High School Coaches and Pitchers

[fastjay]

spoken like a daddy ball coach of a supposed #1 pitcher. And MINE is not a pitcher, she's a CF.

lol, you are 100% correct, but i'm the only one around that'll admit it

 

[Fairman]

1. You must admit that your dd is not an iron maiden and at some point she could break from over use. That point will be different for each player and will vary as your dd matures but there is a line that should not be crossed.
2. Once that line is crossed and pain becomes part of her life, the only rehab that will cure it is rest. (and some healing type exercise) That rest could last an entire season or more.
3. The goal of each and every season must be to have your dd improve and get stronger so she can be a more effective pitcher when she is 18 and then 22.
4. There are exceptional physical specimens that can throw every inning of every game both in and out of season. This player is unlikely to be your daughter. Also this player didn't just start with this remarkable stamina and flawless mechanics at 10U but worked up to it. She DIDN"T GET HURT and lost a season or two to surgery and rehab.
5. A young lady that is throwing 6 games in a weekend each of the ten summer weekends, 22 varsity games in 40 days, etc.... is unlikely to be able to increase her speed, her spins or her control in that same time frame due to exhaustion and in fact is more likely to back-slide and become less effective.

Just because your DD thinks she can throw 6 games (and has) doesn't mean she should. You never hear about the 21 year old that needs surgery on her shoulder and won't throw another pitch in college but still dresses and comes to every game.

Protect your daughters!

 

[Coach Tony]

Just an aside here about the overuse issue. I see single sport overuse as an issue for sure (if you are not properly managing your athletes) but my biggest concern is injuries from other sports. I have/had five 3-sport varsity athletes on my high school team the last two years and ALL of them have developed/suffered serious injuries that they have had to manage: 1 ACL tear, 2 muscle compartment syndromes, 1 severely sprained ankle and 1 ligament damage (to both knees). None of these injuries occurred playing softball, but occurred in the fall or winter or as a cumulative effect of playing a varsity sport for nine months straight.

When people tout the multiple-sport philosophy they only mention the benefits (which there are many) but everything has a trade off. Some of these injuries will need to be managed for the rest of these girls lives. A three sport varsity athlete will essentially be working two or more hours per day six days per week from the beginning of august until the middle of may. The toll it takes on these girls' body is tremendous. So, overuse is just a small subset of a larger injury issue: longer, more intense practices and games with little downtime between sessions/seasons.

This is less of an issue at younger age levels and lower high school levels. But, the varsity high school athlete who plays there sports is at serious risk of injury.

 

[mburk]

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but how many games does your "ace" throw on a weekend during travel season? I know that it is popular to bash high school coaches on here, but if we are complaining about 5 games in 5 day during high school season, does that mean throwing more than 2 games in a weekend is bad? I had a travel ball pitcher on my high school team a couple of years ago and we really didn't have anyone else, that could throw in a varsity game. I asked are you okay if you have to throw 5 days in a row before I set our schedule and her comment was, "I throw 6 in a weekend sometimes."

Summer softball and high school softball are two completely different things. Summer ball hopefully has better defense to help get pitchers of of innings. Travel plays 60 to 80 minute games over 2 to 3 days with 3 to 4 pitchers. High school plays full games 7 inning 2 plus hour games. practice/ games for 6 days. (Monday - Saturday)

Summer ball is managing good and great players with some player development and running sprint style games. High school is coaching girls up and player development and preparing them to run marathon style games.

I do both coach 16U travel and coach D1 high school so I am not saying one coach is better than the other. Just pointing out that they are different.

I have 3 pitchers on my high school team and all of them will see work. So I agree that you should not ride one arm all season.

IMHO....

 

[mburk]

Just an aside here about the overuse issue. I see single sport overuse as an issue for sure (if you are not properly managing your athletes) but my biggest concern is injuries from other sports. I have/had five 3-sport varsity athletes on my high school team the last two years and ALL of them have developed/suffered serious injuries that they have had to manage: 1 ACL tear, 2 muscle compartment syndromes, 1 severely sprained ankle and 1 ligament damage (to both knees). None of these injuries occurred playing softball, but occurred in the fall or winter or as a cumulative effect of playing a varsity sport for nine months straight.

When people tout the multiple-sport philosophy they only mention the benefits (which there are many) but everything has a trade off. Some of these injuries will need to be managed for the rest of these girls lives. A three sport varsity athlete will essentially be working two or more hours per day six days per week from the beginning of august until the middle of may. The toll it takes on these girls' body is tremendous. So, overuse is just a small subset of a larger injury issue: longer, more intense practices and games with little downtime between sessions/seasons.

This is less of an issue at younger age levels and lower high school levels. But, the varsity high school athlete who plays there sports is at serious risk of injury.

Tony I hope LW recovers fast. She is a great kid. We should schedule a game if you have any open.

 

[number5]

I hear you, our school held tryouts and no one tried out for a position. He had his mind made up and it only included upper classmen who do not even play travel ball. It's a shame that schools allow non qualified personal to coach our kids. Can a non qualified person teach as well in our schools?

You have to realize that "some" HS coaches have very little knowledge of the game and do it for the extra money. HS is also VERY political in their choices of players. The "good old boy" syndrome is prevalent. Very few follow travel ball and are totally unaware of the players backgrounds prior to try-outs. Before I get bashed, remember I said "Some".