<p>I tried the basketball throw for the first time today and was not impressed with my distance. I estimated that I threw about 50 ft, or across the width of a basketball court. But it felt pretty awkward, and I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on the technique of the basketball throw? Also, what is the passing distance? Hopefully the score is cumulative since I've maxed out on pushups(75), situps(95) and maybe the mile. I really don't want to blow the basketball throw, of all things.</p>
<p>The basketball throw is one of those things that does not come naturally - it does feel awkward. Keep practicing, it does get better, and you will find a technique that works for you. My son's distance improved when he learned to throw the ball staighter rather than in a high arc.<br>
My understanding is that you have to pass each event. If you have maxed everything else, you are in great shape. I'm sure you will be fine on the basketball throw if you practice.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Practice will help. It is all about form. (Do not practice to improve strength. I have heard that the basketball throw is not very good for the shoulder.) Try throwing the ball fairly high. The higher angles seem to get good distance. Experiment to see what works for you. Also, throw as much of your torso/shoulder into the throw as you can, without touching the ground with your hand or arm.</p>
<p>actually throw it too. dont sling it.</p>
<p>Yes this is a very important skill to have when you become an officer.</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>lol, im sure aa lot of officers throw bballs at some point or another. maybe the bball represents a grenade, lol, but i doubt it. anyway, the bball throw should be a combo of arm action and torso action. have u ever seen a guy throw a shot put? i used that technique, and it works well. also, try to throw the ball at an angle of 45 degrees. that works well for me too. good luck and, i think 50 ft is fine, although u prolly want at least 60.</p>
<p>The technique that was offered by our MALO was to lean back a bit before throwing. It was almost like pitching a baseball. It worked. Try a few different techniques to see what will work for you.</p>
<p>Raimius, you're correct in that throwing like that is not very good for the shoulder, however, it's unlikely that you are going to hurt the shoulder doing the basketball toss for this test. What you are doing is essentially rotating your rotator cuff and this motion is NOT natural. This is why you see a baseball pitcher throw only once every 3-4 days whereas a softball pitcher can pitch several days in a row. The underhand movement is more natural than the overhand movement.</p>
<p>make sure the ball comes off middle finger last, if it comes off the side of your hand at all, then you wont throw nearly as far. make sure it spins backwards like a fastball, you dont want a curveball</p>
<p>DO NOT throw it like a shot put. I saw a bunch of guys try this at SLS and they did not get it very far. Fortunately you have several tries so they eventually got it down (most of them anyway), but if you practice then you have more chances at maximizing distance. I practiced once before I went and think I got 67 feet or so. Not great, but I saw much worse from those that hadn't practiced. When I take it again I should be able to get 70+.</p>
<p>really? when i threw it like a shot put, it went farther than before. it must be relative...</p>
<p>I guess it just depends.</p>
<p>I think I've found that a combination of leaning backwards and having a slight twist of the torso just like when you throw standing up seems to work. When you snap forward and twist at the same time while throwing at 45 degrees(that's physics for ya), things work out. I think that the shotput method and regular toss provide about the same power, just the regular toss provides a better grip. I've also found that there technically are no minimum scores on the CFA. If you get below the average on more than one, admissions will get suspiscious, and you could fail. But I guess there's no set cut line.</p>
<p>Voxist: I know that WP does not publish minimum scores so that candidates cannot "cheat", but I'm sure that they do have unpublished standard minimums that you need to achieve. Who told you that there are no set minimums?</p>
<p>My MALO. Basically he said that getting below average on more than one test would be a probable fail</p>
<p>OK - so he was telling you that the "average score" is the minimum you should achieve without risking failure? Did he give you the average scores you should be shooting for? MALOs are not given the minimum scores either. This is consistent with WPs policy of only telling the candidate to "do his/her best. Similarly, WP does not publish "whole candidate score" details.</p>
<p>I'm just meeting(hopefully beating) the average scores included in the candidate kit.</p>
<p>In my case I scored below the average on the basketball throw, but did well above the average on all of the other tests. However, I still got a letter telling me to retake the test because of the throw. After practicing the basketball throw I was able to score just above the average and I recieved an LOA a few weeks later. So bottom line, if you score below the average expect to retake the test.</p>
<p>Well just took a practice CFA today and here are my results:</p>
<p>BB Throw: 65 feet
Pull Ups: 9
Shuttle Run: 9.7
Sit Ups: 55
Push Ups: 51
Mile Run: 7:02</p>
<p>As far as the mile run it was really hot today (yes it gets hot in Oregon occasionally) and when I take it again for real I'm going to be doing it in the morning and so I should be able to drop my time. I'm a runner and I was expecting more around 6 min... but I had a race Saturday so I was kinda tired.</p>
<p>Anyway, what do you think. I met most of the averages, but I'm not sure it's quite good enough yet.</p>
<p>i would try to increase you situps to at least 70. doing that and running a 6 min mile should be good enough</p>