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Kids and Baseball: Where are we going wrong and how can we fix it?

By Will Haskell, ACE, YCS Lev. II, Athletic Development Specialist, siriusperformance@yahoo.com

I remember the days of my childhood playing baseball with my friends after school, on weekends and late summer nights where we tried to squeeze in an extra at-bat before the sun went down.  Those days gradually turned into night games and practices that eventually became more and more grueling as I began to climb the talent totem.  As I look back at those days, now a professional deeply routed in athletic and youth development, I start to notice all the mistakes that were made along the way that might be the reason why myself and many others didn’t make it as far as we could have in the game.  While my story had a much different cause and result, the general population of youngsters playing baseball is still being effected by the same mistakes that I had to endure almost 20 years ago. Baseball being our national pastime is deeply routed in tradition as are all other forms of athletic competition.  However, it’s part of that tradition that is developing bad throwing mechanics, increased chance of injury and generations of kids losing interest.

I’d like to start with the actual baseball itself.  How many young kids can actually grip the ball properly when they first learn how to throw?  Not many.  The average kid doesn’t have hands big enough to properly grip a baseball so they are forced to put more fingers than necessary just to hold onto it.  The repercussions are obvious yet no changes have been made here in America unlike other countries such as Japan that have adopted a smaller, softer baseball for youngsters.  The traditional baseball causes young kids not only to add fingers to the baseball forcing more stress on the elbow but, it also teaches poor throwing mechanics as kids have to cradle the baseball to get the arm in the proper position.  Teaching proper throwing mechanics in youngsters has become a pointless task because no matter how skilled the coach may be, the simple fact that the ball is too big for their hands only goes to reinforce poor technique.  Kids will throw for years in this fashion only to have to be re-taught later on down the road and it is a daunting task for any coach to break these incorrectly acquired skills.  Basketball, football and volleyball are all great examples of sports that utilize smaller sized balls for kids so it is easier for them to develop the fundamentals necessary to future success.  The same holds true for fielding mechanics.  How can a young baseball player learn proper fielding mechanics when the density of an adult baseball can cause serious injury?  Kids never learn proper mechanics out of the fear that one ground ball or errant throw can cause severe pain.  Positive reinforcement of the game of baseball will come from fun, not from fear.

Secondly, how many top coaches that have played the game at a high level or received an extensive education in the foundations of baseball fundamentals and athletic development are coaching at the youth level? Countries such as Canada require all youth coaches to undergo an educational certification process so they are better equipped to coach effectively.  In the United States, if you want to coach a team it might require a CPR certificate and a signature.  It’s frightening to think that there are coaches that have the responsibility of developing these kids without any educational background in baseball and youth development. The occurrence of these coaches is almost as frightening as what would happen if the government allowed people to operate a car without the prerequisite of having a license. 

Fundamentals have to be taught properly and reinforced if any athlete playing any sport is going to succeed.  It would make the solution to the problem very simple if proper skill instruction was the only answer.  Unfortunately in this country, the concept of Athletic Development has taken a backseat to competition and the “win at all cost” attitudes that many youth coaches, who are also parents, take when volunteering to coach a youth baseball team.  Many kids are given such poor athletic guidance at an early age that the chance for success dwindles exponentially as limitations on athletic attributes are never addressed.  Baseball “traditionalists” have kids running long distance because they think it’ll make their legs strong. They never teach kids the proper athletic stance, how to decelerate, or the skill of making a hip turn on balls hit over their heads so they can get to the ball quickly without injuring themselves.  Baseball is a failure-based sport yet these coaches offer no athletic instruction to improve the likelihood of success.  Athletic Development Specialists all over the country that are educated in concepts of movement and strength development for pre-adolescent and early adolescent kids are readily available yet are never utilized by youth coaches.  Part of the education process that should be mandatory for youth coaches should include movement and strength principles designed for the developmental periods of the kids they are coaching or these coaches should be required to defer to those who are qualified to teach these skills.

To tell a personal tale, I remember a coach once telling us that running long distances after pitching will remove lactic acid from the shoulder that will aid in recovery.  The coach offered this information willingly without any knowledge of the biology, chemistry and mechanics of why arms get sore.  The chemistry of energy production with the bi-product of oxidation that attacks cellular membranes causing delayed onset muscle fatigue or tissue micro-tears that can cause swelling and soreness wasn’t in this coach’s vocabulary.  As bold of a statement as that may be, I’m not asking that youth coaches spend the next few years in deep study to learn this but, stop offering information that has been passed down in the form of traditional baseball lore.  As for this particular case, the common retort is that this practice has always been done and kids feel better after a good run.  A quick glance at proven scientific research shows that long distance running actually causes endorphins (pleasure seeking neurotransmitters) to be released that result in a sensation of comfort.  As for my personal case, I was out running long distances and feeling good while scar tissue and muscular imbalances were causing increased pain and decreased performance. 

As isolated as this experience is for my personal baseball career, too many kids in this country are also being negatively affected in this manner for these practices to continue.  The need for educating youth coaches is at an all-time high and the time to implement the changes I’ve outline is now.  The baseball “traditionalists” can keep the traditions that make baseball great but, let’s pave the way to ensure baseball’s future is a promising one.

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