Offered during the Olympics practice, the throwing station is run immediately after catch play.  With three levels of accuracy required, Olympics – Throwing is a competitive and high-energy drill.

EXECUTION – The Olympics – Throwing Drill is run down the foul line utilizing the red/white/blue warm up cones.  In a nutshell, there will be three targets of increasing distance.  Athletes must make accurate throws from the first cone in order to move up to the second cone.  The same holds true for advancing from the second cone to the third cone.  Hit the target from all three cones (in a row)…  athlete earns a point.  Miss the target from any of the cones… athlete returns to the first cone to start again.

• Single A – Place a completely full bucket 1 yard behind the red bucket, now referred to as “Single A.”  Athletes will begin by grabbing a baseball, stepping up to red cone, and firing towards a target or catch net.  The red cone should be at a relatively close distance, encouraging “winning” throws, so the athletes can advance.  Hit the target = move to the line at the second cone (white).  Miss the target = return to the line behind the first cone (red).
• Double A – The white cone is a minimum of 5 yards further than the red cone and called “AA.”  Hit the target from AA and the athlete moves on to AAA.  Throw off of the mark… athlete gets “sent down” to A and starts the competition again.
• Triple A – The blue cone should be at a difficult distance.  A make from this distance results in a “big league call-up,” and earns the athlete a point.  A miss from this distance means a full-fledged demotion down to Single A.

The competition runs for 90-seconds, with athletes attempting to earn as many points as possible within the running time.  Every time they make the final throw, they scream out their point total and excitedly return to the first line.  The athlete with the most points at the end of the competition is the champion.  In a 15-minute drill, the athletes should play the game three times.

DC KEYS

1. Need Lots of Baseballs – It is a HUGE help to have another set of hands to record scores and assist with drill operation
2. Overflow the First Bucket – That line will be longest as ALL reset back to 1st bucket whenever they miss.
3. Pace Up – Put pressure on accurate throws and make the intensity game-like with your pace and energy.  Be loud!

CLOSING – Have Fun!  Untuck that polo shirt from the elastic waistband of your Bike shorts… and have some fun already.

EQUIPMENT LIST