How Young is too Young?

[Sam]

You are full of it, Coach....and you lie to try and prove your "points."

You want us to believe that you are engaged at a level past my own....I've coached rec, been on the Exec Board in rec, coached and managed travel teams from 10-U to 18 Gold....but you have been involved at a greater level in the softball community....and in your particular community the rec league doesn't allow kids to play up and they did away with all-stars. OK.

Yet you want to give advice to a parent in the world's hotbed of softball coaching, instruction, and talent....Orange County....because you know better than I do....OK.

I honestly don't know why I bothered responding to you in the first place. From my first interaction with you, it was obvious to me that you are here for one reason. To get your jollies telling everyone else how dumb they are, how little they know, and how much better and smarter you are.

I never said I was more involved than you....I said I was more involved than your narrow (I'm right, your wrong) expressed views portray.

I couldn't give a flying fluck whether you believe anything I say. But what do I have to gain by making sh!t up?

My advice wasn't TO you. My advice was to the OP, who asked if 10U was too young to begin playing travel ball. From my experience, it is not. According to you, it is.

The difference though, is that I don't think your advice is any less valuable than my own, no matter that I disagree with it. I'm not going to berate you over it. I attempted a discussion....you played your typical hand.

Fool me once.....

Nobody knows what your experience is or isn't. Your advice can hurt children....be proud of it.

[Sam]

Fever ... all Sam is doing is telling you what they went through and their experience ... and I was not trying to call you a maroon ... nor do we have the experience with an overuse injury like Sam and his DD have had ... try not to have such a thin skin and listen to peeps that may have experienced your future ... take everything with a grain of salt and use it to your advantage when need be ... this site is an open forum for discussion about anything related to softball and everything that isn't ... try not to poop on your own corn flakes ...

Sorry brotha.....Sam's attitude sucks.

Folks flame one another every time theirs a disagreement on a topic and this board will begin it's slide towards becoming the new eteamz.

10U FRIENDLY______OPPONENTS WANTED_____

My attitude towards people who would gladly hurt another's child is warranted and won't change.

You don't know much about eteamz, do ya? The posters who were willing to confront others who were spouting crap left eteamz after the knownothings abused the report abuse button. Eteamz is a ghost town now.

[Coach11]

<<<Nobody knows what your experience is or isn't. Your advice can hurt children....be proud of it.>>>

Pssst.....children can and do get hurt playing every sport, at every age, at every level, every day.

Does that risk increase if they start playing at a younger age? Of course.

That's common sense.

Doesn't take a "genius" with your "experience" to figure that out.

[Sam]

<<<Nobody knows what your experience is or isn't. Your advice can hurt children....be proud of it.>>>

Pssst.....children can and do get hurt playing every sport, at every age, at every level, every day.

Does that risk increase if they start playing at a younger age? Of course.

That's common sense.

Doesn't take a "genius" with your "experience" to figure that out.

Pssst....I am and always have been speaking of overuse injuries...pitchers....normally 60 extra starts....300 additional innings....add that to the additional pitching practice and lessons mandated by their parents.

Thanks for sharing your experience...genius.

[Coach11]

Pssst....I am and always have been speaking of overuse injuries...pitchers....normally 60 extra starts....300 additional innings....add that to the additional pitching practice and lessons mandated by their parents.

Here's a thought oh great one.....why not try communicating those points?

If you are speaking MAINLY about pitchers....then say so.

If your concern is in regards to over the top practices of certain coaches or parents....than say so.

Rather than just paint everyone who considers entering their child into a more competetive level at an age younger than you recomend as a moron.

For someone so obviously intelligent, you sure have a lot of trouble communicating specifics.

Well......except for the "fact" that anyone who dare disagree with you is an idiot. You're the BEST at making that point.

[Sam]

Pssst....I am and always have been speaking of overuse injuries...pitchers....normally 60 extra starts....300 additional innings....add that to the additional pitching practice and lessons mandated by their parents.

Here's a thought oh great one.....why not try communicating those points?

If you are speaking MAINLY about pitchers....then say so.

If your concern is in regards to over the top practices of certain coaches or parents....than say so.

Rather than just paint everyone who considers entering their child into a more competetive level at an age younger than you recomend as a moron.

For someone so obviously intelligent, you sure have a lot of trouble communicating specifics.

Well......except for the "fact" that anyone who dare disagree with you is an idiot. You're the BEST at making that point.

Do the math coach....how many 10U travel teams would exist with.....no pitchers.

I only refer to people who would give advise that would likely hurt another person's DD as an idiot.

If you would like to argue Gold qualifying procedures in SoCal, you will get a different argument....but you will get an argument.

[wendy]

I guess people feel pretty strongly both ways so much so that it has gotten ugly, not my intention but then being around the sport rec wise for over 6 years it shouldn't be a surprise. I love a great debate and I really appreciate the opinions thrown out here.

The pick up game suggestion by Really was great, wasn't aware the 10U scene was that big in TB, we have been concentrating on big sis so long. I have surfed eteamz and don't recall seeing too much pick up activity for 10Us. Maybe just the time of year?

Sam: I am very scared of injuring our daughter, she is a pitcher and has been the horse for her rec teams the past two seasons. That is way I am so concerned about proper coaching v proper throwing warmup and such. Last year she had a coach who thought you drop in the quarter and the pitch comes out (without warming up.) Her pitching coach is great but he doesn't run a team or want to be anywhere near one....WONDER WHY!!!

Big sis has a super coach and I guess that is the temptation to move on out. No matter how much our league prez spouts bs about it being a teaching/learning experience all about the girls blah blah blah, it is always about the winning. We have crappy over aggressive Dads who are downright stupid at times. We figure if it's going to be that way it mine as well be with someone who knows what the hell they're doing while they are about the win.

I have been trying to dig up stats on age and overuse injury, any suggestions? Am I being too brainiac? Everyone else seems to say go with your gut and your kid. I am a common sense kinda gal!

[MoeFoes]

I am giving 5 to1 on Sam vs. Coach11. Who wants in?

[Wooahhhh]

I'll take it on Coach. I'm sick of Sam's bs too. Coach nailed it.

[coolstuff]

In an honest attempt to tone this down just a tad....

One area that hasn't been mentioned is growth plate injuries. A growth plate is an area of tissue at the end of long bones in children and adolescents who are, obviously, still growing. They are the weakest parts of the child's skeleton. According to the National Institute of Arthritis, one third of growth plate injuries occur in competitive sports, and they are often the result of overuse, but also can result from an event, such as injuring the ankle growth plate when sliding into second. Most heal with rest and no long term effects. but sometimes surgery is necessary.

DD had a growth plate injury in her ankle when she was in gymnastics at age 10 from overuse (even at that level, club gymnastics is a lot more rigorous than softball!). She had to wear a brace, and it pretty much put an end to her gymnastics competition that year. DD returned to the gym for one more year, but for a lot of reasons, some unrelated to the injury, she decided to drop out of gymnastics.

So my point is this: children can experience growth plate injuries from either overuse or a traumatic incident, so this isn't restricted just to pitchers. I'm not advising against 10U travel ball, but be careful about the number of games and practices. One bit of advice I've seen is that specialization in one sport increases the incidence of growth plate injury. Being involved in more than one sport, and building in breaks from sports altogether, will help prevent this kind of overuse.