What happened to the days of kids playing outside a new sport every day? We didn’t realize it back then but what we were doing was encouraging our bodies to constantly face new stressors day in and day out. Our bodies got strong from all of the various activities we would do. We got our biceps and lats strong from the monkey bars, climbing trees, and bear crawls hiding from water balloons. We got fast from sprinting to first base or running routes during touch football.
A lot of kids now pick one sport and play year round. Overuse injuries are at an all time high. If you have followed my blog long enough you know what I always say is that too much of anything is a recipe for disaster. However, this post has to deal more with better gameplanning for female sports to avoid these common injuries.
We see a lot of male sports (mainly baseball and football) paying close attention to how much the athletes do on a weekly basis. In baseball we keep a pitch count to make sure the pitcher isn’t overusing his arm. In football they can only practice certain times and only play once per week. I think the same should be done with regards to other sports as well, mainly volleyball and softball.
The volleyball swing and the softball pitch, although not as strenuous to the shoulder and elbow as the baseball pitch cause a lot of stress to these joints. Just like a pitcher has to be careful how much he throws I think the same can be said about these other positions. I’ve talked to numerous coaches who say that they have their players serving and hitting on a daily basis. I know we need to practice and train to get stronger and practice makes perfect, but is there a point of diminishing returns? I think so. Especially due to the fact that I see girls come into my gym every day with arms that are hurting.
I also never understood why softball pitchers are asked to pitch the whole game, EVERY GAME. The pitching motion in the circle is less stressful to the rotator cuff and elbow than the baseball pitching motion due to not having the layback position of the pitching motion, but none the less is still stressful as you get a violent overhead position followed by rapid elbow extension. Its probably not a bad idea to have some relief pitchers, take a pitch count, and limit the number of innings per week. Overuse in baseball and softball is a real issue especially in some of the better athletes that get over worked. Early to ripen, early to rot is
Volleyball hitting is also a similar motion to the baseball pitch. The only difference is that they are in midair when swinging overhead. This doesn’t allow as much torque on the shoulder so technically less stressful. Done everyday its more stressful than someone pitching 100 pitches once every 5-7 days followed by long toss during the week.
A new way of doing things.
I have a great deal of respect for volleyball and softball coaches, but I do think there is a little bit of “we do it this way because that’s the way we have always done it”. When a college football coach started running the spread offense and it worked, everyone now runs that offense. Why? Because it works. I think if we started paying attention to how much rest and recovery our hitters and pitchers are getting it will elevate the days they do pitch. Here is my template for softball pitching.
Day 1-Pitch no more than 80-100 pitches
Day 2-Off
Day 3-Pitch no more than 30-40 pitches (think relief)
Day 4-Pitch no more than 60 pitches (think starting)
Day 5-Off
Day 6-Off
Day 7-Off
Day 4 and 5 can be interchangeable, but the point is somewhat the same think a maximum of 15 innings a week or 200 pitches a week. This will help save these girls arms and help in slow steady development with injury or arm trouble.
Volleyball template for practice
Monday-Hit and serve
Tuesday-Setting and passing
Wednesday-Blocking, light hitting
Thursday-lifting
Friday-Setting, serving, light hitting
Saturday-Lifting
During the season I would limit the amount of serving and hitting as these girls are getting plenty of this during game day.
As always trial and error will win out on this one. The point is that we should take a closer look at workloads with respect to volleyball and softball pitching and hitting.
Anyone with thoughts on this, please feel free to share. This is meant to be an open discussion.
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