Influence of instruction on velocity and accuracy of overarm throwing in novices

In this study, we investigated the influence of instruction on the ball velocity and accuracy of a goal directed overarm throw in novices. Thirteen subjects participated in the study. They executed a throwing task randomly seven times under 5 differentinstructions varying from emphasising speed to emphasising accuracy. When the instructions increasingly emphasized accuracy, throwing velocity decreased. However, accuracy did not improve when subjects were instructed to focus on it. A possible explanation for this finding could lie in the type of action. It could be that the subjects were more stressed when the only priority was accuracy. This can result in another type of throw, e.g. freezing degrees of freedom. It may also be concluded that a natural overarm throwing technique normally is not slower than approximately 84% (the lowest speed found here) of the maximal throwing velocity.