Injury-Proof Catchers

[softballperformance]

Injury-Proof Catchers

I got a question from my good friend Stacie Mahoe from
http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com asking me about
preventing knee injuries for catchers.

I thought this is information you would like to get.

Yes, catchers have a greater risk of developing knee
issues just because catching puts more stress on the knees
than any other position.

What can you do to prevent this?

1) Use the Knee Savers. These are support padding that
you attach to your shin pads and that gives you good
support when squatting down. It takes away close to 85%
of the stress when resting before you get into your
catching position.

Some people think it makes your catcher lazy. To me,
you can't play with knee safety. However, I don't buy
the laziness thing. A good coach will know how to
properly train their catcher and if the catcher
is hard-working, this is a non-issue.

Now, it is not mandatory to wear them but it can really
help to prevent a lot of the stress placed on the knees.

2) Do Hindu Squats - old, silly-looking, martial art
exercise that many personal trainers would tell you
"It's bad for the knees" exercise because the heels
are coming off the ground but guess what.. every
catcher has their heels coming off the ground.

It is actually a great muscular endurance exercise for
catchers. I would do 50-100/day several days a week.

After that, your catcher will have the best conditioned
legs of any catcher in your league.

Check this exercise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSVpo4mzNI

3) I would also get them to do single-leg squats for
strength and stability. They are killers but boy do they work.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu-6ywxbu1A


4) Make sure you teach proper catching techniques; especially
the basic catching position. You want to make sure that
their weight is well-distributed. Teach them good fundamentals
and you will take a lot of the stress away.

From experience, most softball players with knee problems are
not catchers but former/current gymnasts, basketball or soccer
players.

Make your catchers injury-proof.


Marc
"Your Personal Softball Peak Performance Coach"

[Judd]

Mark, would these be appropiate for 12U, for a girl who wants to start catching?

Also if you could check my thread on catchers drills, you may be able to help me out as you seem to be well versed on catching

[softballperformance]

Hi Judd,

yes they are definitely appropriate for a 12U player.

Do you have specific questions or drills you want me to look at?

Marc