INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Go to the shallow end of the pool and walk down the steps into the water. Spend a few minutes splashing around and getting used to the water. If you’re nervous about being in water try blowing some bubbles to relax. First, take a deep breath. Bend your legs until your face is underwater, keeping your eyes closed. Exhale slowly, blowing out bubbles. This will help you relax.  Don’t start swimming until you’ve relaxed. If you swim while you’re stressed out you risk injuring yourself or drowning. Try opening your eyes underwater while you blow bubbles. This will also help you relax. Stretch your arms in front of you, keeping your head above the water. Stretch your legs loosely out underneath you. You can keep your feet on the bottom of the pool until you start swimming. Remember to breathe deeply and relax.  Don’t lie completely flat or stay completely horizontal. Try to find a point in between where your body is almost floating. Make sure to do this in shallow water. If you need to, you can stand up to breathe or float until you catch your breath. Cup both hands by pressing your fingers together tightly and bowing your palm out. Extend your hands one at a time and pull water towards yourself in a scooping motion. You will feel yourself moving forward a bit when you scoop the water. Practice this motion until you’re comfortable with it.  Some people prefer to scoop water in a downward motion instead of towards themselves. Your hands should be under the water at all times. Your legs will keep you afloat while your arms move you forward. While scooping water with your arms, kick your feet under the water. You can kick in a “bicycle” motion by kicking your legs in circles or a “frog kick” motion by kicking your legs out. Practice each kicking motion and decide which is more comfortable for you.   Breathe deeply. Keep your head over the surface of the water to allow you to breathe easily. If you find yourself struggling to swim or breathe, stand up and take a break. If you find yourself straining your neck, keep your head close to the surface of the water. Raise your head above the surface when you want to inhale and slowly exhale while your face is in the water. Make sure you’re staying calm at all times.  If you’re having too much trouble keeping your head above water you need to paddle harder with your hands. If you find yourself getting worn out, either stand up or turn onto your back and float until you catch your breath. If you’re having trouble staying close to the surface of the water this means you need to kick harder with your feet. Kicking your feet will keep you afloat but only if you’re kicking hard enough. Similarly, if you find yourself moving forward too slowly, paddle harder with your hands.  If you’re scooping the water towards yourself, scoop the water down instead. You won’t go forward as fast but it will help you stay afloat. If you’re struggling to do a bicycle kick, switch to a frog kick (and vice versa).

SUMMARY: Get used to the water. Position yourself to swim. Practice the arm motions. Swim using your legs. Alter your breathing technique if needed. Correct swimming problems.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The absolute last thing you want to do is to injure your arm just when you’re starting to practice a new skill. Make sure you do a dynamic warm-up in which you get your arm moving gently first.  A few ideas for warm-up exercises you can do are:  Swinging your arms horizontally and vertically for 30 seconds each way. Using an elastic exercise band to stretch your throwing arm. Gently moving through the throwing motion 20 times. The direction of the spin should be such that the ball is spinning forward. Doing this isolates the actual action which creates the spin on the ball. You can do this anywhere as long as you have a baseball and you can toss the ball up a few feet in the air.  When doing this, really try to emphasize the flick in your fingers as you drag them down over the front of the ball. The goal of this is to maximize the revolutions you can get on the ball but start out by just mastering the direction of the spin and then working towards full revolutions. When you pitch, putting your whole body into each pitch is really important as this gives you the maximum force you can get. However, when you are just starting to practice the curveball, isolating your arm and hand action is helpful, which is easier to do when you're on your knees. This is also a great way to build muscle memory and minimize the number of factors involved in your throwing action. A really important part of throwing a curveball is ensuring that you get the direction of the spin correct and that you can repeat this at least 80% of the time. As such, throwing at half your regular speed is a good halfway point to get your action started but to minimize the variables you have to battle.  If you feel like you want to start at lower than half your regular speed then that is absolutely fine, the key is that you don’t jump straight into 100% and sacrifice your accuracy. Don’t be too concerned if you aren’t seeing too much curve from the ball here. Everything you’re doing at the moment is working to maximize the efficacy of the throw when you move to 100% effort. After practicing on your knees and getting the hang of throwing a curveball, it's a good idea to try pitching while standing up so you can practice throwing with a fuller motion. This is a more realistic representation of how you will actually be pitching when you play. You don’t need to start out at full effort level here, the most important thing is that you are standing up and preparing to use your lower body. This is a skill that takes hours and hours of practice but the results are incredibly rewarding. Always listen to your body if your arm is getting sore and take breaks as necessary. Sometimes videoing yourself pitching can help as you can pick up on errors you are making that you don’t realize you are.

SUMMARY:
Warm up your arm by doing a few different arm exercises. Practice flicking the ball upward while getting spin on it. Get down onto your knees while you’re practicing. Throw the ball at half of regular speed to your partner when practicing. Practice pitching standing up once you get more comfortable with the throw. Practice every day if you can!