Is it bad to sidearm the ball playing softball?

Question

I sidearm the ball, it gives me better accuracy, and I throw much faster. but last season, my coach kept me out of almost all the games becasue I sidearm the ball, and I was the best player on the team! is it really that bad? or was he just being a jerk?

Answer 1

Hello Jessie, your coach was not being a jerk, he was being your coach and to some degree your friend. The main answer is what level of softball are you in now? and what level do you hope to attain? If you are in a city league that does not pIay outside tournaments and you have no aspirations to play High School, Travel team, or College ball, your coach should let you have fun and let you play, but if you are in a hard league and play tough tournaments it all changes. I am a college and a high level travel team coach. (we are now three time defending state champions and have won national qualifiers and national tournaments) I can tell you that if you came to one of my tryouts and you threw the ball sidearm, as your fundamental throw, I would thank you for your time and tell you to try again next year. There are times when a sidearm throw is beneficial, but as your regular throw it is incorrect and can get you into more trouble than an overhead throw can. I would strongly suggest that your coach is correct and he should be listened to. You are the best player on the team if the coach believes you are, what you, your teammates, your parents or your friends think, while being soothing to your ego, is irrelevant, your coach decides whether you play or not. It's a lot like a pitcher that thinks she is throwing strikes when the umpire is calling balls; it doesn't matter what the pitcher thinks, the umpire is the only one that counts. And think about it, would any coach really leave his best player on the bench? Not likely, and for a variety of reasons. Coaches want to win and your coach weighs the advantages of playing you, against the risks of playing you and right now, your incorrect throwing style is outweighing all the good you bring to the team. One other point if you do not see the problem and admit the problem you will never fix the problem. Your coach will not play you next year either if you do not change, so you may be the best player stewing on the bench again next year or you can go to a different team where the coach doesn't care about fundamentals. Your present coach does care about findamentals and in the long run sounds like a very good coach because he won't sacrifice his long term goals for short term help. Personally, I respect that in a coach. The same thing with my college team. If a girl is a sidearmer the only reason she would make the team is because she is a great hitter so she can DH or she is very fast so she can pinch run. I would never put a ball in her hands to throw because I have too many players that do it correctly. Work hard this winter to correct your throw and your future in softball will be much brighter. Good luck.

Answer 2

Most people can throw harder and more accurately by coming over the top, but most importantly the ball will tail away when throwing from a side arm position which makes it more difficult to catch. I would listen to your coach and try to make the change as suggested. The larger softball is much more sensitive to rotation and movement because of its size so I would also suggest you use three fingers on top of the ball and the thumb underneath when throwing the ball.

Answer 3

if you throw over hand you acutally have more acurracy and throw harder, and you also don't mess up your arm. so i would definatly work on this. but your coach shouldn't have made you ride the bench just because of this, unless you were refusing to try to learn. a coach should play their best players, and help them adjust, not punish them for it.

Answer 4

sounds like your coach is a moron to me if what you say is true. I played college baseball and i understand you go with what works. If side-arming it works then who cares... your coach is not much of a coach.

Answer 5

one of the girls on my team side arms it and does perfectly fine, also another girl i know almost shot puts it sort of. but i dont think it does that much damage to your arm.

Answer 6

When you are young you can mess up your arm, I think.