WEEK 0
6 Oct
Practice Throw Ins – 5m, 10m, 15m, 10 x ~20m
This was a quick check to see if my garden was long enough, but even before training I’m able to throw it the full length. I have a park about 5 minutes walk from me so that’s fine to use.
WEEK 1
11 Oct
Throw Ins (1) – 15.5,16.3,17.0,15.0,15.5 (foul), 15.8, 18.2, 15.3, 16.7, 16.1m
Median Throw: 15.95m
Best Throw: 18.20m
I’m limiting myself to a 2.5m run up, because depending on the stadium the advertising boards can be quite close to the pitch so it’s not always possible to take a big long run up. I was quite pleased with these until I saw the Hashtag United video after and I’d come dead last for distance. This was also shorter than my garden, but that was measured quite roughly. I am on a slight incline here which I wouldn’t expect to make more than 1m difference but I could be wrong.
13 Oct
Throw Ins (2) – 16.7,18.1,17.0,16.9,17.1,18.6,18.8,18.3,17.6,15.0m
Median Throw: 17.35m
Best Throw: 18.8m
The only change here was a proper upper body warm up (in session 1 it was the standard arm swings that footballers do) and some activation exercises. Link here.
Throw Ins (3) – 17.6,18.2,18.6,19.0,19.1,19.4,17.7,18.5,18.6,18.0m
Median Throw: 18.55m
Best Throw: 19.40m
I had 10 minutes rest, in which time I watched a video I bookmarked from none other than the Liverpool throw in coach. The two things I changed was a slightly narrower hand position, so thumbs are 3-4cm apart, and some attempt at releasing the ball with backspin. I was pleased to have such consistency but also expected more. He has a YouTube channel and afterwards I watched a few more, generally players improve by 5-15m once all his training is complete so 1.2m on my median throw is okay for a first session.
16 Oct
Throw Ins (4) – not measured
These were in my garden, I feel training three times a week will be optimal.
Drawing on my experience of vertical jump I’m not going to rush into skull crushers or med ball throws, instead I will repeat the same week, possibly multiple times, to improve through technique alone.
Beyond that I plan to draw on the throwing events (mainly javelin) as I feel they have more to teach about long throwing than going to soccer resources.