quote:I can not believe what I just read! Anyone looking to protect their kids future, please do not read this above post. How in God's name can you compare a 10 year old to an adult? We are not talking about muscles and bone! We are talking about growth plate fragmentation! To say a 10 year old kid can't throw hard enough to injure his/her arm is nuts!
Damage to the growth plate is noticed later during the ages of 13-17. BTW there is no Tommy John surgery for a 10 year old because the UCL doesn't tear. Its not the weak link, the attachment to the bone is and it tears off or fragments. Look up avulsion fracture.
100 throws everyday forever? With what intensity? Don't give me **** about pros doing it, we are not talking about mature athletes with growth plates that are closed and solid bone. We are talking about cartilage plates and attachments.
Please educate yourself on a subject before you go off spouting your bravado on youth anatomy which could cause damage to a young athlete.
I guess we should all just play it safe and make it illegal to even pick up a baseball before a kid reaches his junior year in HS. Ya that will work!
I just do not believe all the theories about kids who need surgery as 15-18 year olds as directly stemming fromt he damage they caused themselves at 9-10 years old. It's all a bunch of **** and thats my honest opinion. Sorry if you don't like it!
My comparison to grown adults was in the perspective of this very inportant fact- I said adults throw hard everyday because they are "conditioned to do so". Training as an youth should be to emphasize mirroring what adults do- and that means they need to learn how to condition their arm from injury by throwing more and building good muscle memory and stronger muscles.
There is nothing worse than a youth pitcher on the mound and throwing hard but lacks the physical conditioning to maintain that velocity over the coarse of his pitch outing. Often times, (and I have seen it tons)the pitcher will pitch too long for waht he is conditioned for and will end up pitching through pain and fatigue- the two most common risk factors leading to injury or even surgery.
I am sure there are some anomalies in youth pitchers- we have all seen the 12 year old stud who can throw 80mph on TV in the LLWS. We all have also probably seen the 10 year old phenom who throws upper 60's or low 70's. But those are few and far between. My post deals more with the average 9-10 year old who brings the "slow heat" with the fb registering mostly below 50 mph. At that velocity, coupled with strict "pitch counts" kids that age are just not in a danger zone for permanent damage or surgery. If I am wrong then every little league organization in the country should be sued!
Let me honestly ask you this-
Is it bad for kids at the age of 9-10 to pitch in games?