International Sport

While football is considered one of America’s greatest pastimes, few know the secrets of throwing the ball properly. A proper football pass is a perfect spiral delivered directly to the target. With that in mind, this article will attempt to explain some methods that actual football coaches use to teach their quarterbacks the right way to throw.

When trying to throw the perfect spiral, there are three things that you need to consider: the positioning of your hand, the release of the ball, and the timing of the whole pass movement. As far as gripping the football goes, many coaches recommend that you grip the ball with your ring finger placed on the first lace of the football. Your pinky should also grip the laces, and the best positioning for the pinky is between the next two laces up from the first. This usually varies from player to player, due to hand size and preference. For instance, Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles is a highly respected quarterback who keeps his fingers on laces one and four, respectively.

When it comes to the actual throw of the ball, it’s recommended that you hold the ball with as tight of a grip as possible. This tends to aid the spiral’s spin, making it easier to catch for the receiver. After pulling back for the throw, you’re going to want to make sure that you are on your last step before you take the throw is with the foot that you are throwing with. Simply put, if you are throwing with your right hand, your right foot should be forward. One little trick that many coaches use to help their players develop aim in their throws is to point at where they want to throw with the big toe of their leading foot. This helps the body to rotate properly and to ensure a throw in the right direction. When it comes to releasing the ball, you should release when your wrist is cocked at a 90 degree angle from your upper arm. Immediately after releasing the throw, flick your wrist in a downward direction. This causes the ball to spin, and when done properly can result in a perfect spiral throw.

Now that you can see some of the basics of getting a good throw down, it’s time to practice. Just be sure to watch what is going wrong when you try to make a pass so that you can better correct the problem in the future. It’s all just a process of getting your body used to doing the proper motion.

George Riley fears that the gap between England and their Southern hemisphere opponents has increased in the last year. However, our man is still looking forward to the young guns giving it a go…

“Watching the Aussies and Kiwis bash each other around the Stoop last weekend, my heart sunk imagining what would happen to England seven days later. Now we shall find out.”

The question I’ve been asking myself and other Rugby League Betting folk this week, is just how big the gap is between England and the Southern hemisphere superpowers.

Coach Tony Smith maintains that our dismal World Cup failure has not seen us lose ground. We went to the tournament as third in the world, and came back as third in the world.

Tony’s plea for perspective evades the issue of just how bad England were. Fans of English Rugby League Betting thought we were a lot closer to Australia and New Zealand than became brutally apparent Down Under, and the opening round of matches in this Four Nations has served only to underline the fear that the gap has widened.

So in essence, Saturday is D day for Smith and his new-look, youthful England to prove they can match it with the best in the business. Sitting watching the Aussies and Kiwis bash each other around the Stoop last weekend my heart sunk imagining what would happen to England seven days later. Now we shall find out.



Smith’s side stuttered to an unconvincing 22-point win over France, thanks to Richie Myler’s two second-half tries. My only personal solace from the performance was tipping up a 20-30 point win. Myler’s reward for saving England’s blushes is being dropped for this weekend’s showdown with the Kangaroos. Sam Tomkins takes his place on his home ground at Wigan and, at the risk of being a contradiction in terms, I know the Aussies are wary of his unknown talents.

Coach Tim Sheens told me this week that they have done their homework on the Wigan youngster, but still know next to nothing about him. It’s the proverbial baptism of fire but I expected Tomkins to rise to the challenge. Big Eorl Crabtree comes in too. Big Daddy’s nephew is a gangly beast of a prop and will gives the Aussies something to think about off the bench.

Nathan Hindmarsh comes in for the Aussies. I was surprised he was left out against New Zealand, and even more surprised when he joined us out on the beer in west London last week on learning that he’d been overlooked. He may not have played an international in a couple of years but Hindmarsh is still one of the best forwards in world Rugby League Betting .

A look at how the match is trading on Betrepublic shows how far our punters believe England have slipped down the international ladder. Odds of 8.6 to win on home turf appears obscene, but as hard as a I try I can’t see a scenario whereby England will walk off the field winners. The Aussies at 1.15 are barely backable and I expect them to give England a torrid evening.

I believe England’s pack can match the Aussies, and have faith in the half-backs Tomkins and Danny McGuire. But the rest of the backline worries me. A three-quarter line of Ryan Hall, Michael Shenton, Lee Smith and Tom Briscoe is liable to get flattened by Greg Inglis and co, so England must make every possession count. England don’t stand a chance if the game is played in their own half.

This looks like at least a 20-point win for the Aussies, and I’ll be looking at the try scorer market for a few quid. Full-back Billy Slater was kept quiet against the Kiwis so expect him to cross at 1.8. Inglis at 1.73 looks a shout too, while hooker Cameron Smith trades at 4.0 to cross the whitewash again after his last-gasp match-saver against New Zealand.

Stephen Kearney takes New Zealand to a French side who trade at a whopping 30.0 with Betrepublic punters to win in Toulouse. That’s an extraordinary price given the problems they posed England but there shouldn’t be any risk of a shock. It was magnificent to see monster prop Fuifui Moi Moi back on the big stage, and New Zealand should definitely have beaten Australia.

If you can see the French defence holding out through the first 10 minutes then there’s a little more value, with 2.6 on offer for the first try to be scored from 11-20 minutes.

New Zealand should thump France, and that draw with Australia will have felt like a defeat.

England know if they can pull off a huge shock at the DW Stadium, then the Aussies will be as good as out of the tournament. I’ll be in the North west to commentate on this one and, regardless of the frailty of England’s chances, I can’t wait to see Smith’s young guns give it a go

Most people who benefit from the use of sunless tanning lotions don’t ever stop to think about how they work. After all, they’re just glad that they work, providing natural-looking tans without requiring them to go out into the sun. But perhaps you’ve mused upon the fact that sunless lotions are a really interesting product. And perhaps you’ve wondered how they do what they do. Do they dye the skin? Are they safe? These are the questions that a few people have wanted to know about sunless tanning lotions.

The answer that these people is looking for is simple. DHA. Okay, maybe it’s not that simple, but once you know a little bit about it, the sunless tanning lotion process is easy to understand. Basically, the important ingredient in any sunless tanning lotion that you might use is an ingredient called DHA, short for dihydroxyacetone. This is a natural ingredient (a carbohydrate actually, see there is such a thing as good carbs!). Believe it or not, it’s basically a sugar.

Way back in the 1920’s, DHA was being used for medical purposes and it was discovered that it turned the skin a darker color than it naturally was. It was then that the idea was sparked that would eventually lead to the creation of sunless tanning lotions. But original plans were derailed and the first sunless tanning lotions (which didn’t come out until forty years after that discovery) didn’t make good use of DHA. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the FDA approved the use of DHA for cosmetics and it wasn’t until the 1980’s that it became the primary ingredient in sunless tanning lotions.

Okay, so now you know the history of how DHA came to be an important part of sunless tanning lotions but how does it work? Basically, this sugar forms a natural reaction with your skin cells that results in the changing of skin color. Varying amounts of DHA within the sunless tanning lotions will produce varying shades of color because higher concentrations of DHA will have a greater reaction with the skin and create a darker coloring. Because the DHA is only reacting with the outer layers of the skin, the sunless tanning lotion is designed to have a temporary effect. Hence the maintenance that you do to keep the tan looking fresh.

So, in a sense, yes – DHA does dye the skin although it does so through a natural chemical reaction. Is that safe? DHA has now been on the FDA’s list of approved cosmetics products for over 30 years. The worst thing that your skin is likely to experience as a result of the reaction is a mild tingling or slight irritation. Other than that, the product is considered to be safe. People who have lingering concerns about the effects of UV rays from natural outdoor tanning and indoor salon tanning often find that the use of sunless tanning lotions is a preferable alternative to getting the tan that they desire.