"This is Spiral Tap"

How To Efficiently Throw A Spiral With A Football
By: Joel Brennan

The art of throwing a football in a nice spiral depends solely on the throwing form of the individual. There are many tiny steps that will need to be followed and understood to fully comprehend the mechanics. As a former high school quarterback, I was shown the proper technique to accomplish this feat.

The first part of this task is being aware of your surroundings. It’s best to stand at least ten feet away from your target and make sure you are in an open area, as it may take time to perfect the process and there is always the possibility of an errant pass.

(Note: To make this easy to follow, I will describe each step as though a right-handed person is throwing the ball. If you are left-handed, simply swap ‘left’ where each ‘right’ appears, and vice versa for each ‘left’ that appears.)

Step one is getting yourself into an optimal throwing position. This means standing perpendicular to your target with your feet shoulder length apart and your left leg closest to the target.

An essential piece of information is how to properly grip the football. Personally, I place my last two fingers on the laces, my middle finger next to the laces, my index finger around the tip, or the nose of the ball, and my thumb on the bottom of the ball, mirroring my index finger. You can make adjustments to this set-up, except the index finger and thumb. Make sure you are comfortable with the fingering before continuing.

The following steps are listed as individual mechanical movements, but it will become important to progress through these in one fluid motion.

Using your other hand as support, raise your arm to shoulder height and position the ball approximately three inches from your ear. As you begin your throwing motion, take a small step forward with your left leg; make sure your foot is pointed at your target. As you do this, rotate your hips counter-clockwise. In addition to this, you will need to take your left hand off of the ball and use it as a guide, pointed at the target and parallel to the ground. Now, move the ball slightly above your head, forming a 90-degree angle with your elbow. When you are ready to throw, rotate your arm forward, releasing the ball at its highest point. After you release the ball, continue the throwing motion by bring your right hand down to your left hip.

Once again, these steps are broken down mechanically and may seem awkward at first.
However, to perfect the throw, you will need to practice these steps until it becomes natural and comfortable. After practicing this process, you can increase more velocity to your throws and you will notice a tighter spiral.