9 year old pitcher, how much is to much pitching?

[Dallas Moore]

My DD is 9 and will pitch as much as you will let her. She plays on a 10U TB team and picks up with her hitting coaches team when she has off weekends. She practices twice a week with her team, has a weekly pitching lesson, we (me and her) do a bullpen twice a week, and she does long toss with her catcher once a week. This is all her, not me being crazy softball dad (I have my moments).

My question is when do you tell your daughter to take a day off, or do you just let her do what she wants and hope she can self regulate at some point?

She tells everyone she is going to play college softball. But she is 9 and we have time. I got her into an after-school art class once a week and she is on her school academic UIL team also, so she has other interests, but she loves to pitch and compete.

 

[CoachCeetar]

That doesn't sound like too much. Rest is important too of course, and it's important to teach them that giving your arm/body/mind days off and times to recover is as powerful as a good session.

But if she's driven like that (mine isn't yet) there are workouts and things you can do without a ball/without throwing that help too. Like a way to take a day off but still do something 'softball'. practicing posture, push-offs, even just feeling the softball and practicing grips, flipping it to yourself, etc.

watch some softball even, highlights, great plays, etc. read the rulebook or the rules for the league if that interests her.

 

[chinamigarden]

My DD is 9 and will pitch as much as you will let her. She plays on a 10U TB team and picks up with her hitting coaches team when she has off weekends. She practices twice a week with her team, has a weekly pitching lesson, we (me and her) do a bullpen twice a week, and she does long toss with her catcher once a week. This is all her, not me being crazy softball dad (I have my moments).

My question is when do you tell your daughter to take a day off, or do you just let her do what she wants and hope she can self regulate at some point?

She tells everyone she is going to play college softball. But she is 9 and we have time. I got her into an after-school art class once a week and she is on her school academic UIL team also, so she has other interests, but she loves to pitch and compete.

That ads up to 6 practice sessions a week plus games. Sounds like a lot to me. I’d try to trim that back to 3-4 practice sessions a week. Maybe less depending on her game load

 

[cnardone]

I am going to over simplify. It is too much when it is no longer fun.

 

[earlg3]

I don't think it's too much, as long as she's feeling good and enjoying it.

If adjusting, I would probably focus more on making sure the days she does practice are efficient and not too long rather than cutting any current days out.

 

[bsbs]

In general we always took Mondays off and either Thursday or Friday off depending on the weekend schedule.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

What no time for powerlifting? Those sumo deadlifts won't lift themselves.

 

[CoachJD]

It's not too much softball if she's enjoying it. Unless you see her actually burning out or her grades are slipping or something, I wouldn't force her to have "days off" entirely.

If you're worried about her physically wearing down from pitching too much, one thing you can do is work in "light" days where she's not actually throwing at max effort. Depending on where she is in her development, she can do drills, work on spins, etc. in ways that she's not really putting herself at risk of overuse.

Work in a day where you talk to her about pitch calling, locations, how to approach hitters. You could do that with little to no physical activity.

Find a day where you just hit her fly balls or something. After all, a lot of pitchers also play the outfield.