Gone head over heels
Head over heels isn’t always the best plan of attack, but when the Aggies have a throw-in and they’re looking for a scoring chance, that’s exactly what they want when they call for Dana Peart’s flip-throw.
Peart’s throw is based off a front hand spring, which she learned in gymnastics as a child. When she was 9 years old she said she started to try it and it worked so she kept with it until now even though she dropped gymnastics at 14.
“It wasn’t too bad at the start,” Peart said. “It didn’t take too long to get it down. It was easy because I was doing tumbling.”
First, mastering the front handspring would be a good idea. The front handspring is similar to a cartwheel whereas a cartwheel is sideways, the handspring is in the direction you’re facing.
Once you feel comfortable with the handspring, you can throw the ball into the equation. As you start your run into the handspring, plant the ball on the ground and handspring over it. As your legs rotate around the ball your upper body will follow.
As your feet plant and your upper body comes around the extra momentum should help propel the ball; but releasing it at the right point is one of the most important aspects of the throw.
“Depending on where you release it, it’ll go down,” Peart said pointing at the ground, “or up high. You have to judge where you want it at.
“I want it at 45 degrees, not too far past the head and not too early.”
In the Aggies game against BYU on Monday a couple of the Cougars attempted flip throws which ended up going almost straight up, ruining their opportunities to get the ball into the middle of the field.
In order to aim the throw-in, Peart said she just lines up her hips so she just has to look where she is going to throw and that does a pretty good job of getting the ball going in the right direction.
There are many variables with the actual throw-in but Peart has become consistent with just about every aspect, which leads to consistent throw-ins.
“With the strength of my arms, the farthest it’s going to go is the center of the goal,” Peart said. “I’ve tried to get it back post and it’s been there a couple times.”
The consistency of where the ball will end up gives the Ags a corner-kick like weapon which puts the pressure on the defense to play well even on the out-of-bound plays.
“It keeps everybody on their toes,” Utah State head coach Heather Cairns said. “It’s like a corner kick so we don’t have to get as many corners with [the flip throw].”
The Aggies don’t pull the flip-throw out willy-nilly. Peart isn’t called upon to center the ball off the throw-in unless the Aggies are in their third of the field and Peart is reasonably close to the sideline.
Even with the flip throw being used just in offensive situations it hasn’t been a catalyst for many goals in Peart’s soccer career.
Of the teams she has been on since she was 9 or 10, Peart said she thinks they might have scored once or twice off her flip throw and that was when she was younger.
Peart’s first and last piece of advice: “You just get the ball and you have to be daring and kind of go for it.”
-krn@cc.usu.edu
(Ryan Talbot)
(Ryan Talbot)
(Ryan Talbot)
(Ryan Talbot)