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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was also a D-1 athlete (softball). I played softball three seasons of the year (spring was the main season, summer was travel ball, and winter I had indoor practices a few times a week). I was allowed (and encouraged) to do a different sport of my choosing in the fall, which was cross country. I too never really had any overuse injuries or issues. I had enough time to be plenty involved in other school activities like student council and planning committees and stuff so focusing mostly on one sport wasn't a bad thing.[b] I'd note that I didn't go from one practice, to the next at an off-site, anything like that. I played on my high school team and one travel ball team [/b]and did extra work with my dad. That's it. [/quote]

Asking this PP and the one just prior how old you both are? I am wondering if presently there is so much more involved and expected of the teen athlete who specializes in one sport than there was even ten years ago. Even in the prime season for a sport some years ago there may not have been as many mandatory practices a week? Just curious.

PP, I smiled reading that you did extra softball training with your dad![/quote]

PP here (softball). I'm 36. Regular season practices were 6 days a week (and they were more drill-focused rather than just standing around on the field fielding balls from batting practice). Travel ball was tournaments about 6 weekend of the summer. My travel ball team had girls from several counties on it so we didn't often have organized practice--so my dad would have summer practices for about 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. Winter indoor practices were also about 3-4 days a week. We had a small group of 6 girls or so that would practice together in summer and winter.

For what it's worth, I'm also a college coach (for cross country though). We don't really look at the volume of practices and stuff like that although XC is a different animal than a team sport. We'd look at times from XC and track and mostly just consistent participation in both. My dad was the softball coach at the same school. He wasn't so much concerned with how many teams you played on or how many times a week you practiced, but I know he did his research on what kinds of competition the recruits were facing in travel and high school ball and he would go to games to observe recruits in person. Volume of play was not as important to him as quality of competition and having sound skills and mechanics. [/quote]

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