Darren Howerton '09 was 14 years old when he first saw it. At a local high school's soccer game, he watched as a player prepared to take a throw-in about 30 yards from the opposing goal. Suddenly, the player did a front flip - with the ball in hand - and slung the ball, on a line, toward the goal's near post.
Howerton's reaction: Cool.
"When you're 14, you don't see that pretty often," he says.
Howerton then started messing around with flip throw-ins during his own soccer practices. As a competitive gymnast until high school, it came somewhat naturally to him, though he says he "probably fell a bunch of times." When Howerton could do the throw-ins consistently, he began using it in games.
Now, the No. 8 men's soccer team is glad he did. Last Saturday, two of Howerton's flip throw-ins led to goals as the then-No. 20 Bears beat No. 7 Harvard to take control of the Ivy League.
The flip throw-in "allows you to get the ball in the box more often," says Dylan Sheehan '09, who scored off one against Harvard last week, "and we have enough big bodies so that if we get a good bounce, we can generate quite a few goals off it."
The flip throw-in, Howerton says, is a useful offensive weapon because a player can throw the ball much harder than he normally can. The Herald asked Howerton to demonstrate the technique before practice earlier this week.
First, standing on the sideline about 25 yards from the goal line, Howerton throws the ball as hard as he can toward Sheehan. The ball lazily lofts towards the near post, where Sheehan collects it.
After Howerton gets the ball back, he tries again, this time with the flip. He lines up toward Sheehan, takes a quick, big step forward and suddenly plants the ball on the ground with both hands. Flipping over the ball, he plants both his feet on the ground and, like a cannon, launches the ball on a straight line towards the far goalpost.
The Herald asked Professor of Physics James Valles Jr., who is also the team's faculty liaison, about the science behind the flip throw-in.
It's relatively simple, Valles says. When a player is throwing in the ball without a flip, he can only use the leverage of his arms. But with a flip throw-in, he can use his whole body as leverage. It's the same concept of being able to throw a lacrosse ball faster with a long stick.
Howerton says the advantage of the flip throw-in is not so much that the ball can travel farther but that it travels on a line and is much harder for a goalkeeper to react to it.
Howerton has 16 assists in his Brown career, and he estimates that a quarter of them have come off flip-throws, even though he never practices them or really knows where they're going.
"To be honest," he says, "I don't have total control over them."
Still, Head Coach Mike Noonan has enough confidence in Howerton to use his throw-ins several times a game - Howerton estimates he used about seven of them against Harvard.
"When you have a special talent - and that is a special talent - you use it," Noonan says. "It's a little bit different, but it shows what a good athlete he is."
Though opposing coaches often complain about the flip throw-ins ("This is a circus act!" one coach complained to the referee once. "Where do you draw the line?!?"), they are perfectly legal, as long as a player's feet are both on the ground during the throw and if the ball comes from directly behind the head. Howerton says his biggest problem is keeping his feet behind the sideline. But he has never been called for a throwing foul, at least not at the college level.
Once, though, he got called for a throwing foul on his high school or club team, though he didn't know why. So he asked the referee why the foul was called.
"Trickery," the referee said.
The flip throw-in doesn't work every time, though. Howerton has fallen several times while trying them in games. It is especially tough when the field and ball are wet. So it is a good thing that at home games, the Brown ball boys have towels so Howerton can dry his hands and the ball.
Actually, that's the only reason why they have towels.
"Yes," Howerton says, "they're specifically for me."
But if opposing coaches complain about this home-field advantage, consider how opposing teams try to stop Howerton from his flips. In their trip to the University of San Diego tournament earlier this fall, Howerton says he thinks the school put up a temporary fence close to the field so Howerton didn't have enough space to flip. Brown played San Diego on Friday. On Sunday, when San Diego was playing another team, the fence, conveniently, was gone.
Howerton says he's somewhat uneasy being known as the flip throw-in guy, and he remembers that his coach picked up his concern last season.
"He said, 'Darren, you don't seem to like doing the flip throw,' and I was like, 'Yeah, coach, it's kind of an awkward label. I'd rather be known for my other soccer skills.' But then he explained to be what a valuable offensive weapon it was, and it made sense."
"If I were the other team," Howerton adds, "then I guess I wouldn't like (the flip throw-ins)."
