Home Posts tagged "Little League"

Understanding Elbow Pain – Part 4: Protecting Pitchers

This is Part 4 of a series specifically devoted to elbow pain in athletes.  Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you haven't already. As I presented in Part 3 of this series, there is absolutely nothing healthy about throwing a baseball, as the body is being contorted to extreme positions as the arm accelerates in the fastest motion ever recorded in sports.  These outrageous demands warrant a multi-faceted approach to protecting pitchers from injury.  In my eyes, this approach consists of four categories, and that's what I'll cover today. 1. Avoiding Injurious Pitching Mechanics Let me preface this section by saying that I do not believe there is a single mechanical model that governs how one should pitch.  Everyone is different, and those unique traits have to be taken into consideration in determining what is or isn't considered potentially harmful.  For instance, only a tiny fraction of the population could ever even dream about pitching like Tim Lincecum because of ideal blend of congenital laxity and reactive ability he possesses.

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I've trained Blue Jays left-handed pitching prospect Tim Collins for the past three seasons.  At a Double-A game earlier this year, Tim introduced me to his good buddy Trystan Magnuson, a right-handed pitching prospect who is also in the Jays system.  While Tim was a whopping 5-5, 131 pounds when he was signed right out of high school (now 5-7, 170), Trystan stands 6-7.  Check out this picture I recently came across from spring training:

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Anyone who thinks these two are going to throw a baseball with velocity and safety via the same mechanics is out of his mind. As an aside, if you're interested in watching both of them throw, there is some decent warm-up footage of both HERE.

While we can never expect all pitcher to fit the same mechanical model, we can look to the research (a great 2002 study from Werner et al. is an excellent place to start) to educate us about certain factors that predispose pitchers to increased elbow stress.  To start, leading with the elbow too much  increases valgus stress by about 2.5N per degree of horizontal adduction that the arm must travel.  The problem with this is that every successful pitcher you'll ever see leads with the elbow to some degree, so it becomes an issue of "how much" and "when." Getting to maximal external rotation too early also increases valgus stress on the elbow.  According to Fleisig et al. (1995), the typical thrower is going to have about 67 degrees of shoulder external rotation at stride foot contact.  The more external rotation there is, the more elbow stress you'll see.  Unfortunately, this is one contributing factor to one's velocity, so these results must be intepreted cautiously.  If you take away that external rotation, you may take away a few miles per hour.  Again, the same goes for horizontal abduction. Lower extremity sequencing problems can also wreak havoc on an elbow.  Pitchers who fly open early tend to let their arm lag behind their body, increasing valgus stress in the process and making it harder to get good contribution from the lower half. Likewise, guys who stay closed and throw across their body can wind up with medial elbow issues.  If a pitcher maxes out his shoulder internal rotation and scapular protraction in coming across his body, the only choice to continue getting that range of motion is the elbow.  If you create more range of motion, you have to slow down more range of motion. This last point kicks off a brief, but important discussion.  Many pitchers stay closed to improve deception.  Others use it to help them get movement on sinkers.

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Changing these mechanics could take away everything that makes these pitches successful, so you have to look to the other three factors to prepare them physically and protect them from these stresses.  It's like making sure you give a guy a helmet if he is going to be banging his head against a wall!

All that said, finding the right mechanics is important for little leaguers and professionals alike - and it's the first step in protecting the elbow in a throwing situation.  As we realize that the very issues that increase elbow stress happen to be the same ones that a) increase velocity and b) are often demonstrated by elite pitchers, we appreciate once again just how unnatural an act throwing a baseball really is!

2. Avoiding Acute and Chronic Overuse One of our high school kids threw 188 pitches in a game last week.  I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at what I do, but nothing I can do to keep a kid healthy if his coach asks him to do that time and time again. Acutely, fatigued pitchers put more stress on their arms.  There is less trunk tilt at ball release as the lower body gets more tired.  And, the usually elbow drops. "The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser, and your daughter's knocked up. I've seen it a hundred times." Gold star to those of you who caught that movie reference, but kidding aside, just about every case of elbow pain we see who comes through our door has been mismanaged in terms of pitch count - either acutely, chronically, or both.  They think they can pitch year-round.  They blow money on showcases.  They play on three teams team at a time.  They throw bullpens with their teams and with their private pitching instructors.  The research is out there and the answer is very clear: there is only so much stress an arm - especially a skeletally immature arm - can take.

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3. Being Chronically Physically Prepared to Pitch This is the topic of which I've written the most on this site, and it encompasses everything I've written with respect to strength training for pitchers and targeted flexibility work, not to mention my absolute hatred for distance running for pitchers.  Long story short, throwing a baseball is an action that takes its toll on the body; if you aren't functionally fit to pitch, you're just asking for an injury. 4. Being Acutely Physically Prepared to Pitch This is a very overlooked component of not only staying healthy, but also performing at a high level.  I'm amazed at how many young pitchers just "show and go" when it comes to pitching.  That is, they get to the field and just go right to throwing.  In other words, they throw to warm up. We teach our athletes, "You warm up to throw; you don't throw to warm up."  I've spent the last 57 paragraphs (give or take a few) outlining how incredibly stressful the throwing motion is, yet some kids can't wait to jump right into it before getting their body temperature up, optimizing joint range-of-motion, activating key neuromuscular connections, or doing anything that even vaguely resembles an appropriate "rest to exercise" transition.  We encourage athletes to go through 8-10 dynamic flexibility drills followed by some easy sprinting progressions before they ever pick up a ball.

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It's not just about what you do before an outing, either.  It's also about what you do in the 24 hours after an appearance that determines how you'll bounce back in your subsequent outing.  While the schmucks out there are doing "flush runs," the #1 thing I am worried about after a start is regaining lost range of motion.  Reinold et al. found that pitchers lost both shoulder internal rotation and elbow extension range-of-motion during a competitive season when an adequate stretching routine was not implemented.  It's no surprise, when you consider the overwhelmingly high eccentric stress that's placed on the shoulder external rotators and elbow flexors as they try to decelerate the crazy velocities we see with pitching.  As such, following an outing, the first thing we want our guys to do is get back their shoulder and elbow ROM (and get the hips loosened up).  There are some athletes who don't need to be stretched into internal rotation, so be careful about using this as a blanket recommendation (more on that in our Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set).

For a bit more information on what we recommend for our pitchers between outings, check out A New Model for Training Between Starts: Part 2.

In closing, an important note I should make is that pitchers rarely get hurt because of just one of these factors; it's usually a combination of all of them. So, when evaluating a pitcher's health and performance, be sure to broad perspective.

We've got four down and two to go in this elbow series.  Stay tuned for more!

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Stuff You Should Read: 4/4/10

I'm about to head out to go to Fenway Park for the season-opening Red Sox vs. Yankees game.  So, with the baseball season officially underway, I thought it'd be good to kick this week off with a collection of baseball-related recommended reading material.  Of course, you can certainly always find plenty of great stuff on the Baseball Content Page here at EricCressey.com.  That said, here are just a few personal favorite articles that I've written (it was tough to just pick a few, as I love writing about this stuff!): Crossfit for Baseball Developing Young Pitchers the Safe Way Risk-Reward in Training Pitchers Weighted Baseballs: Safe and Effective or Stupid and Dangerous? And a few baseball books that I'd highly recommend: License to Deal (great look at the sports agent/representation industry)

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Moneyball

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And some favorite baseball-related DVDs:

The 2009 Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp DVD Set

Optimal Shoulder Performance (just released last week, and only around at the introductory price for a bit longer)

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Overbearing Dads and Kids Who Throw Cheddar

Q: I run into a TON of Fathers who want their son to gain throwing velocity.  What are your keys to gaining velocity?

A: To be blunt, Step 1 is getting away from your crazy overbearing father and realizing that if you're going to throw the baseball harder, it's because YOU want to do it, and are willing to put in the hard work.  There are millions of American fathers who want their sons to throw 95+mph, but only about eight guys in the big leagues who consistently throw that hard.

Taking it a step further, the average fastball velocity is actually higher in A-ball than it is in professional baseball, so while throwing hard is important, it's just one piece of the puzzle.  I'd love to hear more fathers talking about learning to command the fastball and master a change-up.  And, most importantly, I'd like to see more fathers who are interested first and foremost in keeping their kids healthy so that they can have the continuity necessary to realize their potential.

Next, you have to consider what kind of velocity we're actually discussing.  Is it what the radar gun reads: actual velocity?  That's really just one of three kinds of velocity.

You also have perceived velocity - which is higher in a pitcher who gets down the mound further than his counterparts and therefore gives the hitter less time to react. Chris Young (at 6-11) gets the benefit of perceived velocity in spite of the fact that his average fastball velocity doesn't even approach 90mph.

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Perceived velocity also explains the success of many pitchers with deceptive deliveries where the ball seems to just jump up on hitters.  Often, these pitchers stay closed and throw across their bodies.  While it may not be healthy, correcting it could take away their effectiveness.

Lastly, back in 2008, Perry Husband introduced me to the concept of effective velocity, which is a bit more complex.  The effective velocity a hitter appreciates is actually impacted by:

1.     pitch location (high and inside are faster, and low and away are slower)

2.     previous pitch location, type, and velocity (coming up and in with a fastball makes it seem harder if it follows a low and away change-up)

3.     the count (when behind in the count, the hitter must cover a larger strikezone, and therefore a larger effective velocity range)

If you need any proof of the value of effective velocity, just watch Jamie Moyer or Tom Glavine.  They nibble away over and over again, and then they come back inside on a guy and he looks blown away by the velocity even though it may only be low-80s.

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That said, getting down to the nuts and bolts of throwing the ball hard (actual velocity) mandates that you understand that there are tons of factors that contribute to velocity, but they aren't the same for everyone.  Very simply, there isn't just one mechanical model that allows one to throw harder than others.

Some guys have congenital laxity that allows them to contort their bodies all over the place.  Others "muscle up" and shotput the ball to the plate.  Most pitchers are somewhere in the middle and rely on a balance of elastic energy and mobility to make things happy.  With that in mind, having mechanical efficiency and thousands of perfect throwing reps in this efficient model is what every pitcher should strive to achieve - just as a golfer would practice his swing or an Olympic lifter would practice the clean and jerk or snatch.

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Second, it's imperative to prepare young pitchers' bodies for the rigors of throwing a baseball.  I've written extensively about the overwhelming extremes the throwing arm faces, and while it's important to improve arm strength, flexibility, and soft tissue quality, the rest of the body cannot be ignored.  Improving function of the scapular stabilizers, core musculature, and lower half is essential for taking stress of the throwing arm.  We encourage kids to get started with foam rolling, targeted flexibility work, and resistance training as soon as their attention span allows.  As I have written previously, the "stunting growth" argument doesn't hold water.

Third (and this piggybacks on my last point about resistance training), it's important to understand how to manage a young pitcher throughout the year. Contrary to popular belief, playing year-round is not a good idea.  In fact, it isn't even good enough to qualify as a "bad" idea; it is an atrocious idea.

If you want my ideal competitive season for a youth baseball player, it's to pick up a ball and start tossing around Thanksgiving, progressing to bullpen wok in early January after long-tossing distance has been progressed.  Then, the athlete throws up through his competitive high school season (late March- early June) and summer ball (through early August).  That's about 8-8.5 months of throwing throughout the course of the year - and it's plenty.

You'll see that this competitive year fits quite nicely with participation in a fall sport - whether it's football, soccer, or something else.  And, athletes can still "get away" with playing winter sports as long as they're willing to commit to a throwing program, even if they have to start playing a bit late.  If I had to give my ideal scenario, I'd say play football or soccer, and then play pick-up/intramural basketball in the winter alongside a throwing and lifting program.

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Within this year, you have several crucial blocks during which to increase resistance training volume.  One, there is the entire winter break, obviously.  Two, there is generally a decent break between spring and summer baseball (late May-early June), and another during the month of August.  Three, kids can (and should) still train in-season, regardless of the sport.

This, of course, speaks to the high school athletes who have practice/games just about every day.  Managing a 10-year-old is a lot easier.  His sport practice may only be 2-3 days per week - meaning that he can participate in different activities throughout the week.  However, he can't do that if Dad thinks that playing on four different AAU teams at once is the secret to getting him to the big leagues.  He has to play multiple sports at a young age.

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So, if I had to give the synopsis of my thoughts on how to get a kid to throw hard, it would go something like this:

1. Appreciate that throwing hard is just one piece of the "being a successful pitcher" puzzle - and that there are different types of velocity (actual, perceived, and effective).

2. Clearly outline his competitive season and stick to that outline.  Don't add showcases, camps, and additional teams.

3. Let him play for two teams: one spring (school) and one summer (AAU, Legion, etc.).

4. Find a skilled pitching instructor to work with him to optimize mechanical efficiency.  Before you start working with this instructor, have him explain his approach to managing your son both during a typical lesson and throughout the competitive season.  Then, go and observe him as he works with other pitchers.  Do they just "show and go," or do they warm-up before even picking up a ball?  Does he ask kids how they feel prior to each session, and does he pace them throughout the session?  Or, does he just grunt and spit dip juice all over the place.

5. Get him involved in a comprehensive strength and conditioning program that incorporates resistance training, medicine ball work, flexibility training, and movement training that all take into account the unique demands of baseball.  The strength and conditioning coach should provide a thorough evaluation that screens for all the mobility deficits and stability issues we commonly see in throwers.

6. Make sure that the pitching coach and strength and conditioning specialist communicate and collaborate. The CP staff is fortunate to have this kind of productive collaboration with Matt Blake all the time:

 

Kidding aside, very rarely will a pitching coach know about strength and conditioning, and very rarely will a strength and conditioning coach know about pitching.  It's unfortunate, but true.

7. Have him play multiple sports.  The younger the pitcher, the more sports he should play.  Specialization shouldn't come until age 17 at the earliest.

8. Make sure he continues to take care of his resistance training and mobility work in-season.

I could go on and on about all the subtle details of what we do with pitchers on a daily basis, but the truth is that I envision this blog as something that will be most popular with the Dads in the crowd who really just want to help their kids realize their potential and remain injury-free.  So, I'm keeping it more general - and referring you to the Baseball Content page for the more "geeky" stuff.

I do have one more closing thought, though.  We deal with a lot of very talented young pitchers who throw the ball very hard.  One anecdotal observation has been that their fathers are the ones who "get it."  These are the guys who are concerned about the important things: staying healthy, enjoying baseball, finding the right college, etc.  They don't boast about how many guys their sons struck out in little league. They are genuinely humble and respect the game - and this carries over to their kids, who work hard and carry themselves the right way.

Conversely, the kids who are always told that they're the best and get raved about by their fathers are the ones who invariably struggle to succeed long-term.  It may be because they're overworked, over-pressured, or just overrated in the first place.  It may be because coaches get frustrated with having to deal with an overbearing father, and the kid gets punished for it.  It may be that the kid doesn't think he needs to work as hard because he's already the best - because Dad told him so. Or, maybe he misses out on crucial development because he spends all his time playing in baseball games when he should be practicing, training, or participating in other sports - or just having fun and being a normal kid. Worst of all, a kid may just flat-out start to dislike the game because all the fun has been taken out of it because of Dad's hype and excessive pressure.

Is velocity important? Sure.  Can it sometimes be the trees that prevent us from seeing the forest?  Absolutely.

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From the Little Leagues to the Big Leagues? Nope.

Today marks another great blog Q&A from Matt Blake. Q: I was quite shocked to learn that only three pitchers have ever made it to the Big Leagues from the Little League World Series (LLWS). It makes perfect sense, as the mature kid at 12 generates more velocity than little Billy. Most parents assume that since he is more mature he can handle more stress when in actuality it just means his muscles are stretched out farther and are more susceptible to injury. More specifically, Tom House claimed that the stretched out muscles could be counteracted by dropping your center of gravity. Any input would be great! A: I think this speaks to a lot of problems with how the players got to Williamsport and the developmental path that carries into their teenage years. The main concerns with the 11-12 year olds that are competing in the LLWS is how skilled they are for such a young age. Typically, this means that they have had a tremendous amount of repetition at a young age, and have competed in a very large number of games over the course of the spring and summer to make it to Williamsport.

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Three issues that might speak to why only three pitchers have gone on to play professional ball include: Issue #1 - These players are not skeletally mature to handle the amount of stress placed on their bodies, so they will probably turn up with more overuse injuries in their teen years that have been accumulating due to the high demand from 9-12. Issue #2 - This could be a simple timing of maturation. A lot of the dominant players are taller, weigh more, throw harder and have probably entered certain stages of maturation quicker than their peers. This doesn't necessarily mean they'll be ahead of their peers at 13-15 or even 16-18; it just means that at the age (11-12) we happen to televise, they were more developed. There are at least six more years before this player can even think about playing professionally, so a lot of things can happen to level out the playing field. Issue #3 - There's a good chance the amount of repetition that these players have put in at an early age could lead to "burnout" down the road or a feeling of satisfaction and less of a demand to work hard, because everything came to the player so easily at a young age. This game will eat you up if you don't continue to get quality repetition over the long haul.

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At some point, an abundance of talent will be matched, whether it's in high school, college, or the minor leagues. This is where the intangible qualities separate players and hard work is required to keep your competitive edge. Needless to say, I'm still shocked that only three pitchers have made it from the LLWS. For me, this signifies a serious red flag in the way we are developing talent in the baseball industry if our best players at age 12 don't translate well to the upper levels. Have a question for Matt?  Drop him an email at mablak07@gmail.com. Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
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When Should Kids Learn Curveballs?

Today, we've got the first in a series of Q&A contributions from Matt Blake. Q: What do you think of Ron Johnson's presentation at the ABCA convention where he stated that curveballs are okay for youths to throw and that they do not cause any structural damage beyond what a fastball does? Rather, it was the frequency the curveball was thrown that was the indicator. A: I was at Ron Johnson's presentation and have had the chance to read much of the research that has been presented on this topic. I do generally agree that curveballs are not inherently more dangerous than fastballs, but I think the idea of curveballs sends a conflicting message at the youth levels.

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Fundamentally, I'd like to believe that this game is centered around the pitcher being able to locate a fastball to the center of the plate 100 out of 100 times. Obviously, this is an idealistic perspective, but above average fastball command should be the trademark of an advanced youth player, not the fact that he can spin a baseball with his hand in a supinated position so that he can fool unsuspecting 11 year olds. We don't teach hitters to focus on curveballs at this age, so why should we teach pitchers to throw them? Squaring up the fastball over the middle of the plate is step one for both hitters and pitchers. In order to put a player in the best chance to succeed down the road, I think a pitcher should be able to repeat his fastball mechanics and create a certain amount of hand-speed, before he is taught to craft his pitching skills. This is generally considered to be a throwing mechanics versus pitching skills debate and would prioritize mechanical knowledge and the sequencing of the body's rotations.

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If a player has demonstrated above average command of his fastball to the center of the plate, then obviously, the next progression would begin to zone the plate off for him. Once he can dissect the lanes of the plate with a straight fastball, then maybe teach him a different grip on the fastball or even a changeup. Start by working the changeup down the middle, etc....This game is built on efficient pitching, so to skip steps at these early developmental levels or to place too great an emphasis on winning at this age would compromise the player's development. Obviously, all of this is just simply my opinion. When would I teach a breaking ball? I guess it would be when a player looks skeletally mature to repeat his delivery and can demonstrate effective use of his fastball/changeup combination. If these pieces are set as the foundation, introducing spin tilt and depth might follow. If a player at the age of 11 or 12 is capable of doing this because he has put the necessary repetition in, then I suppose you can't hold him back, but for some reason, I think people might be skipping steps 2 and 3 to get to 4, because 4 gets outs easier at age 12. Have a question for Matt?  Drop him an email at mablak07@gmail.com. Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
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Can Little Leaguers Strength Train?

Q: Mr. Cressey, I was given your name and website from my massage therapist, who is a big fan of yours. I was wondering what your opinion is about when a child should start muscle strength training (not weight training) for baseball? I have a 10-year old son who pitches and I always worry about his shoulder since I have had to have surgery on both of mine. He is playing up in age so he is pitching from 50 feet and pitches a consistent 48 mph. I always ice him down after for 30 minutes, but what do you recommend him to do to prevent injuries? A: This is a great question, and the timing is actually perfect (as I'll explain in the last paragraph). In a nutshell, assuming good supervision, I'd start as early as possible. While most of our work is with athletes in the 13+ age range, we run a group of 9-12 year olds every Saturday morning at Cressey Performance. There is a lot you can to with kids at that age to foster future success - but, more importantly, have fun. It was actually started by popular demand of some of the kids who had older brothers in our program; they wanted to jump in on the fun. Now, we look at it as a feeder program of sorts; by teaching things effectively early-on and exposing them to a wide variety of movements, it makes it easier for them to become athletes down the road. We work on squat technique and/or deadlift technique, with the majority of the time aimed at just keep them moving by performing various circuits that include things like jumping jacks, med ball throws, lunges, and wheelbarrow medleys, etc. We also have tug-o-war battles and SUMO wrestling where we have them grab onto a SWISS ball and try to maneuver each other outside of a circle. All in all, we have fun while at the same time improving their motor skills. That is what's most important. I don't want the kids to dread coming to the gym, which is what I think happens when trainers and parents start taking it too seriously. There's going to come a time when things will get more specialized, but ages 9-12 isn't that time. Truth be told, kids nowadays are more untrained and unprepared than ever - yet they have more opportunities that ever to participate in spite of the fact that they are preparing less. It's one of several reasons that youth sports injuries are at astronomical rates. As perhaps the best example, you can now see glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) in little leaguers, as this study shows. The GIRD isn’t the problem; that’s a natural by-product of throwing. The problem is that kids throw enough to acquire this structural and flexibility anomaly, but have no idea how to manage it to stay healthy. So, in a nutshell, find someone who understands kids both developmentally and psychologically - and make it fun for him. Looking for someone affiliated with the IYCA (www.iyca.org) would be a good start. Also, among the products out there, Paul Reddick's stuff is a great start if you're looking for things to do with up-and-coming baseball players.

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The Continued Wussification of American Children

On the radio this morning, they were talking all about this 9-year-old in Connecticut who was banned from his little league for being too good. Yes, folks, you read that correctly; we're discouraging achievement and instead rewarding and encouraging mediocrity. To illustrate my point... When I was in elementary school, I played the trumpet. I use the word "play" very loosely because I was absolutely terrible - the last trumpet in the band, in fact. I was so bad that I used to fake playing a good 75% of the time. When concert time came around, I'd pretend to huff and puff and blow into that sucker - and while I looked like I was making sweet music, the truth was that my cheeks were just getting redder and redder - and I wasn't making a sound. This great "front" was even better because I was pudgy, and let's be honest: there really isn't anything funnier than a pudgy kid with red cheeks pretending to play the trumpet. You know what, though? Nobody ever told the first trumpet guy to skip the concert. He deserved his success. For all I know, he might still be playing the trumpet today. Hell, I didn't even practice; I was too busy focusing on what I enjoyed more (which coincided with what I was good at: sports). What if this 9-year-old really does have what it takes to do something special in the world of baseball? Are we really going to risk his development - both physically and psychologically - so that we can make future lawyers, astronauts, and proctologists feel good about themselves? If that's the case, we better start telling the smart kids in school to stop studying. The truth is that just as success is great for teaching us what we enjoy and what our place in this world is, humility teaches us countless valuable lessons. Take it from the fat trumpet faker who wore sweatpants to school straight up through sixth grade. I turned out okay.
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