I watch a great deal of football and play the game myself. My favorite position is quarterback. I have always wondered what makes a good throw, so this project gave me the opportunity to answer that question. I researched the mechanics of throwing a football and learned that there were five basic things that influence the quality of a throw: preparation, grip, weight transfer, rotation and follow through.
In order to measure the influence of each of these factors, I isolated them one at a time and measured the performance of my throws (speed and accuracy).
The purpose of my experiment is to examine ways in which I can improve my throwing ability. I would like to play quarterback when I’m older and I am hoping that by applying the theory I learn in this project, my throws will become more accurate and more powerful. There are several factors that affect the quality of a throw: the creation of power (preparation and grip), the transfer of power, the creation of rotation and follow through. In my experiment, I will study the components behind throwing a football (preparation, grip, weight transfer, rotation and follow through) and will isolate each to determine how the end results are affected. The end results will be broken into two parts: strength and accuracy.
My initial hypothesis was that the ideal throw would be created by pre-positioning the ball at my chest, gripping at the back, stepping forward two feet for weight transfer, using medium rotation and following through downwards. In some case, I was right and in some case I was not. In my project, the dependant variables are speed and accuracy and the independent variables are the preparation, grip, weight transfer, rotation and follow through.