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Before The Season Starts
Before Practices And Games
During Practices And Games
During The Season

During The Season

• Talk to and watch your child's coach. Coaches should enforce all the rules of the game, encourage safe play, and understand the special injury risks that young players face. Coaches should never yell at players or engage in any other form of emotional abuse






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• Limit pitching. To decrease shoulder and elbow problems from excessive pitching:
  
  

  • Limit the number of innings pitched. Follow the rules about the number of innings pitched set by the baseball league in which your child plays (usually a maximum of between 4 and 10 innings a week) not by the number of teams played on. For instance, to prevent overuse injuries, Little League Baseball, Inc. has set a limit of six innings of pitching per week and requires pitchers to rest between appearances.

  
  
  

  • Limit the number of pitches thrown. While there is no set guideline for the number of pitches allowed, a reasonable approach is to count the number of pitches thrown and use 80 to 100 pitches as a maximum in a game, and 30 to 40 pitches in a practice (get a counter so you can keep track). According to Dr. Lyle Micheli, Director of Sports Medicine at Boston's Children's Hospital, a young player should be throwing no more than a total 300 pitches a week (games, practices, and throwing sessions at home) because studies show that throwing more than that number dramatically increases the likelihood that he will develop elbow problems.

  
  
  

  • Prohibit younger pitches from throwing breaking pitches. A curveball is probably harder on the elbow than other types of pitches. Asked by Sports Illustrated the age at which a young pitcher could start throwing curveballs, Dr. Micheli recommended that kids not throw curveballs until they are 14, and then only if they have been pitching for at least 3 years. His advice: start with 3 training sessions a week, each consisting of no more than 15 breaking pitches.

  
  
  

• Never allow players to play through pain. Any persistent pain is a sign of a chronic (i.e. overuse) or acute injury that should sideline a child from playing until it subsides. Teach your child not to play through pain. If your child gets injured, see your doctor. Follow all the doctor's orders for recovery and get the doctor's (or physical therapist's) OK before allowing your child to play again.





• Above all, keep baseball fun. Coaches and parents can prevent injuries, including emotional injuries by creating an atmosphere of healthy competition and de-emphasizing a "winning-at-all-costs" attitude. Putting too much focus on winning can make your child push too hard, ignore the signs of injury and risk injury by playing in pain.

Article Updated August 6, 2007

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