Do you warm your car up?

When you jump into your car in the morning, do you turn it over and immediately jam out of the driveway? Occasionally you might, but if your looking for your car to be there for you down the road, you better not make this a habit. The same goes for our young kids arms. I can't tell you how many times I am out at the ballpark and I see a team start to practice and there is no stretching involved. "There young, they don't need to stretch. They're already limber as can be." This is an answer I have heard a lot. My reply to this is simple and should make great sense. Your not necessarily stretching them to prevent injury at that moment. You are stretching them for the long haul. And when I say this, I am specifically talking about their throwing arms. It's just like your car. If you don't warm it up it simply is not going to last as long as if you did. It's that simple. We teach these kids the game of baseball and some have the opportunity to play well into their lives. Baseball may prevent them from falling into trouble in their teen years. Baseball may give them the opportunity to attend college. Baseball may give them the opportunity for a career. We teach them the fundamentals of the game at an early age to give them this opportunity. We better teach them the importance of taking care of the one thing that can bring it all to a sudden halt. Their arm!!!!