Throwing technique (American football)

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In American football , there are three throwing techniques, which differ in essentially what the union is to serve.

Grip and throw

Football with black seam and white stripes

When gripping the ball, the ring finger should be behind the second seam facing the thrower and the index finger should be in front of the first strip. The little finger should be below the seam and the thumb below the index finger. The middle finger should be in front of the seam and behind the white stripe. The football should not be held too tightly, there should be a small space between the ball and the palm. Each finger has specific tasks. The thumb provides support, the index finger is aimed and a leverage effect is achieved, the middle finger provides balance and spin. The ring finger and little fingers provide space and spin. There are also grip techniques in which the little finger is also on the seam. The ball is seldom grasped without special use of the seam, Troy Aikman is one of the best known users of this technique.

When throwing the ball should be at ear level, arm and shoulder should form an "L". Shoulders and torso should be straight, the elbow in the L-shape and the foot of the standing leg should point towards the target or the pass recipient. After letting go, the hand should continue to move to the opposite hip. As you let go, the front tip of the ball should point slightly upwards and the ball should roll over your fingertips. This gives the ball a twist, the so-called "spiral". When throwing correctly, pronation occurs , recognizable by the palm of the hand pointing forward at the end of the throwing movement and a thumb pointing downwards. If the throw is incorrect, in which the wrist is moved inwards and downwards, a supination occurs , which can be recognized by the palm of the hand pointing inwards and the thumb pointing upwards. The aim of the spiral is to achieve greater directional stability through the rotation and thus to achieve greater accuracy. However, it is disadvantageous that the energy supply in the rotational movement means that less energy is available for the acceleration, which is why the ball cannot be thrown quite as far and as quickly. A correctly thrown spiral has 7.5 to 10 revolutions per second.

Praise pass

A lob pass (or deep pass , if the throw is particularly long) in American football is a throw that runs in an arc. It is mainly used when a particularly long throw deep into the field is required. Here the release takes place relatively early, so that the ball flies more steeply into the air and thus makes a high arc before it finally reaches the recipient. For a long pass, in addition to a good throwing arm, excellent technique is particularly important, as both strength and precision play a major role.

A praise pass has the advantage that an interception during the flight phase is practically impossible. In addition, the throw can be made a lot further than with a bullet pass . However, since the ball is in the air for a relatively long time, the defense also has a better chance of reacting to it and blocking or even intercepting the ball from the recipient . It is therefore one of the skills of a good quarterback to correctly analyze the situation on the field in a few moments and to make the best decision. This also includes the decision as to whether, how and to which player the pass is made.

Bullet Pass

In a sense, the bullet pass represents the opposite of the praise pass : the ball is not thrown in a high arc, but in a direct way, almost in a straight line. The term "bullet" pass is derived from the fact that such a pass is usually thrown very hard. As with a lob pass, the correct throwing of the ball as a spiral (see above) is important to guarantee a precise trajectory.

The advantage of a bullet pass is that the defense has practically no time to react to the throw and get to the possibly uncovered pass recipient before he catches the ball. The disadvantage of a bullet pass, however, is that the relatively low trajectory allows the ball to intercept along the entire trajectory. In addition, the throwing range of a bullet pass is more limited.

Pitch

The pitch (also backward pass or lateral pass ) is a pass across the sidelines or to the rear and therefore does not count as a forward pass. It is mostly used as a short throw over a short distance and is rarely thrown like a real pass.

Such a pitch is used in certain running plays, such as the so-called toss plays , in which the fullback and halfback run to the sidelines. The quarterback then throws the pitch to the halfback that runs behind the blocker fullback. Another use is trick plays like the Flea Flicker . The ball is handed over to the running back by hand-off , who pretends to run through the middle. Then he turns around and pitch the ball back to the quarterback, who in turn throws a mostly long pass to an uncovered wide receiver . However, there are many variations on this move.

Pump fake

The pump fake is a faked quarterback throw. The main goal is that the pass rush hesitates to defend a possible pass instead of attacking the quarterback further and luring the pass defense in a different direction and allowing the pass recipient who is actually targeted more freedom. A distinction is made between a soft fake , in which only the throwing arm is raised, and a hard fake , in which the throwing movement is carried out, but instead of letting go of the ball, it is pulled back towards the body. The pump fake is particularly suitable against zone defense, as the defenders pay more attention to the quarterback and less to the receiver.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Football 101: How to Grip a Football. DICK'S Sporting Goods, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c How to properly grip a football. USA Football, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Sam Borden: Secrets of a Great Spiral: The Grip and the Release. The New York Times, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Chad Orzel: Football Physics: Why Throw A Spiral? Forbes Magazine, October 5, 2015, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  5. ^ NFL Rules Digest: Backward Pass , accessed October 7, 2015.
  6. ^ The Art of the Pump Fake. The New York Times, January 21, 2011, accessed April 13, 2018 .