Time To Take Some Time Off From Throwing

[Westwind]

MS Softball seems to be a hit-and-miss thing in Illinois ... I never knew schools that didn’t have it until I became an umpire. It seems like there are three reasons for schools in Central/Western Illinois to not have teams: 1) numbers; 2) Little League (not travel ball, but LL specifically); 3) volleyball.

Middle school softball seems to be a mostly central Illinois phenomenon of the state from what I can see.

Softball competes with volleyball in my area. It seems like volleyball never stops. Our hs volleyball team seems to be absolutely mediocre no matter how many months of the year they spend preparing. In my hs’s case, it seems that the disproportionate amount of time spent on vb seems to contribute to the mediocrity of our girls sports across the board.

Now some random thoughts......

Players need down time- physical and mental. The discipline to take time off is counter intuitive to the disciplined approach players and parents think they need to prepare for college.

College softball coaches completely talk out of both sides of their mouth about this issue. They love to spout off about value of three sport athletes until the player is their commit. They love to talk about how repetitive use injuries are minimized by playing other sports until the player is their commit. They love to talk about the value of rest...... some mean it, some don’t...... yet some of them absolutely run kids into the ground with hundreds of thousands of tired reps and 11:00 p.m. team meetings on the road when the players are already dead tired. Think I’m kidding? There are plenty of photos of players on Twitter. Pick a P5 team. Go find some pictures from fall season. Then go find the same players in late May. Look at the bags under their eyes. Their faces are smiling for the camera but they look tired. Some coaches are better than others. Some schedules are rougher than others. Some regions can host tournaments in March and players can sleep in their own beds. Some have to travel all February and March.

Want to know what your prospective college coach really thinks about this? Look at how they use their players in conference play, particularly pitchers. Get into their website. Look at historical stats. Look at who played. Look at who they rode like a government mule for a year or two or three before the player had problems with injuries. Think those coaches are looking out for your kid? Be real about this. Make sure both you and your kid are paying attention to their bodies.

Patrick Murphy could possibly have won one more game last summer. Who knows after that. He didn’t pitch a player that had issues with repetitive use injury. At least publicly, he took a tough position on this. Behind the scenes maybe he isn’t the white knight but it was a step in the right direction. I tip my hat to him for showing some concern publicly for the long term health of his player.

 

[Rick M]

DD is nearing the end of a six-week break where she has barely picked up a ball. She went to two of her team's tryouts just to work out with prospective players, and attended a pitching clinic with Denny Tincher for two hours. That's it.

She has spent the summer working on a conditioning program that Tincher hooked her up with, but it doesn't involve any throwing (mostly building core and scap strength). I told her that next week I'd take her to the batting cages, hit her some fly balls in the outfield, and start doing some pitching warmups. She's very excited to get going again.

Now, Rachel Garcia, the NCAA D1 player of the year and winner of this year’s Women’s College World Series did throw 3,178 pitches total this season. But do you really think the 12 or 14 year olds you know are comparable in strength and conditioning to Rachel Garcia? Doubtful.

DD threw 2188 pitches in 47 games from February through July. She would be sore after the games where she threw more than 80 pitches, but no lingering pain. Still, her pitching coach recommended that we take this time before the fall travel season starts to let her get some recovery.

 

[CMMom1740]

Then don’t take a break. Dont take control over what happens.

Youth and college softball are over in a minute. Over use injuries can last a lifetime. Parents need to get back in charge of what happens to their kids.

Understood and point taken. My point is that there is no time built in if you are in GA and want to play school and travel ball. You ask to take a break and you will pay consequences in terms of playing time down the road. My DD had a stress fracture in her foot during Dec/Jan last year and our HC gave us grief about that. They weren't even playing during those months and he was upset about her missing 6 weeks of conditioning (she actually continued to work out upper body, etc...). So, parents are kind of in a no-win zone, YKWIM?

 

[_MIA_]

Understood and point taken. My point is that there is no time built in if you are in GA and want to play school and travel ball. You ask to take a break and you will pay consequences in terms of playing time down the road. My DD had a stress fracture in her foot during Dec/Jan last year and our HC gave us grief about that. They weren't even playing during those months and he was upset about her missing 6 weeks of conditioning (she actually continued to work out upper body, etc...). So, parents are kind of in a no-win zone, YKWIM?

Ultimately you are in control of what team she plays for..

 

[ang2bmd]

My kid is currently down with a fractured glove hand and it's killing her mentally but ultimately I think physically it will be good for her. She is continuing to condition so that she doesn't lose fitness. Sports med doc was really good about talking to her about injuries being part of high level sports and taking the time to heal properly while promising to get her back as soon as is physically safe.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[BT3100]

Lots of pitchers and their parents fear a break off due to losing momentum. That's false fear and poor thought process. DD is on week 3 of a 4 week planned break from pitching. She is enjoying her time off after pitching 150 innings in HS and 80 more this summer in travel. I spoke with a few dads over the weekend with younger pitchers and told them that DD is resting for a month. They were shocked and said that they would never give there kids 4 weeks off. More is not better! These girls need time to recover both physically and mentally. DD is taking 4 weeks off from all softball activity. Still running and lifting but no ball!

 

[chinamigarden]

Understood and point taken. My point is that there is no time built in if you are in GA and want to play school and travel ball. You ask to take a break and you will pay consequences in terms of playing time down the road. My DD had a stress fracture in her foot during Dec/Jan last year and our HC gave us grief about that. They weren't even playing during those months and he was upset about her missing 6 weeks of conditioning (she actually continued to work out upper body, etc...). So, parents are kind of in a no-win zone, YKWIM?

I do know what you mean.

Unfortunately the schedule is driven by other people who are not vested in your dds success beyond softball.

 

[uncdrew]

We certainly take a healthy winter break. Summer in GA is tougher, as mentioned earlier.

 

[texasheat]

I have said this for years. Nothing new here and Doug backs me up. Listen at 24:00 minutes moving forward.

which 2 pitchers is he talking about that never played travel ball in their life?

 

[texasheat]

My DD had a stress fracture in her foot during Dec/Jan last year and our HC gave us grief about that. They weren't even playing during those months and he was upset about her missing 6 weeks of conditioning (she actually continued to work out upper body, etc...). So, parents are kind of in a no-win zone, YKWIM?

Sorry there's no other way to put this. You're playing for the wrong coach