Anyone ever face this quandry?

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Mar 28, 2014
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DD is in 8th grade. On a new team, 3rd practice with this new team. She is the only pitcher at this practice. Coach has her throw live pitching to the team. for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Without a break. I had to leave the practice without saying something for fear of a lack of emotional discipline! DD obviously got extremely fatigued and started compensating by using terrible mechanics. I need to talk to the coach about this to make sure that it never happens again but was wondering the best approach. I was thinking of taking the "We are both trying to develop her together so lets work together. With that being said, 80 minutes of non-stop BP is terrible for arm health, her pitching coach recommends hard pitch counts of 80 pitches, etc...."

Anyone with experience in this matter?
 
May 11, 2018
91
18
sounds like the coach is a meat head. once the mechanics start to change and a pitcher gets tired is when the risk of an injury goes way up. good luck
 
May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
This is always a tough one. The fact that he did this in the first place indicates that the coach is clueless. Not a good sign when it comes to having a parent to coach conference. What did your intuition tell you about the coach, how did he run practice? If he doesn't look approachable your daughter may have to develop a 'sore arm' and have to take a break from pitching.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
1st year of MS DD pitched in all the practices and games. She hardly pitched at all before school and her arm was ready to fall off.

I gave her a choice, you talk to your coach or I will.

She knew there was a chance I would cause more harm then good so she talked to coach and they slowed her down. By the way we all liked the coaches.

I would do something similar. Ask your DD to talk to coach and only become involved if you need to, she is old enough.

(One of DD's lines which I liked was, what happens when you bat? Well Sally pitches I do not get anything to hit. :))
 
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I like DD to get as much out of practice as possible and push herself so she knows it’s up to her as to when to throw the my elbow is starting to hurt flag. Some days it may be 100 pitches others it’s 300 pitches I tell her it’s your body only you know when something is wrong or you have had enough. Our middle school coach doesn’t have a clue so it’s up to DD to make her own judgments of how long to pitch bp.
 
Mar 28, 2014
1,081
113
This is always a tough one. The fact that he did this in the first place indicates that the coach is clueless. Not a good sign when it comes to having a parent to coach conference. What did your intuition tell you about the coach, how did he run practice? If he doesn't look approachable your daughter may have to develop a 'sore arm' and have to take a break from pitching.

Coach is a girl and she was a pitcher so my intuition was that she would be a great coach for pitchers! She is also a 1st year Head Coach after being an assistant and she was running practice all by herself so I think she sort of got lost with time and forgot about pitch counts and a quick 30-40 BP tuned into an 80 minute BP. That's why I hesitate to even bring it up but then again, I have make sure it doesn't happen again because my DD is not the type to tell her coach that she doesn't
want to continue pitching. She's one of those "If the coach wants it I'm going to do it" types.
 
Jun 18, 2012
3,183
48
Utah
DD is in 8th grade. On a new team, 3rd practice with this new team. She is the only pitcher at this practice. Coach has her throw live pitching to the team. for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Without a break. I had to leave the practice without saying something for fear of a lack of emotional discipline! DD obviously got extremely fatigued and started compensating by using terrible mechanics. I need to talk to the coach about this to make sure that it never happens again but was wondering the best approach. I was thinking of taking the "We are both trying to develop her together so lets work together. With that being said, 80 minutes of non-stop BP is terrible for arm health, her pitching coach recommends hard pitch counts of 80 pitches, etc...."

Anyone with experience in this matter?

Well, how important is it that she play with this team? It's rare that there will be no reprecussions for her or you discussing this with the coach.
 
Jan 28, 2017
1,662
83
I can't stand for my DD to just throw. She should always be working on something and not just throwing BP. I would be more of a jerk than normal.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
DD is in 8th grade. On a new team, 3rd practice with this new team. She is the only pitcher at this practice. Coach has her throw live pitching to the team. for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Without a break. I had to leave the practice without saying something for fear of a lack of emotional discipline!

Health issues need to be addressed by the parent. It is one thing when discussing serious injury...it is another when discussing position in the batting order.

The coach is not up on the current science about overuse injuries in softball pitching. Approach the discussion with the coach as educational. Print out a copy of the guidelines for you and him, and then use that as a basis for discussion.


Here is a guideline sheet from the American Orthopedic Society to help you: https://www.sportsmed.org//aossmimis/stop/downloads/Softball.pdf

Here is the web page: https://www.stopsportsinjuries.org/STOP/STOP/Prevent_Injuries/Softball_Injury_Prevention.aspx
 

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