There are a couple of comments amongst posters that I wholeheartedly agree with. They would be the following:
a) kids who throw MORE have fewer injuries
b) specializing in one sport could be a meaningful factor
I think as parents, with all the talk about pitch counts, they restrict their kids from throwing often enough. I emphasize the word "throwing". Not pitching per se. A common parent of a 9 year old, hears all of the chatter about arm injuries, and they naturally want to protect their kids, and therefore advise their children to take rest too often. I also have witnessed too few kids who stretch their arms out properly when warming up. In this instance, I am referring to long tossing. Throwing regularly, year round, with the implementation of long tossing can cure a lot of ills.
I also believe that kids playing only sport can be a detriment. When one plays multiple sports, they are forcing themselves to work muscle groups that they otherwise would not. This strengthens and trains the entire body, rather than isolating one group. Every day, we see infielders who do not have the strength in their legs to utilize their lower half properly when receiving ground balls. (they don't move their feet properly, and don't get the butt down.) Basketball, for example, is a great crossover sport to help train that muscle group.
JMO
JMO,
I agree that playing multiple sports helps an athlete but not from the standpoint of the crossover training. I found as a 3-sport HS athlete (football, basketball and baseball) there was not enough time to train properly for the other two sports especially once the games started. With the overlap in sports, I missed the basketball and baseball conditioning that was conducted in the first two weeks of practice which I agree provides overall good conditioning for any athlete. Once the games started, there was no lifting or meaningful running/conditioning. I do think it is very beneficial that playing multiple sports provides more opportunities to compete at a high level which I believe can carryover from one sport to another. In addition, this is not an option for many HS athletes. Even in my day ('80) we only had a handful of baseball players who played football or could make the basketball team. Lastly I agree that throwing year round using a sound throwing program helps prevent injuries but I think it is challenging to play multiple sports AND maintain a year round throwing program.
I generally agree. I played both basketball and baseball at the varsity level, and football up to the high school level. Obviously, to your point, I had to let one of them go! I also let basketball go after my sophomore year. In my case, the only real detriment was the fact that basketball ran into baseball season, to the extent that we went deep into the playoffs (which we did). Otherwise, training wasn't an issue regarding the summer and fall seasons. Nonetheless, my point regarding "crossover training" is not directed at three-sport varsity players. It is to say that too many young KIDS specialize in one sport from beginning at age 5, and when they arrive at the varsity level, they could have benefited from playing multiple sports, and the related skill sets, and training that they would have gained having played multiple sports for 8-10 years prior to varsity level.
Go Heels,
I agree wholeheartedly about pre-HS kids not pursuing multiple sports.