Awhile ago, Terry asserted that there was an "epidemic" of shoulder injuries among young USS swimmers, which he asserted were all due to stroke defects. Is he right?
Lately, I've been polling parents of 12-15 year old girls and I have learned that they all seem to have nagging injuries, particularly shoulder problems: Tendonitis, scapular pain, knee pain, etc. From what I know about the practice schedules, I don't think the injuries are due to overtraining, although some put in yardage or have some pretty hard practices. None of the girls I know do doubles. They all appear to be in puberty, and perhaps the changes in their bodies account for some of this pain. I'm sure some of it is due to bad technique too. I see a lot of lack of sufficient rotation on freestyle for example. But it's very annoying. Everyone is in PT or pain. I worry that some of these girls, including my own, will quit because they are tired of battling pain.
Another thought. Elsewhere I read that one program started their girls on RC stuff beginning at age 10 and kids doing these exercises have had fewer shoulder problems. Should this be started at a young age? I know my kid is doing them.
I have also heard of this problem mainly among girls. I don't know boys with shoulder problems. But that is likely due to the fact that I know more girls because I have a girl.
Thoughts?
However, it does seem like the whole 'ultra-competition' thing is getting pushed down to younger kids. In the hyper-competitive yuppie town where I live (and I say that lovingly) you don't see kids starting new sports in high school and being able to effectively participate. Ok, maybe here and there you have a truly gifted natural athlete, but for the most part the kids competing on the varsity teams are the ones that have been doing year-round swimming since they were 10 or travel soccer/clinics/camps or started Little League at age 5 with private pitching and batting coaches or or or...
... Agree with this. I remember my son was thinking about going out for baseball in 6th grade, but he had not played before. I was told by the mother of one of the local stars that had played since age 8, that he would never get to play because he started so late. While to me, that was extremely elitest and made me mad, she probably was right.
The softball league I am coaching is for the Junior High girls who don't want to do the uber competive fast pitch league, hence the concentration issues! They purely want to have fun, and really could care less if they win or lose. This year I have 4 14 year olds who have never ever played. It has been a challenge to get them up to the level of the other girls, but at this age they learn very quickly, and it has been rewarding seeing their improvement. The sad thing is, if they like the sport, they cannot continue. High School only offers the highly competitive teams, and they are not good enough to make them. The adult softball leagues often are just reasons to go out and drink afterwards, so I would not them doing that. I have been pushing the rec departments to extend the age on this league to 15, so the girls that are not old enough to drive and get a car could play, but I doubt if that will happen.
I have also been thinking about tapping some of the other 14 year old Mom's and seeing if they would want to try a mother/daughter team, and get into a Champaign league, but not sure that could happen either.
However, it does seem like the whole 'ultra-competition' thing is getting pushed down to younger kids. In the hyper-competitive yuppie town where I live (and I say that lovingly) you don't see kids starting new sports in high school and being able to effectively participate. Ok, maybe here and there you have a truly gifted natural athlete, but for the most part the kids competing on the varsity teams are the ones that have been doing year-round swimming since they were 10 or travel soccer/clinics/camps or started Little League at age 5 with private pitching and batting coaches or or or...
... Agree with this. I remember my son was thinking about going out for baseball in 6th grade, but he had not played before. I was told by the mother of one of the local stars that had played since age 8, that he would never get to play because he started so late. While to me, that was extremely elitest and made me mad, she probably was right.
The softball league I am coaching is for the Junior High girls who don't want to do the uber competive fast pitch league, hence the concentration issues! They purely want to have fun, and really could care less if they win or lose. This year I have 4 14 year olds who have never ever played. It has been a challenge to get them up to the level of the other girls, but at this age they learn very quickly, and it has been rewarding seeing their improvement. The sad thing is, if they like the sport, they cannot continue. High School only offers the highly competitive teams, and they are not good enough to make them. The adult softball leagues often are just reasons to go out and drink afterwards, so I would not them doing that. I have been pushing the rec departments to extend the age on this league to 15, so the girls that are not old enough to drive and get a car could play, but I doubt if that will happen.
I have also been thinking about tapping some of the other 14 year old Mom's and seeing if they would want to try a mother/daughter team, and get into a Champaign league, but not sure that could happen either.
