ice/heat after pitching?

[Judd]

DD is 12U, 1st year. What kind of routine should she go through after pitching practice? Her old coach told her to switch between Ice an Heat. I have heard ice off and on for an hour.


Does it matter if its after a tournament or a hard lesson (lots of pitches, weighted balls) etc?

[artomatic]

i think ice is good after she throws, but dont do it until she is done throwing for that day.
it helps the recovery process.

[Sam]

DD is 12U, 1st year. What kind of routine should she go through after pitching practice? Her old coach told her to switch between Ice an Heat. I have heard ice off and on for an hour.


Does it matter if its after a tournament or a hard lesson (lots of pitches, weighted balls) etc?

Ice it for 30 minutes and don't overwork her. At this age, she should still be in rec ball. Don't take her to travel until next year at the earliest. She doesn't need to see her pitching coach any more often than every other week....and I would suggest once per month.

[Judd]

DD is 12U, 1st year. What kind of routine should she go through after pitching practice? Her old coach told her to switch between Ice an Heat. I have heard ice off and on for an hour.


Does it matter if its after a tournament or a hard lesson (lots of pitches, weighted balls) etc?

Ice it for 30 minutes and don't overwork her. At this age, she should still be in rec ball. Don't take her to travel until next year at the earliest. She doesn't need to see her pitching coach any more often than every other week....and I would suggest once per month.

see that something I cant grasp. I have heard over and over on Eteamz not to over work them and 5-600 pitches a week is crazy for a 11y/o. My coaches mom seems to agree and thinks our practice schedule is on target. Our coach is only 16 (so we deal with her mom alot) but plays 18gold and for the local high school as a starting pitcher.

but then I see the kids in our area and there parents say they throw a 100-125 pitches a NIGHT, every night. doing 600-800 pitches a week. Now most of these girls are very good with lots of speed, accuracy and movement. I also hear coaches saying this, if you want to pitch you need to practice and throw 7-800 pitches a week.

when you have other pitchers putting in this time and effort, how do you compete against it? Especially when DD is behind in speed. DD throws 37-38 while most B pitchers are hitting 47-53. Is my DD going to pitch 14/16U while these other girls are getting shoulder surgery?

BTW we dont do 900 pitches a week. We practice 3 times a week for an hour, snaps, tees, k's pitches, change ups, and now working on drop ball. SOmetimes we use weighted balls etc. But no more than an hour whatever we do.

Sam I'll flat out disagree with the TB statement. My daughter would cry if she went back to rec ball. Here rec is girls who havent played, or barely played. She would waste her time. Shes been playing TB since 8U

[artomatic]

Sam I'll flat out disagree with the TB statement. My daughter would cry if she went back to rec ball. Here rec is girls who havent played, or barely played. She would waste her time. Shes been playing TB since 8U

it depends on what part of the country you are in.
in socal, there are many strong rec leagues, and the girls can stay in them at least through 10's and still progress...
in fact 8U travel ball doesnt exist in socal.
just make sure she is having fun and getting recovery time...

[Tucson]

If she is only throwing 37 mph (and thank you for your honesty) I would have her work only on speed and hitting her spots. Are you certain that her form is good? Can you post a clip? No harder than she is throwing, she can throw every day, in my opinion. But she has to develop some speed. Do not work on the change or the drop until she has some success with the fast ball.

I suspect she needs some core exercises, to add some strength.

[Pitchermom]

Judd, my DD is 13 playing 14U. She's been taking pitching lessons since she was 10. We've never practiced in the manner in which everyone speaks, every night, 100 pitches. Over the years it seems to have been a consistent fit for her to get 2 nights a week and on a good week maybe 3 nights a week throwing. Those 3 nights consist of any opportunity to pitch such as lessons, team practice, or out with Dad. At this point DD is throwing 55mph in season. Off season, about 53mph. This winter we've worked more on junk pitches and she can throw just about all of them now, including the rise. She will continue to work on them all and refocus on speed now that the spring season is rapidly approaching. DD gets tons of pitching time at the B level. Being on the mound is what she loves to do. Keeping her injury free is something I love to do, so I don't stress about practice time so long as she throws at least twice a week. Frankly, if she doesn't throw at least twice a week, she says she gets sore, stiff. Granted she might be a 60mph pitcher at this point if we did practice 5 or 6 nights a week, but then maybe she wouldn't have enough time to be well rounded in other interests like singing competitions, orchestra and Girl Scouts. We ice her shoulders in the evening after long tournament days where sometimes she's pitched 3 games or more. About 40 minutes, off and on and she's recovered by the following day. When DD started at 10 she was throwing 37mph. By early 12 she was throwing 46 mph. Just before turning 13 she began hitting 55mph regularly. The real question is, how long has your daughter been taking pitching lessons? If she isn't progressing by 5 or 6 mph each year, you might want to change pitching instructors rather than adding hours of throwing. Hope that gives you some perspective. Oh yes, in Indiana, it is certainly not too early to be in travel ball at the age of 12. My daughter would quit ball if she had to go back to rec ball now. In fact, we left rec ball at the age of 10 because it was boring her to death. Thank goodness for travel ball!

[Judd]

If she is only throwing 37 mph (and thank you for your honesty) I would have her work only on speed and hitting her spots. Are you certain that her form is good? Can you post a clip? No harder than she is throwing, she can throw every day, in my opinion. But she has to develop some speed. Do not work on the change or the drop until she has some success with the fast ball.

I suspect she needs some core exercises, to add some strength.

No reason to lie. It is what it is. She wants to pitch, so as a dad its my job to give her what she wants, right? But its also my job to protect her and keep her from throwing her shoulder off her body.

We do some strength stuff with weighted balls, walk thrus-etc. She is resuming her lessons next week.

We have also talked and she knows this is probably the last season if she doesnt really improve and work hard. To be honest she throws the ball like shes throwing to her grandma. So the last week she has been really trying to throw hard and it shows. You can see the effort and speed increase. And shes still accurate.

Next time we throw I'll record it and try to post it here or on youtube.

[NuNu's Dad]

Good question. Always ice after a workout/game for 30 minutes, even when not sore. If an area is really sore continue Icing off and on for the first 24 hours. After that the ice does very little for the inflamation by itself. Keep the arm warm until you are done for the day.

Ice/Heat cycling works great for flushing out an injured area, by increasing blood flow (Heat) to the muscle, then clearing the fluids (icing) from the area.


Throwing hard and increasing speed - As someone once said on the old eteamz board, every pitcher who throws hard has one thing in common; they really want to throw hard. So you already answered that question yourself in your last post:

So the last week she has been really trying to throw hard and it shows. You can see the effort and speed increase.

Sometimes that is easy to do if you are on a strong team with other hardthrowing girls: Throw harder or sit! Sometimes they only step-up after seeing strong teams in a national tournament and realize how far they have to go to be competitive.

I believe most of the hardthrowing girls started off in really strong rec leagues like West Grove, Hart, Simi, PYL, Northridge or PQ. Most of the pitchers have private coaches since 8U, and they play pretty much year-round with minimal downtime. If you want to play All Stars you have to be one of the best, and to pitch in All Stars you have to BE the BEST!


As far as the rest of it, every other answer you have gotten so far is correct. Which is to say there are alot of different approaches to becoming a successful pitcher, but different approaches work for different kids.

Hard work is a little bit like "The Price is Right", you have to guess as high as possible, without going over! If you overwork your DD, the results can be disasterous. I believe you can work your DD almost as hard as you want, but build up to it slowly and watch for the warning signs of overtraining.

I know specifically of two eighth graders who have training regiments that are on opposite extremes of the spectrum. Both throw 60 or greater (yes that is correct). Both of them are well known to anyone who watches elite 93s and 94s. They are probably the two of the best 8th grade prospects in the country. One probably throws in excess of an hour REALLY hard almost EVERY day and another 1-2 hours on her other softball skills. The other limits her workouts and probably only thows full velocity 2 days a week, trying not to wear out early.

All that said, my DD is a 10th grader, throws hard and ALWAYS hit her spots. She works somewhere between those extremes. She understands what it takes, and most of the time wants to do it. Unfortunately tradeoffs are sometimes required and life has a nasty habit of getting in the way. But she is a perfectionist (who will tell me she sucks even after throwing a shutout against a really good team) and she REALLY hates getting lit up. THAT is what keeps her working.

What I am trying to say is that great mechanics and regular high quality workouts are essential. The rest is gravy.

[Sam]

DD is 12U, 1st year. What kind of routine should she go through after pitching practice? Her old coach told her to switch between Ice an Heat. I have heard ice off and on for an hour.


Does it matter if its after a tournament or a hard lesson (lots of pitches, weighted balls) etc?

Ice it for 30 minutes and don't overwork her. At this age, she should still be in rec ball. Don't take her to travel until next year at the earliest. She doesn't need to see her pitching coach any more often than every other week....and I would suggest once per month.

see that something I cant grasp. I have heard over and over on Eteamz not to over work them and 5-600 pitches a week is crazy for a 11y/o. My coaches mom seems to agree and thinks our practice schedule is on target. Our coach is only 16 (so we deal with her mom alot) but plays 18gold and for the local high school as a starting pitcher.

but then I see the kids in our area and there parents say they throw a 100-125 pitches a NIGHT, every night. doing 600-800 pitches a week. Now most of these girls are very good with lots of speed, accuracy and movement. I also hear coaches saying this, if you want to pitch you need to practice and throw 7-800 pitches a week.

when you have other pitchers putting in this time and effort, how do you compete against it? Especially when DD is behind in speed. DD throws 37-38 while most B pitchers are hitting 47-53. Is my DD going to pitch 14/16U while these other girls are getting shoulder surgery?

BTW we dont do 900 pitches a week. We practice 3 times a week for an hour, snaps, tees, k's pitches, change ups, and now working on drop ball. SOmetimes we use weighted balls etc. But no more than an hour whatever we do.

Sam I'll flat out disagree with the TB statement. My daughter would cry if she went back to rec ball. Here rec is girls who havent played, or barely played. She would waste her time. Shes been playing TB since 8U

The two pitchers that pitched in the finals of 10U ASA Nationals in 2001....WP developed elbow problems and doesn't play any more....LP has a partial scholarship to an NAIA school. Being good quickly doesn't assure that the kid will be good later. The one for sure thing is that overuse injuries are exploding. That is why I recommend keeping the kid playing less than 30 games per year until they are an older 12U player.