NT_091919

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the northbrook tower | September 19, 2019 | 49
pitching
From Page 53
ticed any arm injuries because of
pitching.
“In our experience, the different
motion in fast-pitch softball
generally results in far fewer arm
issues than it does in baseball,”
NGSA President Pat Dunbar says
in an email. “We are more likely
to have ‘tired’ arms from too
much pitching or girls that fatigue
from the pressure of pitching versus
actual injuries. This would be
more true of our higher achieving,
travel pitchers.”
Researcher Kristin Thomas
believes part of the reason why
coaches and parents have a hard
time opening their minds to the
research is the culture of softball.
For every player she brought up
who suffered an injury, a coach
would mention a player who never
had any arm trouble.
“I feel like they all know that
one person and the culture of it,
those girls are all pretty tough
and reserved,” Thomas said.
“The girls aren’t saying anything,
they’re in a culture where they’re
not going to.”
Tekip isn’t against following a
pitching limit if that’s what’s recommended,
but he can’t say what
the reception would be among
his fellow softball coaches. Tekip
knows coaches will follow suit
as soon as USA Softball or a top
organization requires coaches to
have pitching limits, just like they
followed the concussion protocol
once its became a mandatory part
of a coach’s training.
If the research is there and it has
long-term benefits to the health of
his players, Tekip is completely
on board.
“To incorporate something like
that into a player safety training
would be mandatory for coaches,
I think would be great.”
Not enough evidence
The Illinois High School Association
didn’t waste any time
instituting a pitching limit in
baseball for the 2017 season
when research from the National
Federation of State High School
(NFHS) came out that high pitching
totals could lead to long-term
arm damage.
But in softball, there hasn’t
been a reason to act.
“The IHSA Softball Advisory
Committee and the IHSA Sports
Medicine Committee have not received
any data that would necessitate
the need for pitch counts for
high school softball in Illinois,”
says Tracie Henry, the IHSA’s
Assistant Executive Director
and softball representative, in an
email,
Henry mentioned the IHSA
reviews the NFHS’ studies locally
and determines whether any
changes should be made.
The NFHS receives its injury
information from an outside organization
that’s in its 13th year
of gathering softball exposure injuries,
a sport that has the lowest
rate compared to all other sports
according to NFHS Director of
Sports Sandy Searcy. In the data
gathered, the organization tracks
the type of injury, how long it
takes to come back from the injury,
what inning the athlete suffered
the injury, what position
they played, how old they are and
what grade they are in. But, the
study doesn’t collect the number
of days, when one pitches and the
numbers of pitches thrown.
“We’ve been conducting the
RIO (High School Sports-Related
Injury Surveillance) survey for
over 10 years and it really hasn’t
been shown to have adverse injuries,
overuse injuries, any trends
that we can focus on or point
to that would indicate that we
should take a closer look at establishing
pitch counts for softball,”
Searcy said. “I think that’s not the
case in baseball ... . In the world
of softball, it just hasn’t shown to
be an issue.”
Searcy admitted the organization
doesn’t study the longterm
effects of pitching in large
amounts, noting that there’s no
mechanism for doing so.
“The injury data we have on
the shoulder and the elbow just
haven’t trended toward increasing
injuries, but what it doesn’t
track those pitchers that are pitching
five games in three days, or
two games in a day, those kinds
of things,” Searcy said.
The NFHS maintains a twoway
relationship with its members
to determine whether some
rule changes should be made
once a new school year begins.
Searcy and her colleagues try to
keep a tab on news around the
country so they can provide its
members with the best injury prevention
methods. When it comes
to softball and arm injuries, they
just haven’t seen much to warrant
an edict.
“We try to keep our thumb on
this so we know what’s going
on out there,” Searcy said. “We
just haven’t seen it. To be honest,
we’re not tracking that criteria.”
Looking ahead
What needs to happen next in
the softball-pitching debate depends
on who you ask.
Researchers believe they’ve
found the genesis of an issue that
needs more investigation while
those who have been around the
sport their entire lives don’t think
there’s a reason why the “natural
motion” belief should be challenged
Youth coaches like Rick Tekip
are open to change but haven’t
seen a reason for that to happen
while newcomers like Kristin
Thomas want to see equality in
the protection of athletes.
“I think what softball needs to
do is what baseball did, which
is put research looking at pitch
counts and looking at it at a bigger
level if these female pitchers
need the same protections given
to male pitchers by limiting pitch
counts,” Thomas said.
It’s the debate Katie Rossmann
has been a part of since
she started playing the sport as
a young girl. She’s now a coach
teaching players how to protect
themselves from injuries by
pitching with proper technique
and following the same icing and
stretching habits she started, but
she also knows limits should be
placed with the addition of including
bigger pitching rotations.
“They shouldn’t throw over
and over again, it’s not healthy,”
Rossmann said.
She’ll do her best to make her
players as lucky as she was.
The Varsity: North Shore Podcast
Guys recap second week of football
Staff Report
In this week’s episode of The
Varsity: North Shore, the only
podcast focused on North Shore
sports, hosts Michal Dwojak,
Nick Frazier and Michael Wojtychiw
recap the third week of
football. They recap each of the
area team’s games, are joined
by Highland Park head football
coach David Lindquist, play
Way/No Way, preview next
week’s action and talk some
girls volleyball to finish the episode.
First Quarter
The three recap the third week
of action.
Second Quarter
Giants coach Lindquist joins
the guys to talk about the third
game against Buffalo Grove.
Third Quarter
The guys move on to Way/
No Way, where they make some
predictions with girls swimming
and diving.
Fourth Quarter
With week four next, the three
preview and make some predictions
on the next set of games.
Overtime
Our hosts go to overtime and
talk about the start of the girls
volleyball season.
Northbrook’s Marver part of
potential Olympic 3v3 team
Submitted content
Half-court action is intensifying
to find elite 3-on-3 players
to potentially represent USA
Basketball at the 2020 Summer
Olympics in Tokyo, should the
U.S. qualify.
At the Red Bull USA Basketball
3X Regionals today at
Northeastern Illinois University,
the Splash Sisters, including
Northbrook’s Jodi Marver,
relied on 2-point buckets to roll
through the bracket and punch
their ticket to the 2020 Red Bull
USA Basketball 3X Nationals
with a 18-15 victory over Glitter
Gang. It was a flood of 2-pointers
from all over the court for the
group of women, some of whom
played basketball at Yale in the
Ivy League but were not accustomed
to this game format.
Find the varsity
Twitter: @varsitypodcast
Facebook: @thevarsitypodcast
Website: NorthbrookTower-
Daily.com/sports
Download: Soundcloud,
iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, PlayerFM,
more
“We’ve never played in a 3x3
tournament until this weekend,”
Martha Glodz said. “We just
wanted to win one game, and now
we are on our way to nationals.”
In all, 18 elite men’s and
women’s teams based on points
accumulated in the 3X Midwest
Region, which was comprised of
Red Bull 3X qualifier action in
Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago,
Cleveland and Milwaukee, made
their way to the inaugural Red
Bull USA Basketball 3X Regionals
today, along with three wildcard
teams determined by USA
Basketball. Teams earned a spot
by placing in the top four of one
of the Red Bull 3X qualifiers or
by winning other tournaments.
Reigning 2019 FIBA 3x3 World
Cup MVP Robbie Hummel led a
Please see Olympic, 48