Catching a Football

5. Recovery Phase

• As soon as your hands are wrapped around the football, it is very important to secure the football into your body. First, with both of your hands wrapped around the ball you just gently put the football into your chest. Next, you need to smoothly transfer the football from your chest to one side of your body. Once the ball is fully transferred it should be cradled between your right or left arm and your chest with your hand over the nose of the football. This crucial step fully completes the catch as you make a tight seal between the football and your body. This phase also begins the skill of carrying the football.



Expert






Drills
Catching Drill

This drill helps improve the ability to catch the ball by making 

adjustments and improving reaction time. Make sure that you

have your hands set with the "window" position that was 

described earlier. This "window" position should be made 

as you are turning so that when you are fully turned you are 

immediatly ready to catch the football. 

Novice

























Terms:



Center of Gravity:  Point around which a body’s weight is equally balanced in all directions

Flexion: Bending movement that occurs in the sagital plane

Adduction: A movement where an arm or leg is moving further from the body

Transverse Plane: Plane in which horizontal body and body segment movements occur when the
 body is in an erect standing position

Extension: Movement of a joint that increases the angle between two areas

General Motion: Motion involving rotation and translation simultaneously

Parallel: Directly located and/or aligned with

Force: Push or pull; the product of mass and acceleration

Torque: Rotary effect of a force

Mass: Quantity of matter contained in an object

Rotation: Movement of an object around an axis

Plantar Flexion: movement of the foot that flexes the foot or toes downward

Mediolateral Axis: Imaginary line around which sagital plane rotations occur

Sagital Plane: Plane in which forward and backward movements of the body and body segments occur

Pronation: rotation of the hand or forearm so that the surface of the palm is facing downward or toward the back

Longitudinal Axis: Imaginary line around which transverse plane rotations occur

Pressure: Force per unit of area over which a force acts

Pivot: An area of an object of which something rests and turns, or upon and about which something rotates or oscillates.

Frontal Plane: Plane in which lateral movements of the body and body segments occur

Antereoposterior Axis: Imaginary line around which frontal plane rotations occur

Weight: The amount or quantity of heaviness or mass

Momentum: Force or speed of movement

Lateral Flexion: Flexion away from the midline of the body

Trajectory: The path described by an object moving in air or space under the influence of such forces as thrust, wind resistance, and gravity, esp the curved path of a projectile

Balance: Equal distribution of weight