Thanks djaydino
I now turn on is kinematic when the ball trigger parents it to the player, and off again on throw. The ball now moves better with my player when he jumps up, but if he jumps while running side to side, he doesn't jump as high as though he's running into the ball.
I also made sure I unparent before the add force for the throw.
How do I get the ball to change its location upon pickup so it centers itself in front of my player, rather than the spot at which the trigger collides?
Also how do I add diagonal directions to throw? 'Axis event' only gives me mutually exclusive options. Ideally i'd like the ball to be thrown in exactly the direction of the controller stick, is there a simply way to set force direction according to axis direction?
Thanks!