kandkfunk posted:Truman posted:daveccpa posted:Do not let your son pitch and catch without proper rest. My did it as a HS Freshman and has had two elbow surgeries since and still isn't the same as before. His HS coach did abuse him with high pitch counts and then would have him catch the next day. We (his parents) stayed out of it but I sure regret not getting involved back then.
Who know if the results would have been different but I think they would have. My kid never wanted to come out of a game and would never say no to playing. I think now he regrets that as well.
Have you kid talk to the coach and if his response isn't what it should be then intervene. BTW I usually never advocate for getting involved with coaches unless a kids health is at risk.
My son's last surgeon said catcher's throwing motion is more harmful than a pitchers. At least that is his opinion.
(emphasis mine)
Have mentioned this before on these boards, but again . . .
I was glad I learned my lesson early when my son was on a 13U travel team and played an early morning double header. First game he pitched the whole game and the very next game right afterwards the coach had him catch the whole game. Seemed like son's arm was indestructible and I didn't give it much thought . . . until after these games walking back to the car son mentioned his arm was a "little" sore (I kinda think he understated what he was feeling). Upon resting for a couple weeks, the soreness didn't go away, then took him to doctor and it was strongly recommended he throw absolutely nothing for 3 months. That's what we did and he's been fine since, though I've watched over him carefully ever since then.
Dads and Moms gotta have hand understanding with the coaches . . . especially those on travel teams where so many games are played in a short period of time.
So what is considered proper rest in this case? Are there published guidelines like with pitch count? I'm guessing there isn't anything official, just wondering how people make this determination. This in no way applies to my son as I haven't seen a lefty behind the plate in many moons, but it might be helpful information for others to think about.
Yeah, I've never seen anything official for "proper rest" for players other than for pitchers. Obviously, that's probably because there's such variation between positions and the amount of throwing done and how often they might throw hard at those positions. So, it's mostly a judgement call and one that should error on the side of caution.
I think for a parent, the best thing to do is to be able to communicate with your child and simply ask how the are feels after a game. If there's any mention of soreness or pain, then precautions should be considered. Good coaches know their players well and can often tell when something isn't quite right with the throwing and will make adjustments to playing time and/or position assignment and try to give them some "proper rest." It's the travel ball tournaments one needs to be vigilant about give there can be two games a day for two or three days and for a team that's winning the tournament, there can be as many as 4 games in a single day (like on the final day). If a parent can's be at such events, then there should be good communication between parent and child as to what's going on.
