Our biology is designed to anticipate gravity. Regardless of athletic training the average person is capable of adeptly throwing and catching a ball.
I work in construction and I regularly throw and catch objects like rolls of tape - duct tape sized rolls - 18V drills, levels, etc. but it's only when we throw something light (IE that air-resistance has an effect) and then you start getting screwed up. We don't expect things to slow down dramatically when it's thrown or falls.
We also have the advantage of having some 'physics simulation' software if you will that lets us do some runs in our head before doing it physically.