Should Your Daughter Stop Playing Softball?

My parents will tell you I was a busy kid growing up, and they sacrificed a lot of time transporting me to practices, games, lessons, and the batting cages, none of which were right around the corner. However, I don’t remember having more than one after school activity every day and each season had its own sport. Basketball was played in the winter, baseball throughout the spring and summer and football in the winter.

I don’t want to jump to universal conclusions, but have things changed? It seems every one of my athletes play multiple sports each season, which are scheduled between and around camps, tutors, and other activities. There’s a travel team for every sport, and coaches hold practices for the “competitive” teams in the off-season. I don’t want to get into all of the consequences of this, but as a strength coach I know what has taken priority and what has not: physical preparation.

Nowadays, it appears there are more kids playing sports but fewer athletes. I believe this is because kids are not physically prepared for certain sports and do not sufficiently recover from season to season. Rotating sports per season allows your body to build different capacities, while recovering from the specific stress of last season’s sport. This vocabulary of movements and abilities accumulate to build a well rounded athlete when it comes time specialize and concentrate their commitment to one sport over multiple seasons.

I’m not here to change the world, but I recommend that young athletes, parents and coaches begin to place less emphasis on nonsensical travel teams, camps, and showcases and start honoring the machine that is actually going to take you places: your body. There’s no excuse not to start an exercise program. If your doctor tells you lifting weights stunts growth, change doctors immediately, because there’s a good chance that’s not the only lie they’re perpetuating.

You don’t even need to go to the gym just yet. 30 minutes per day can lead to dramatic improvements in your strength, stamina, appearance, and confidence. Here are two at-home workouts, the first of which is an actual montage that I created for a client who drops in once a month and then continues the workout on her own at home. She might be similar to you. She would like to workout, she would like a program to follow, but she doesn’t have much free time. She wanted something she could do at the gym if she could make it, or do at home if she couldn’t. She and her dad are very happy with plan so far!