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I'm very brave generally, he went on in a low voice: only today I happen to have a headache. - Lewis Carroll

By Charlie Williamson 

Those of you living in the Chicago area probably remember the Little League team from Lemont, IL who made it all the way to Williamsport this summer.  They played several close and exciting games and through their success they showed us all how pitching and defense makes a great team.

However, in thier first two games they gave us a painful reminder of how dangerous a sport baseball can be. In each game, Lemont had a player hit in the head with a pitch, forcing them to leave the game.  Thankfully both boys were okay, but with proper technique both situations may have been avoided.

There are three things you can teach your young athletes so they can minimize injury When a pitch is coming inside.  These techniques require practice to make them instinctive, so if you needed a reason to buy whiffle balls, here's your excuse.

1. Drop your bat head down towards the ground away from the pitcher.

   If you allow your hands to begin the swing, your body may turn toward the pitcher, greatly exposing you to serious injury.  This was the case in Lemont’s first game, when the young man was hit in the chin.  Dropping the bat also avoids a “cheap foul ball.

2. Turn your head away from the pitcher and drop your head below your shoulders.

   By doing this you can minimize the likelihood that you will be hit in the head, even if a pitch is up and in.  In Lemont’s second game, the young man didn’t know how to avoid the inside belt-high pitch and, by not turning away, actually ducked his head directly into the path of the ball.

3. Turn your shoulders about 45 degrees away from the pitcher and bend forward at the waist.

   Along with #2, this will not only completely shield your head, but will minimize any damage to your spine. At worst you may receive a “glancing blow,” which may sting, but won’t put you in the hospital or worse. DO NOT TURN A FULL 90 DEGREES! This completely exposes your spinal cord and sets you up for possible paralysis.

You can practice these techniques with your kids using whiffle balls.  No matter how hard you throw them, it’s not going to hurt them. Once they’re older and have a good grasp of the technique, you can move up to rag balls.  Yes … this drill does involve throwing a ball at your child, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially in this case.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas… and if you want to get anything from Amazon in time for the big day you better order soon.  Here are some of the things I'd like to see under my tree…

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. –  Voltaire

Never has it been easier to find great information about anything. The collective wisdom of the western world is at your fingertips, waiting for you to exploit. Of course that also means that the collective idiocy of the western world is at your fingertips, so you can’t believe everything you read (except of course at coachKidsSports.com ).

When you do venture beyond our cozy confines and head to the wilds of the internet, you don’t have to rely on Google to find great information. Spend a little time on YouTube and you will uncover dozens of drills and games for your team.

The video I have embedded below comes from Expert Village’s baseball series. The expert seems knowledgeable enough, even if his on screen presence lacks polish, but you aren’t paying for on screen presence…

Expert Village has articles and short videos covering a range of skills in Basketball, Baseball, Football and Soccer. They won’t run your practice for you, but like a great Assistant Coach, they’ll let you do your job easier.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. - Herman Melville

Recently I had to do something I had seen done thousands of times, but had never done myself; I umpired my son's baseball game.  He's playing fall ball, which is more laid back than spring baseball.  The focus is on development, many of the kids will try out for my son's league next year, and many of the rules are relaxed for the season.  Another compromise is with the umpires.  Instead of hiring real umpires, the league saves some money and has each team provide a "willing" parent to call balls and strikes for half the game. 

Rather than sit in the bleachers for half the game, I decided to call the bases for the first half of the game.  It was fairly uneventful, but there was a close call at first.  The runner was clearly out, but I realized how much a call is made by reflex.  First base makes the catch, the runner hasn't reached the base, the umpire makes the call…  Simple as that…  OF course, reflexes can be bad - especially when they haven't been exercised.

By the time I started calling balls and strikes from behind the mound I was in the game, but still terrified of missing a call.  It didn't take long.  During the first at-bat I called a ball and as the words were leaving my mouth my brain was saying "that's a good pitch".  There were a few more of those pitches, both ways, for both teams; but nothing really controversial or game changing - luckily.  But I did realize how many decisions an umpire makes every game. 

Most calls are routine, but for the 1% that are close - your reflexes better be sharp…  But, I learned another leasson.  Even if you get the call right, you can't make everyone happy.  The other team was stealing home after a passed ball.  The catcher on my son's team got to the ball quickly and tossed it to the pitcher covering home.  The runner slid, the pitcher applied the tag - "SAFE!" - the tag was too high.  My son didn't see it the same way… one more life lesson delivered through sport.

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way - Christopher Morley

So, we are nearly into October.  Here in the States we are well into football, soccer and fall baseball season.  I'm sure you are all well on your way to fun, fulfilling seasons — right???  Well, on the off chance that there is trouble in River City, I'll send you to an MSNBC article to make you feel better about what you are doing.

The article is titled "When coaches should hit the bench " and it's about over bearing coaches.  The author, Jacqueline Stenson, highlights the findings of a study presented by the American College of Sports Medicine.  The study surveyed 376 parents of elementary and middle school kids involved in organized sports.  It asked questions concerning the coach's behavior and their response to the behavior.

Parents reported that their kids' coaches had used disciplinary measures such as extra exercise (64 percent), verbal scolding (42 percent), public embarrassment (18 percent), suspension (8 percent) and striking or hitting (2 percent).

Public embarrassment and hitting a child are absolutely unacceptable — no excuses, however the other disciplinary measures all depend on the kid's age and context of the situation.  It's vital to keep control over practice, but if you find yourself resorting to sending kids out to run laps frequently it might be you, not them.  Step back and check your practices to make sure you keep the kids occupied and check your own attitude.  It can be tough and coaches can get burned out.  When that happens instead of getting crabby, maybe it's time to get a little silly.  Remember that the kids — and you — are there to have fun.  Run a drill where you get to run some and, if possible, laugh a lot.  

We have deep depth. Yogi Berra

With the exception of football, baseball becomes a specialized sport earlier than about any other.  In most other sports, at least until at least junior high, it's easier for kids to plug into several positions.  They can move around soccer positions pretty easily — a fast kid is just as valuable defending as striking; except for the exceptionally short or tall kids, any position is open on the basketball court and if you can skate you are valuable anywhere on the ice.

But in baseball, the two or three hardest throwers get slotted in as pitchers fairly early.  But according to USA Today there is a new rule under debate at the Little League Board of Directors.  If it is passed, it will be time to expand the rotation.

Little League's 22-member board of directors will meet Aug. 25 and could vote on new limits that would be based on the number of pitches thrown and could apply in all games, beginning next season.

The obvious implication is you will need more pitchers if you are in a Little League sanctioned league.  However, even if you aren't, you still should groom a couple more kids as pitchers.  If you coach a younger team, now is the perfect time to teach kids proper technique.  While everyone is impressed by speed - Greg Maddux wouldn't have been a second round pick if he could throw 95mph - accuracy is at least as important at the younger levels.

Even if you aren't in a Little League sanctioned league, this rule may be coming your way.  According to Tim Hughes, Little League Board Chairman, the agenda gets set in Williamsport and other leagues follow.

Oftentimes, what Little League baseball does, the other youth baseball leagues in the nation do. They look to us for the leadership role, and we take that very seriously."

Current rules limit a pitcher to six innings per week, regardless of the number of pitches.  The proposal calls for a pitch count limit of 85 per appearance and mandatory four days rest for any pitcher throwing over 61 pitches in an outing.  The USA Today article does not indicate if there are maximum pitch counts per week for a player, but I imagine they wouldn't leave a loophole allowing a kid to pitch as often as possible as long as it was fewer than 60 pitches an outing.

I'm usually hesitant before I jump on a bandwagon like this.  It seems like every month there is a new warning about how something is too dangerous to even think about, let alone allow your child to do.  But in this case I'm convinced lots of innings for most of the year is harmful to young arms.  The issue was first raised when I was talking to a local physical therapist.  He had worked in Tampa for several years and noticed many of his clients were young kids with over use injuries.  When he asked them how many months they played baseball out of the year he was surprised to hear most of the kids played nearly year round.  This rule doesn't mandate an off season, but every kid's arm needs one.  After all, isn't that way Dr. Naismith invented basketball??

But the best reason to endorse this proposal comes out of Birmingham, AL.  If you follow baseball you know the name Dr. James Andrews, and you probably cringe if you read that name in an article about the ace of your staff.  If your ace is in to see Dr. Andrews it usually means he's done for at least the season,  because Dr. Andrews is the leading shoulder and elbow surgeon in the country.  

Research by the Birmingham, Ala.-based American Sports Medicine Institute, run by noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, who has treated a who's who of amateur and professional athletes, sparked interest from Little League. Andrews concluded that the sixfold increase he has seen in arm injuries that required surgery had roots in youth baseball.

"The statistics all point to the amount (of pitches) as the No. 1 factor," said Glenn Fleisig, research director at Andrews' institute. "A lot of arm injuries are showing up in teenagers and 20-year-olds. We're seeing the number of overuses per game, per year … add up to injury down the road."

What does it all mean?  If your team is still young you can get ahead of the game by grooming a few more kids as pitchers.  If your team is already in Little League — well, you have the off season…