I know I have laid this story out here before but here goes:
Going back to 2005 my youngest son starts with 9U travel ball. Had older sons so I had been exposed to the James Andrews thoughts on pitching that even back then said cap at 70 per week for under 12.
1st tournament final game - my son starts - I am stats/pitch count guy. By 3rd my son is reaching 50 - we warmup next kid and move on. Being thorough I am tracking the other teams pitch count. Long story short we use 3 pitchers and they use one. We lose the game by a run or two - but what I remember was the 127 pitches the 9 year old threw on a 47 degree mid October afternoon that was probably closer to 40 by 4PM.
After game hand shakes and I come up to the kid and say "nice game - I hope you make it to 10U" Nearly started a riot - his Dad was the next one in line and heard me say it. After some jawboning we moved on.
What happened ---- kid had arm surgery before 11U.
Not the end of story though. At 12U our Head Coach was sitting on his bucket at a tournament between games. An old man had watched us play and had seen us a number of times before came over to complement him on our teams style and discipline. Coach thanks him and says - you have someone here? He says yes and points to his grandson. Turns out it is the kid from 9U - Coach says - Oh I remember him and he is a great player. Goes on to tell the 9U story to the grand dad including our stance on pitch count. The grand dad starts crying and says - God I wish we had turned him over to you guys - he'd still be able to throw.
We never felt better about never having presided over an arm injury to a youth player over 6 seasons of coaching kids less than 13 years old. There may have been some luck but we never pushed it.
We surely could have won more games - but we never lost an arm - worth it.