<p>Wish this thread had been available when our son was trying to figure out “the technique”! He is small in stature and has small hands, and my husband was actually impressed at the distance he got for his kneeling height being a challenge. Unfortunately, USMA was not as impressed, requiring retake. 
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<p>A few things that he found helpful:
- A small mat under the knees (as allowed in the directions) gave him some cushion and a teeny bit of “body spring” as he released the ball. Without the mat, he was bruising his knees during practice and he had a harder time following through with the ball before release because his knees hurt as he leaned forward on the kneecap.
- A rocking motion back and forth on the knees a few times prior to release seemed to give him a little extra umph. He always attempted to lean backward to a 45 degree angle before the actual lunge forward as the ball was released.<br>
- Throwing arm was rotated back as far from the body as he could manage w/o dropping the ball (as has been described here by others).
- He tried to think of something that made him really mad as he attempted the throw. Psychologically, it seemed to give him a little extra distance!
- Straight line throws went further (generally) than those that went off to the side.</p>
<p>These techniques seemed to work for him: retake was a “take”!, though the distance wasn’t outstanding. :)</p>
<p>As for the (Why?) of the BB throw test in the CFA (and I do not know if this is accurate, but it does make sense to me) - a friend told me her veteran father’s explanation is that it is used to evaluate ability to lob a grenade. They figure if you can throw a large object such as a BB from a good distance, you’ll be okay at getting the grenade the distance it needs to go to protect you.</p>