Balance and Tracking in One

I have severe arthritis in my casting shoulder which means I am bone on bone in the socket. I have been going to Physical Therapy for the past two weeks beginning a program designed to strengthen and gain more mobility in the shoulder. It is already helping, although I will never have any external rotation again. I will blog again to share what I have done with my stroke to work around my limitations.

The point of this blog is what I ran across yesterday. The clinic has a "Bosu Ball" which is a balance training aid shaped like half a ball. My friend Ron Mayfield in Houston, who is a certified casting instructor, uses one of these when practicing casting to work on his balance. He fishes a lot out of a kayak where the ability to cast without sending out waves is paramount if to avoid spooking shallow fish. He is incredibly good on this ball.

Here is a video of me in the clinic yesterday on a Bosu Ball.

Notice the stick I have in my hand over my shoulder. Because of my shoulder injury, I use a little more shoulder rotation than most which can cause tracking issues. (Tracking refers to the path of the tip of the rod or rod hand relative to a straight line). Rotating with the stick while standing on the ball allows me to work on good tracking by keeping the stick pointed at the same spot. Balance and tracking in one. This is a really good exercise/drill.