Athletes begin playing competitive
sports at a younger age today than they have in the past. I remember watching T-ball when my boys played, those cute
little guys and gals all dressed up in their uniforms, every player chasing the
ball all over the field, running towards 3rd base after getting a hit?
Remember how much joy it brought to all the spectators? Being
outdoors, smelling the fresh cut grass, and seeing mom, dad, grandma, and
grandpa in the stands. Baseball is still America’s game and a great sport for
young kids to play. Playing baseball as a young athlete can be a
great experience. UNTIL, parents and coaches turn youth baseball into a job.
Competitive baseball tends to pressure coaches to ask young athletes to
produce more than what their young arms can handle which in turn often leads to
overuse injuries.
Here are a few key areas to help parents and
coaches ensure that their young athletes maintain healthy arms and prolong
their playing experience throughout their career.
- Teach proper
mechanics of throwing a baseball.
- Create a proper arm health and
workout program.
- Teach athletes how to use the
arm health and workout program.
- Implement these philosophies
into their weekly repertoire.
- Follow through and make
adjustments if necessary.
These five bullets will
help young athletes create a healthy routine to help avoid arm injuries and
enjoy playing America’s game.
Although most arm injuries can be avoided with
proper technique and arm health programs, injuries will occur. Many of
the injuries are created from pushing these young athletes to throw past their
pitch count. The damage though sometimes not obvious when they are young
will eventually surface and can become a more serious injury for the older
athlete. “In Little League, most injuries are to the elbow because most
LL pitchers don't throw with enough force to cause stress at the shoulder, even
though there are many growth plate injuries due to overuse throwing”1. Two solutions to help deter these
injuries from ever happening: 1) Do not throw a baseball too hard (not
realistic for a competitive athlete) 2) Teach young ball players proper
mechanics of throwing a baseball. Click link to watch a video on proper mechanics of throwing a baseball.video link2
A quick
question for parents that are reading this blog: what ever happened to just
being a kid and having fun learning to play the game? Kids actually
developed skills and muscle memory by being kids, playing, climbing, and
jumping. I heard a statement just the other day from a coach and a
good friend that, “Kids do not play anymore. Why? Because they don’t have
time”. He is right, kids don’t go out to play and just throw the ball
around anymore, they are too busy with organized practice and games.
Kids sports have turned into big money making business and a
year-around competitive experience of non-stop action and little consideration
of the kid.
A
problem that many are facing is a dream that their kid will be this spectacular
athlete and have a chance to make it to the big leagues. While this may
be true for a few, statistics per the NCAA show that 1 out of every 200 high
school seniors who play baseball will eventually be drafted to the MLB3. Taking this a step further, Bleacher
Report reported in 2012 the odds of actually playing once you have been
drafted are slim and your chances narrow even more the deeper you go in the
draft3. Parents, let’s face the fact that the
chances are limited that your ball player will make the big show.
Kids will
continue to play competitive baseball and parents will continue to allow (some
force) these young guys to compete year around. What can be done to avoid
arm injuries? How can parents and coaches help prepare and develop young
athletes? Author Joe
Zedalis, does an excellent job recommending
eight ways to help avoid arm injuries and maintain arm health in his article Tommy John Surgery: Experts suggest 8 ways young
pitchers can avoid dreaded 3 words. To view Joe’s eight steps:link to steps1.
The
answer is arm health: it is Joe’s number one answer on his list of 8 ways to
avoid dreaded 3 word! The importance of arm health is imperative to the
longevity of the career of any athlete. Throwing a baseball can put a
tremendous amount of stress on the shoulder and elbow and therefore it is
important to train every young athlete the proper mechanics of throwing a
baseball. Throwing
a baseball is the fastest human motion in any athletic activity.1 During a baseball pitch, the shoulder of
the pitching arm abducts 90° or more, externally rotates up to 180°,
experiences a peak force of over 600N, and then internally rotates over 7000°
per sec......all in less than 2 seconds!1 To maintain proper arm health, players need a solid
foundation of how to properly throw a baseball and establish a quality workout
program to maintain strength and flexibility.link to flexibility and strength1.
Proper
mechanics and arm health are the backbone on teaching a young athlete how to
avoid the growing trend of Tommy John surgery and help lengthen their future of
playing baseball. What is it most important quality the majority of young
athletes desire from sports is to have fun. There is ample time for the
competitiveness when they become adults, let kids be kids.
1Ellis,
S. (2016, June). Arm care program for the youth pitcher. Youth Pitching.com.
Retrieved from:http://www.youthpitching.com/armcare.html
2Bernhardt,
S. (2013, April). Baseball factory coaching tip 02: throwing mechanics. You
Tube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDzvD-3neaU
3Cornelius,
Emily. (2014, October). How hard is it to make it to the mlb? The Huffington
Post. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-cornelius/how-hard-is-it-to-make-it_1_b_5947308.html?
4Zedalis, Joe. (2015,
March). Tommy john surgery: Experts suggest 8 ways young pitchers can avoid
dreaded 3 words. NJ.com. Retrieved from: http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/-7063055909593446914/tommy-john-surgery-experts-suggest-8-ways-young-pitchers-can-avoid-dreaded-3-words/
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