How to Aim a Football

Body position and correct form lead to accurate passing -- with practice.

To anyone watching a game of football for the first time, it can seem a confusing mishmash of flying, grunting mayhem interspersed with interludes of calm anticipation. For those who become immersed in the game, it's a sum of many detailed actions: where feet are placed, which direction a player runs a few steps, how an arm is held. One of those details is the quarterback’s release of the ball. The release must have power and timing, but it also needs accuracy. Like power and timing, aiming accuracy can be developed.

Things You'll Need

• Football

Instructions

1. Place your feet shoulder width apart, parallel to each other, aimed toward your target, with the foot on the side of your non-throwing arm a little ahead of the foot on your throwing side. Throwing is a whole-body activity. The heel of your off-side foot should line up with the toe of your throwing foot, giving you a stable base from which to throw.

2. Grasp the ball comfortably, with the fingers spread and the palm held clear from the ball. There are different schools of thought about the placement of the fingers, particularly with respect to the laces, but the important thing is to hold the ball comfortably with the fingers spread to give maximum control.

3. Hold the ball up by your ear. Starting with the ball above the shoulders will help instill good throwing form and encourage a quick release.

4. Shift the weight from your back foot to your front foot as you rotate your hips to face the target squarely. The change in the lower half or your body will push your upper body to follow suit, and your shoulders will rotate also -- starting with your throwing shoulder behind your opposite shoulder, moving square to the target at the top of your throwing motion, and being closer to the target as the throw is complete.

5. Swing your arm in an arc from behind your head to directly at the target. You're doing this simultaneously with the body motion from the previous step. Allow your arm to act like the end of a whip and flow toward the target, with your hand snapping like the very end of the whip.

Tips & Warnings

• Follow through. One of the elements that beginners often struggle with is the follow-through -- how could what happens after you release the ball influence its motion? The answer is that forcing your body to follow through ensures that it is aligned properly to reach the target. Specifically, your throwing arm should end up aimed right at your target.

• Practice. You want to get to the point where you are not thinking about how your hips move or how to place your fingers, but instead thinking of delivering the ball where it needs to go and letting your body do the rest automatically.

References

• Football Plays & Drills: Football Quarterback Drills
• Smart Football; Can a Quarterback’s Throwing Motion Be Improved?; Dub Maddox; August 2011
• Football Scrimmage: Basic Quarterback Training