In this hurling tutorial, you’ll learn how to strike the ball out of the hand on your dominant side. This tutorial is intended to teach a beginner about the mechanics of hitting the ball.
Video transcript:
Hey guys, I’m David from playhurling.com and today I’m going to show you how to strike the ball in hurling and camogie. In this tutorial, I’m going to cover the basics of striking the ball. And, it’s my style, there are many other styles out there. It’s just to reinforce the basics and to get the mechanics of striking the ball while in a stationary position. As you learn, you’ll learn to apply these tactics while on the run.
4 Things To Keep In Mind
1. Dominant Hand Is Always On Top
So, before we begin, this is the top of the hurl and this is the bottom of the stick. So, you want to put your dominant hand on top, which is unlike baseball and hockey. So, your dominant hand is going to be on the top of the hurl, and your non-dominant hand is going to be holding the sliotar. The reason for your dominant hand being on top, the power is driven from this hand and your non-dominant is just supporting that so you get the accuracy in your shot.
2. Hitting Range: Between Shoulder And Knee
The range that you’re going to be hitting the ball is between shoulder level and knee level. The reason you want to be hitting it between shoulder and knee depends on the circumstance involved. If you’re trying to get off a quick shot that you don’t have much time, there’s someone coming up behind you in a match situation, you want to hit up higher towards the shoulder. But if you have time, you want to do more of a rounded shot that’s lower between waist and knee.
3. Don’t Throw The Ball Above Eye Level
Beginners often toss the ball way up too high. For more control, you want to toss it up to about shoulder height.
4. Wristy Swing
Those familiar with baseball, you want to wait one more second than you usually swing. Rather than hitting it up here, you want a more wristy circular swing.
What I’m going to show you is a standard shot that you can start off from.
Breaking Down The Steps
I’m facing towards the camera because I want to hit this way, so I’m 90 degrees from where I want to hit.
So people often ask how far out do you toss up the ball. About the distance of your forearm out from your body, and you’re going to toss it up to shoulder height. And, when you’re swinging, unlike in baseball where it’s more of a forearm swing, you’re going to be doing more of a wristy swing. The swing is all in the wrist. It’s more of a rounded windmill type swing.
I’m going to toss the ball up to shoulder level and as it’s falling, I’m going to rejoin my hand to the hurl. And as I’m swinging, I’m going to step into the direction that I’m hitting with my non-dominant foot, shifting my body weight from my dominant through to the planted foot. As well as shifting your body weight to your planted foot, you’re going to pivot your hips a slight bit and stretch this arm out that your chin is nested into your shoulder. So, you’re going to stretch back while you swing. Connecting with the ball at knee level, while following through with your swing.
If you’re trying to do a short pass, I’m going to hit the ball up higher. But, if I’m trying to do more of a longer pass, I’m going to hit it more rounded.
Thanks for watching this tutorial and if you’re looking for more hurling related videos, subscribe to my channel. Until next time, bye!
In this hurling tutorial, you'll learn how to strike the ball out of the hand on your dominant side. This tutorial is intended to teach a beginner about the mechanics of hitting the ball.