How long of a break?
- Thread starter Bubrox
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3 weeks to a month seems ideal to me. Enjoy the summer. Let the brain and body reset. At least 1-2 weeks off from ALL training is good 3-4X per year is good in my mind as well. I've NEVER seen a kid take time off and come back a mess. In almost every case, they come back stronger, faster and fresher somehow.
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DD is now 18 and has been pitching for approximately 8 years.
* At 10/11 she really wasn't obsessed with pitching. She played softball and basketball and did very little related to one sport during the other sport's season.
* At 12/13 she started becoming more serious about softball and joined a travel ball team. At that point, pitching became a year round activity. She took very little time off. Honestly, that was my fault for not knowing any better...
* At 14 we started doing semi-annual breaks. One break in the fall/winter that would last approximately 4 to 6 weeks. This would typically be from just before Thanksgiving until just after Christmas. In the spring/summer we also attempted to give her a 3 to 4 week break based on school ball and travel ball. The timing of this break varied from year to year.
In my opinion, the breaks have helped her. Once a break is over, it usually takes her 2 or 3 sessions to find her location and spin rate. But her speed never seems to suffer. In fact, she often comes back faster after a break.
* At 10/11 she really wasn't obsessed with pitching. She played softball and basketball and did very little related to one sport during the other sport's season.
* At 12/13 she started becoming more serious about softball and joined a travel ball team. At that point, pitching became a year round activity. She took very little time off. Honestly, that was my fault for not knowing any better...
* At 14 we started doing semi-annual breaks. One break in the fall/winter that would last approximately 4 to 6 weeks. This would typically be from just before Thanksgiving until just after Christmas. In the spring/summer we also attempted to give her a 3 to 4 week break based on school ball and travel ball. The timing of this break varied from year to year.
In my opinion, the breaks have helped her. Once a break is over, it usually takes her 2 or 3 sessions to find her location and spin rate. But her speed never seems to suffer. In fact, she often comes back faster after a break.
- Jun 19, 2013
- 753
- 28
My DD is having mostly a break for about 4-5 weeks - that being said likes to exercise and she works out on her own by running stairs, doing exercise videos, hiking etc. And we have have been out twice in three weeks just to keep the arm loose. She was pretty beat up from having 90% of the innings on her varsity team and her tournament team and ended summer ball with a toe injury and has her big toe nail turning black and coming off currently so the time off is much needed. Thankfully she doesn't have to go do try outs right now and can just have a regular summer of swimming, picking blackberries and back to school shopping. we'll hit it hard 10 days before fall ball and try to get the locations back 
- Dec 10, 2017
- 25
- 3
DD is 13 and does training outside of softball. Her trainers proposed a 2 month break from softball activities last spring promising she would come back stronger afterwards.
She is going to take a 6 week break at the end of this year. Will be first time in 5 years she hasn’t practiced any softball related activities over the winter break from travel ball.
She will continue to train and play basketball during the break from softball.
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She is going to take a 6 week break at the end of this year. Will be first time in 5 years she hasn’t practiced any softball related activities over the winter break from travel ball.
She will continue to train and play basketball during the break from softball.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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