I know this topic has been dealt with before, at different levels, but I'd like to see it discussed here again to clear up what I see as some inconsistencies between what many of the experts on this board have to say about the "How much?/How often?" question.
Hitter posted some info in another thread about the growing pile of evidence that softball pitchers are prone to the same overuse injuries as baseball pitchers. There appears to be a growing consensus in the scientific community that overuse is definitely a serious concern.
At the same time, I see PCs and other people in the know regularly contributing posts that emphasize the importance of throwing (hard) 4 or 5 times a week, and sometimes more. A baseball coach who put a kid on a schedule like that would be hung up by his _____(fill in sensitive body part here).
DD will be 14 in a couple of weeks. She's been pitching since she was 9 (I think. Seems like much longer). She's a solid, strong kid with pretty good muscle development, especially in her arms and shoulders. We throw 3X per week, 10 months a year, 45-60 min. sessions. We do sets of pitches, and tailor workouts to be as efficient as possible. Counting warmup tosses, she probably throws 200 balls per session, with 60-80 full windup pitches per workout.
While I know it's a "different strokes for different folks" area, I would like to see if there is a consensus among the experts here about how many balls a day/week is optimal. Lots of dads and moms out there are getting lots of conflicting advice about what it takes to develop and maintain and effective pitcher.
Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!
Hitter posted some info in another thread about the growing pile of evidence that softball pitchers are prone to the same overuse injuries as baseball pitchers. There appears to be a growing consensus in the scientific community that overuse is definitely a serious concern.
At the same time, I see PCs and other people in the know regularly contributing posts that emphasize the importance of throwing (hard) 4 or 5 times a week, and sometimes more. A baseball coach who put a kid on a schedule like that would be hung up by his _____(fill in sensitive body part here).
DD will be 14 in a couple of weeks. She's been pitching since she was 9 (I think. Seems like much longer). She's a solid, strong kid with pretty good muscle development, especially in her arms and shoulders. We throw 3X per week, 10 months a year, 45-60 min. sessions. We do sets of pitches, and tailor workouts to be as efficient as possible. Counting warmup tosses, she probably throws 200 balls per session, with 60-80 full windup pitches per workout.
While I know it's a "different strokes for different folks" area, I would like to see if there is a consensus among the experts here about how many balls a day/week is optimal. Lots of dads and moms out there are getting lots of conflicting advice about what it takes to develop and maintain and effective pitcher.
Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!