SEGMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO BALL VELOCITY IN THE OVERHAND THROW

INTRODUCTION The overhand throw is a skill common to many sports. As important as it is, little is known about how the segments contribute to throwing velocity across skiU levels of developmentally mature throwers. The purpose of this study was to examine the relative contribution of the legs, trunk, arm, and hand to overhand throwing velocity across several skill levels. METHODS One hundred and one subjects with wide ranging experience in throwing for maximum velocity in sport activities participated in the study. Seven subjects were eliminated due to the use of an observed "push" in their throwing technique. The data for the 94 remaining subjects (75 male, 19 female, mean age: 22.63b2.36 years) were analyzed. To determine the contribution of the selected segments to throwing velocity, all subjects randomly performed 4 different maximal throws: 1) a normal, whole body throw (WBT); 2) a throw in which the legs could not contribute, but the trunk, arm, and hand segments could follow typical motions; 3) a throw in which the legs and trunk could not contribute, but the arm and hand segments could follow typical motions; 4) a throw that only allowed contribution from the hand. Each subject threw standard size and weight baseballs in all four conditions until a minimum of three acceptable throws were recorded. A radar gun was used to measure all throwing velocities. The contribution of the legs, trunk, and arm were calculated from differences between each of the four aforementioned throws. Relative contributions of the selected segments were calculated by dividing by the WBT value. METHOD A MANOVA was performed to compare the performance of the males and females. No significant differences were found. After combining the females and males into one group, subjects were divided into 3 groups based on percentile score. The low velocity group had 32 members, the medium velocity group had 30 members, and the high velocity group had 32 members. Results of the multiple, one-way ANOVAs indicated that significant differences (