Over played, over used and abused

[NumeroUno]

Over played, over used and abused

I was talking with a very good sports therapist yesterday who has more softball players coming in with injuries than ever before. He said these kids are over played, over used and abused by their parents and coaches in order to keep up with the system. All of his softball clients are travel ball players.

I hear the argument well high school coaches are clueless and they play too much in high school now that high school can play year round and that could be a correct statement. Another correct statement is they play way to much travel ball year round. High school no more than 2 games in a day travel ball 3, 4, 5, 6 games in a day, sometimes more..

It's not just high school there are plenty of clueless people coaching travel ball as well. There are also plenty of clueless people coaching at the college level too. Look at the direction travel ball has gone. Come on, tryouts the week of ASA and PGF nationals, a little early people. It isn't even September yet and most of the tryouts have already been done. We all give our players less rest than pro athletes get and that is why their are so many more injuries now a days. How many people in travel ball and high school conditioning these kids have any real back ground in this kind on training or really researched what is best? Well I played college sports in the 80's so I know what is best....wrong I have been doing this for 20 years and I know what I am doing...wrong I have no other life but softball and if we aren't on the field I am board so lets play, now there might be some truth to that

How many games do these kids play a year 100, 150,180? Then they practice 5 days a week in high school and every Saturday and Sunday games or practice for the travel team. I heard a high school team in so cal playing over 30 practice games before high school season started. You wonder why you hear complaints from colleges about kids coming to college that have lost the love for the game.

[as the world turns]

.....travel ball 3, 4, 5, 6 games in a day, sometimes more..

PGF championship does not count

[NumeroUno]

you sure that doesn't count

[as the world turns]

Of course it does, just being sarcastic. Stupidity knows no bounds, no team brand or tournament....or coach.

[access2]

A colleague gave this to me...I wonder why?

http://www.healio.com/pediatrics/journa ... ng-Athlete

Long article...but good read to build some perspective...thanks Uno for the reminder

[Iluvblue]

After the Fall season we use to hold tryouts AFTER the Superbowl.

Heck, if you even wait until Dec1st now, you wont field a team.

I still try to field my team in Nov. then we take off all of Nov, dec, and dont get back together till late January to start practicing. I am in the minority in doing that, and I will lose players as a result, but for me to keep my passion for the game high and sanity level at acceptable levels...... even I need a break. And I dont play in a single game.

Imagine what is happening inside the brain of some of these young ladies.

[BigSoftball]

Don't like it? Leave. You think you'll be missed? No one cares about you or your daughter. You're a checkbook. Your kid is meat. Plenty more where you came from. Because we have the carrot and you need us. So STFU.

[J_O_E]

Travel ball is to blame not HS. 4 to 7 games per weekend = injury....is not rocket science. And yes, coaches and parents are to blame...but mostly parents for putting up with it.

[SoCalASABlue]

Seems to me the logical answer then is for HB management to lock the TRYOUTS menu until mid-September or whenever the HB management believes is an appropriate date to allow advertisements for tryouts to commence - because as long as people come on here and glorify Rico/Firecrackers and other coaches/organizations, the natural inclination is to try and build a team that can get as close to (and hopefully compete with) that "ideal" as much as possible.

The clarion call to try and get parents to actually act like parents and stop subjecting their teenage daughters to the "abuse" of predominantly male powertrippers (who you'd shoot and bury in the desert if this "abuse" happened outside of softball) is obviously not working when compared to the lure of scholarship money and "showcases".

[Sam]

The TB season should run from Jan through 1st week of August. The sport should be shut down from the 2nd week of August through the end of the year. The NCAA should kill Fall recruiting and allow them to recruit during the summer showcase season only. If they make the varsity team in HS, they will play a few games in the Fall. They make a travel team in January, break in March through May for HS and then complete their TB season in the summer.

The Fall season is an absolute waste and a physical breakdown promoter; both short and long term. They don't need to play and when they do, it is likely in less than optimal weather with cold, rainy, wet conditions....primed for injury.

Have them play basketball.....soccer......volleyball.....something besides softball during the Fall. Allow their bodies to recover and develop in different areas instead of overusing the same areas.

The parents have total control here....yet they will claim no control. They would rather hurt their own child than stand up against the current system.