The N.J. news papers are full of stories about high school pitchers who are already broken down for the season. The baseball season up here is not even that long. Including the pre season, about 10 weeks if you go to a state championship game.
So I found it odd that I heard this comment from a baseball coach.
They like where they are coaching because of no "athletic trainer interference". He got annoyed when A.T.'s would stick their 2 cents into what they where doing. Let the coach & parents & booster club & what not run the show. There was plenty of money around to fix what was wrong.
I've seen this before; athletes that come out of these types of systems. They are only in their early 20's with surgery scars all over them. The A.T. was only there to slap on ice packs & do ultrasound & E-stim.
An A.T. is not a physical therapist trained in first aid! We need to be interwoven into the team matrix. That being said, there are a lot of egos in this business. Back door diplomacy must be used for the coach to gain confidence in you & let them know you are a partner in their success.
3 comments:
Baseball might be the most challenging sport to work with because of that old-school mentality being so pervasive. If you try and prove you know what you're talking about when it comes to throwing mechanics you're looked at like you've grown a second head and told in no uncertain terms to be mindful of your position. If you do nothing but apply ice/modalities then you're just another useless AT. It's a catch-22 that takes hard work and years of proving yourself to counteract.
A couple years ago the baseball team at my school had the worst years record-wise in 30 years. I was shocked to learn from the coaches that it was due all "the injuries". I went back and checked: there were two people on the team that missed games - and those were JV games that didn't count. The coaches just couldn't come to grips with the fact that what they thought were injuries - pitchers not being effective because they weren't properly prepared for the season and their ability to pitch strikes and make it deep in to games suffered - were really due to their lack of coaching. That and a distinct lack of talent. But the blame was placed on "injuries" and not on things that were directly related to the coaches.
Yeah KP, I've heard that song 'n dance before too. What coach Korn does with these kids up here is amazing. The tallest kid on our team is only 5'10"! We routinely beat teams with more talent, yet we haven't had a player drafted in about 15 years. That "old school mentality" apparently carries up to the MLB. I don't know many P.T./ATC's that come back with positive experiences
Joe,
Curious on your thoughts on pitch counts in HS baseball pitchers?
This past weekend our kid threw 112pitches in 9 innings of work while the opposing pitcher threw 155 in 6innings of work in the same game.
We had a kid who will be drafted this year that could throw about 90-100 pitches/game and be able to turn around and do it again 3 days later. I have another kid now who can throw about 100 pitches and not be ready to go again for a week.
Post a Comment