Too Much,Too Soon
In yesterdays USA Today Sports page there was a long article on arm and shoulder injuries in young pitchers. The article was interesting and had some good information, but I think it ignored a key issue – too much, too soon because they are specializing way too early. Pre puberty, in fact pre high school they should not be just pitching. Every kid on the team should pitch. There should be a limit on the number of games kids can play. They compete too much and do not train enough. They pitch too much and do not throw enough. They play to train; they do not train to play.Let me explain those points: There should be a ratio of four to five practices to every game. They do not just get out and throw rocks and other objects, consequently they have poor arm strength and throwing mechanics that is developed naturally. They may have a personal pitching coach, but they need to long toss to build specific strength.
Pitch counts are fine, but that does not go far enough. They should have a pitch count limit and only be allowed to pitch once every seven days. No curveballs or other breaking pitches. Only fast balls and change ups.
Ultimately these injuries are the result of early specialization. Again too much, too soon. Let them just play. Adults are way too involved. Kids sports should be about kids. I think televising youth sports has caused the problem to get worse.
posted by Vern Gambetta @ 8/19/2006 09:14:00 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Many parents are under the impression that more is better, so they'll be playing and pitching on two or even three teams simultaneously. A 15 year old I know slid into a base and dislocated his throwing shoulder. I explained to his mom & dad that this injury was not just an accident, but was many years in the making.
Here is a link to a smiliar article in the Chicago Tribune from a couple weeks ago. The title is "Big Hurt for Little Athletes"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/chi-0607300279jul30,1,5484369.column?coll=chi-leisure-col
I would love to see a bibliography of information about the negative effects of early specialization.
As a youth soccer coach, I see this poor ratio of training to playing more and more. It is especially taxing on 11 -13 year olds who play on two teams (the travel team, which still has their town friends -- and the premier level team, which offers more talented competition). By the end a given week, the girls have trained 2-4 times and played in 2-4 games.
I coached 8-9 year old baseball team this summer. This was the 4th year coaching some of these guys and the past 2 is player pitch. I had 14 on the team this year including 2 girls. 7 kids pitched atleast 2 innings this year and rarely did any one throw more than 50 pitches on a night. THat is not everyone getting a chance but I saw a lot of kids this year throw over 100 pithes in a game. For the 4 years that I have coached them we have spent the start of every practice and game with 15-20 minutes of warm -up/training. This year I added the Smart Hurdles and the kids loved them. Basically did much of the stuff on the warm-up video and the Lower Extremity Injury Prevention videos. I also added self ball toss and catch (3-4 feet up) while doing the skipping moves. The hardest part is getting past that win now mode with the parents. I may lose a kid or two next year because they did not pitch enough this year but atleast I can sleep at night.
Mark Day D.C., CSCS, DACBSP
"train to play not play to train"
so many pro-athletes are duel athletes? in season play ball or puck out of season lift weights
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