector as possible.

Lastly, I go back to my initial point which is to slow down and practice a long left arm. Were talking 50-70% effort. If you throw hard every time, you will never be able to make changes.

Good Luck, throw far!!!
I agree with all of this. I think that sometimes you need to take a step back and slow down to understand where you went wrong. Film work is crucial for this to see exactly what you did wrong and diagnosis to fix it. It is so hard for kids to slow down and figure out their mistakes. I do it every day with my kids that I coach and some get it and some get worse. They think faster and harder is better and sometimes it is not.