Special thanks to Phillip for sending this one in. If you’ve every struggled with fresh ideas for [tag]youth baseball practice[/tag], you MUST try this out!
From Phillip”¦
One of the [tag]baseball throwing drills[/tag] we have been using that has helped our 7 & 8 year olds is the one below.
Start out on one knee 5 – 6 feet apart (depending on the age). Have them put their throwing arm elbow in the pocket of their glove (glove arm going across their body and hold it at the normal height their elbow would be). Using just their wrist, throw the [tag]baseball[/tag] to their partner making sure that their wrist is coming straight over the top beside their face/eye and not to the side. This takes all the body motion out of the throw and is forcing an over the top and not a side arm or twisting throw.
Once they have successfully completed 25 to 30 repetitions we then stand up and move back to a distance 10 – 15 feet (depending on the age). Use the same procedure as described above with one exception, take the elbow out of the glove pocket and rest it on top of the closed glove. At this point we want them to use from their elbow up, no body motion, to throw the ball to their partner. Again, make sure that they are bringing the ball beside their face/eye and not to the side.
After 25 to 30 repetitions we again take a few steps back and then go into a full motion throw, making sure that they are bringing the ball over the top and beside their face/eye. After a few weeks of this [tag]baseball drill[/tag] we have seen a vast improvement in our [tag]baseball throwing[/tag]. Their throws are more accurate, flatter (took out the “rainbow”) and have greater distance to them.