take a Break before tournament?

[jamiejames82]

Hey guys, Ive got a 9u pitcher (my dd) who I throw with every day. She is pretty good, and at this age, if she is throwing we have a very good shot at winning games. This is our first year of tournament ball, and we are still figuring everything out. In the last tournament, we did well till she got tired, we got stuck with back to back to back games... My question is, in order to give her the best shot at lasting longer on Saturdays, should I lay off the practice pitching the day before? I was thinking maybe just let her throw 10-20 just to keep the feel fresh, but got to thinking about just letting that arm and those muscles have a full break. What do you recommend? Thanks for the help!

 

[grcsftbll]

I'm still learning myself, also have a 9 year old pitcher. Personally we don't let her practice every day. We do 3 to 4 days a week so with a tournament she gets 2 to 3 days off. I've read a lot about the increase in repetitive stress injuries in children due to too much specialization too young. Nothing we can do about that, we all love softball. But I try to mitigate the risk with rest days. We will either take the day before a tournament off or have a very light practice. Depending on how much she pitches we often take the day after off too.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I wouldn't pitch at least two days before a tournament and one day before a school game (games vs. game). Even if you are just throwing a limited number of pitches you still have to warm up.

Pitching lessons are like filling a large bucket with sand a handful at a time. You want to fill the bucket eventually but a handful either way isn't going to make much of a difference. It's a marathon not a sprint.

 

[spleen1015]

She can't pitch every day. She's going to get hurt eventually.

If she is a good pitcher and her team stands the best chance of winning with her pitching, then she's likely going to pitch a lot in tournies. You need to give her body a break.

I like the bucket analogy. She's 9. What she does today doesn't matter. You have to think long term. It matters when she's 16/17/18. Not now.

DD pitches Tuesday & Wednesday most weeks then in tournaments on weekends.

 

[canyonjoe]

Especially at younger ages, don't leave it up to the kid to tell you if they need a break. The best players are tough kids don't want to disappoint the coach or their
parents. Find another kid to pitch the second game.

 

[sluggers]

You should not let your 9YOA DD pitch back to back to back games.

That is just stupid.

 

[chrispots]

Do you ever do pitch counts? For games or for workouts?

Keep track of it sometime...starting with her warm ups. Don't be surprised if she throws 150+ pitches between warm ups and a 7 inning game.

If she is throwing every day, track her count for the week. When you see some ridiculous number like 1,000 pitches in 7 days, you'll answer you own question.

You might find this of interest: https://www.neorthohospital.com/patient-education/softball-pitching-limits

CP

 

[FrozenRope]

You should not let your 9YOA DD pitch back to back to back games.

That is just stupid.

It sure is.

 

[FP26]

DD is a 10th grader (16 years old) and pitches for her high school. Here is her typical routine.

High School - We try to give her off the day before and the day after a game. However, it isn't unusual to have games on back to back days.
Tournaments - We typically have her practice on Tuesday and Thursday. She then pitches on Saturday and Sunday but never more than 2 games on any day. Also note that she doesn't typically need much to warm up. We do some stretching, underhand toss, 50%, 75%, and full motion. 5-8 minutes and she is good to go.
Off Season - We try to practice every other day, so 3 days one week followed by 4 days the next week. She also takes a 4 to 6 week break every fall/winter. Typically from mid-November until the end of December.

 

[grcsftbll]

We debated about the winter break. Our situation had us feeling like there was no room for a break (that was emotional, not rational). Then, elbow tendonitis. So we HAD to take time off for her to heal if we didn't want permanent damage. We took off mid-Nov through mid-Dec then worked hard on mechanics when we started back up. I won't debate it this year, it's a no brainer. She came back better and stronger after the break. This year we will likely take off mid-Nov til after NYE.