International Quarterback Problem

Question
Hi Coach!
My name is Elimar, I'm 23 years old and I'm from Brazil.
The football is becoming more and more popular over here and about a year ago I started playing Quarterback in my town's team. There is no "real" coaches down here and everything we know is by watching NFL games, watching internet movies and reading a lot of articles about coaching and drills.
My problem is when I throw the football, the way the football reaches my target doesn't seems right. This is what most of my friends described to me throw looks like: when i throw to my target the tip of the ball that faces my target is always at elevated rather than facing my target directly. Even when I throw the football up and far the ball seems to never make that "turning point" when it should stop going up and start diving down with it's nose pointing to the ground. It goes up with the nose pointing to the sky and goes down with the nose STILL pointing to the sky. Even though my throw is fast and it has a good spiral I can't help changing this. And it is starting to cause me some troubles in those mid-long routes or to put it away from the coverage. Really need help coach!

Thanks, Elimar  

Answer
Hello Elimar,

 Football is taking off in Brazil, that is a good thing. I don't know how serious it is over there, but it gives me an idea about what I do over here. If Brazil is trying to get football started, I can bring my knowledge of the game to Brazil. I can come over and hold some camps and coaching clinics. Also, I can teach all I know about running an organization professionally. That would be a good thing to try and get started. Have an inaugural season, then build from there. It would take some planning, investors and promotions, but it could happen.

Addressing your problem, there could be a few problems. First, it could be your grip on the ball. If you are gripping to far back on the ball, it will cause the ball to stay "pointed up". You need to move your grip a little forward, towards the fatter part of the ball. Just a little and see if this corrects the problem.

Second, your throwing motion. You could me flicking your hand down to much when following thru, this could cause the ball to have that "pointed up" spiral. Allow the ball to roll/spin out of your grip.

Third, when you are throwing, you could be throwing off your back leg, which will cause the ball to have the "pointed up" spiral. When you throw, your body weight should shift to the front foot all in one motion with your throw. Understand that when you are throwing the deep ball, you are throwing with the intention of the ball coming down. You are not just trying to throw it into the sky. It is a proportions of throwing the ball up and out. It takes a lot of practice to learn the trajectory of a pass at every distance.

Perhaps you could take a picture of your grip on the ball, or maybe a video of you throwing and send it to me. That would give me a better idea of what is going wrong.

Try some of these corrections and see if they work. Understand that they will feel uncomfortable because you are trying to do something that you haven't been doing.
So give them some time to work. If a few passes come out the right way after one of these corrections then that was the problem.

I hope that I have helped you. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Thank You,

AC Anderson