Elbow Up Youth Baseball

About Elbow Up Youth Baseball

Tips, advice, experience, and observations, for parents and coaches, to help get the most out of the youth baseball experience! www.getelbowup.com (https://www.getelbowup.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Kevin Burke

Category

kids & family · kids & family · sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jul 2020

Latest episode

1 Dec 2022

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 Dec 2022

   You Should Play Multiple Sports

   I've long been a proponent of young athletes playing multiple sports. There are so many benefits to learning different skill sets, playing with different teammates, and taking mental and physical breaks from the daily grind. As summer and fall youth baseball seasons were winding down, I received a lot of questions about what to do in the off-season to help get ready for next season. I always begin my answer to this question with "take some time off" followed closely with "play another sport." And then of course we talk about lessons, strength and conditioning, family time, etc. I recently saw a Facebook post in a youth baseball group essentially downplaying the importance, or need, for playing other sports. I use this episode to refute his claims and explain why your son should be playing multiple sports in the baseball off-season. What Comes First, the Chicken or the Egg? Kids aren't just born elite athletes. Sure, there are freaks of nature that are born with more natural size, strength, speed, and agility than others, but they don't just come out of the womb ready to play in the MLB, NFL, or NBA. They are elite athletes because they played multiple sports early and often - and mostly with less structure and training than we have today. Again, and as I always say, there are exceptions. But these guys were born into families that encouraged being outside playing with balls of all sports, spent the time learning by doing, and kept their bodies moving at different speeds and in different directions for much of the year. There are  others that spent their time outside the house playing football, basketball, baseball, or any other ball that would keep them away from their unfortunate situation inside the house. Often it kept them out of trouble. And the byproduct was becoming a better athlete. What if my son doesn't want to play other sports? Why even give them the option when they're young? It's not an option at my house. I literally tell my son every year, "I don't care what you do or play, but we're going to do some activity that keeps you moving and busy." Can we just do strength and conditioning? Well, you can. But there are at least two likely issues with this. One, it's expensive. The average parent, myself included, does not have the expertise or the facilities to do this correctly. To get what you need out of it, you need to go at least 3 times per week. That's going to run you MINIMUM $100 a week. Why not pay $150 for the whole basketball season, practice or play 3 days a week, learn new skills, put them outside their comfort zone, get coached by new unfamiliar coaches, and do something different? For way less money. My opinion based on experience Bottom line, your son might actually end up a Major League Hall of Famer having only played baseball his entire life. But in reality, there's a close to zero percent chance he ends up a Major Leaguer anyways, no matter what he does. Just as high schoolers aren't equipped to determine their ultimate career path, nine year olds aren't equipped to know what's best for their athletic development. Get them experience in uncomfortable situations. Let them practice playing for coaches they don't know. Encourage them to do things they aren't really good at. Put them in a position to learn to compete in many different situations. There's very little downside to playing multiple sports, and t If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate the podcast and leave a comment. I would appreciate it more than you know. And be sure to check out my weekly newsletter and website over at Elbow Up Youth Baseball (https://www.getelbowup.com/subscribe)! I'd love to have you join the community. It's free and there's no spam!

2. 

   23 Nov 2022

   Reflecting on 3 Years of Elbow Up

   It's been just over three years since I published the very first Elbow Up newsletter email. In that time there have been more than 300,000 website visitors, 59,000 emails sent, and nearly 180,000 podcast downloads. While I feel like I've become more polished in my delivery of the message, the message largely hasn't changed. And actually, I'm ready to double down on a few things (definitely controversial). Three Years in Review Looking back at the opens, downloads, comments, questions, and responses, I thought it would be good to revisit the top four topics I've written about over the last three years. These topics generated the most buzz, the most feedback, and frankly the most interest from all of you. ⚾ My Oldest Son Turns 18 Today: What I Would Have Done Differently ⚾ Coaches are Ruining Young Arms ⚾ Over-coaching Ruins the Fun Youth Experience ⚾ Weekend Tournaments are Ruining Youth Baseball Development Need Your Help If you like my content, please help me by doing the following: Ensure you're subscribed to the newsletter (https://www.getelbowup.com/subscribe). Ensure you open the newsletter. It may help to go to your inbox and make sure my email is not in the promotions tab. If it is, move it over to the primary tab. Even better, once you've done this, hit reply and just send me a one-word response. This helps your email provider know I'm not spam. Subscribe to the podcast (https://elbowup.buzzsprout.com/share) in your favorite podcast player. Leave a rating in your podcast player (and a comment if it's Apple Podcasts). Send me feedback, and let me know how I can better help you! As always, thank you for listening and supporting Elbow Up Youth Baseball! If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate the podcast and leave a comment. I would appreciate it more than you know. And be sure to check out my weekly newsletter and website over at Elbow Up Youth Baseball (https://www.getelbowup.com/subscribe)! I'd love to have you join the community. It's free and there's no spam!

3. 

   22 Jul 2021

   Arm Care, Arm Health, and more with China McCarney from Jaeger Sports

   🚨 You don’t want to miss this one! In addition to loads of useful information, Jaeger Sports has given me 5 sets of J-Bands along with their Throwing Manual to give away to my listeners! 🚨 Parents and Coaches, Today’s message is partially in response to my recent episodes Coaches are Ruining Youth Arms (https://www.getelbowup.com/p/coaches-ruining-young-arms) and Protecting Young Arms in Youth Baseball (https://www.getelbowup.com/p/youth-baseball-arm-health). I’m excited this week to bring you China McCarney from Jaeger Sports (https://www.jaegersports.com/about-jaeger-sports/). Jaeger Sports is considered by many to be the industry leader in Arm Health, Arm Conditioning, and Mental Training for baseball players. And if you look around, you’ll see their flagship J-Bands at parks and fields all across the country. Here’s a quick breakdown of the interview, although you’ll miss out if you don’t listen to every single second of this one (plus, you want to know how to win a set of J-Bands and their throwing manual): 0:56 - Introduction 3:35 - Interview starts with China McCarney from Jaeger Sports 4:42 - What is Jaeger Sports? 6:15 - How early should we start thinking about arm health and arm conditioning? 8:42 - What is arm care? 9:48 - Warm up to throw, don’t throw to warm up! 11:20 - Explaining the WHY! 12:45 - What is a throwing program? 15:04 - Watch out for gimmicks and advertisements promising quick and unrealistic returns! 15:45 - Should you be worried if your child throws slower than his peers at a young age? (IMPORTANT!!) 21:00 - Does Jaeger Sports have a youth specific throwing program? 23:00 - How important is time off? And a discussion on year ‘round baseball. 26:00 - The mental aspect of taking time off. 28:45 - Jim Vatcher, Jaeger Sports CEO and former Major League outfielder, and how he approaches his teenage son’s baseball experience. 30:00 - Kids should have fun now so they’ll still want to be around later to develop. 30:50 - China actually founded the Athletes Against Anxiety and Depression Foundation (https://www.aaadf.org/) in 2017 after his own experience with being a competitive athlete. 32:32 - How important is wearing sleeves and staying warm in cooler weather? 34:10 - Pitch counts, pitch counts, pitch counts! What does Jaeger Sports think about pitch counts? 37:17 - How can you get a J-Band or the Jaeger Sports throwing manual? Also, more information about free resources for parents, coaches, and players at Jaeger Sports (https://www.jaegersports.com/)! 41:21 - Closing thoughts from China McCarney: Take action! Introduce arm care and arm health to your son and your team. Keep the game fun! Be a human being. Remind your kid of the WHY. I really hope you enjoyed this interview. Leave a comment below, a rating in iTunes, and share with a friend or fellow parent and coa If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate the podcast and leave a comment. I would appreciate it more than you know. And be sure to check out my weekly newsletter and website over at Elbow Up Youth Baseball (https://www.getelbowup.com/subscribe)! I'd love to have you join the community. It's free and there's no spam!

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

117 ratings

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