Let me begin by saying I love baseball. It is our only pure sport in elegance and performance. To be a baseball player one must have speed, coordination, hand and eye skills and an entire plethora of talents beyond the naked eye.
I read an article the other day about something called Tommy John surgery. Mr. John was a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers a number of years ago and had an elbow problem. Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers team physician came up with a process of replacing John's damaged elbow ligament with a tendon from another part of his body. John went on to have a fabulous career.
But the story doesn't end there. In another article dealing with high school athletes who play only one sport, specifically baseball, the results were dramatic. Those kids have a 58% chance of having this surgery. After reading the article it makes sense to me.
Being a former athlete I understand the importance of using the entire body when pitching a game. Actually, the hips and thighs provide the power but most kids will use their arms rather than the previously mentioned.
The long story short of this piece is kids, eighteen and under, need to participate in a variety of sports which allows them to use a variety of muscle structure instead of only an arm. There is too much specialization in our sports activities. Parents should allow kids to be kids and play as many sports as they desire.
Pretty neat, huh?
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