Last weekend I was watching a little league baseball tournament at my local park. I thought about the movie A Christmas Story when Ralphie was dreaming and all the people were telling him that his Red Rider BB Gun was a bad idea because “you’ll shoot your eye out kid”. As I watched the teams advanced and the tournament wind down to the semifinals and championship game I felt like grabbing the young pitchers and telling them “You’ll throw your arm out kid!” What I saw is the same pitchers being thrown out to mound on back to back days, and sometimes two or three times the same day. As the games got close, the coach would almost universally go back to their “Ace” many times with little or no warm-up. I thought that these coaches decisions were reckless, and borderline abusive. Sure the athlete wanted to pitch. But as most young athletes think they are invincible. Maybe they should hang out at our center for a day and see a 14 year old with a labral tear in his shoulder. Or the 12 year old with a growth plate fracture in his elbow that requires a 2 inch Phillips head screw to fix. The coaches/Dads may get away with it most of the time but eventually it comes back to bit them. We are seeing younger and younger throwers in need of surgical repair of their shoulder and elbow due to overuse throwing injuries. Do you son or daughter a favor; read the guidelines put out by USA Baseball (Available on this website under Patient Education/ Sports Medicine Resources). Follow these guidelines no matter what. Do the right thing. Nobody gets drafted as a 13 year old. However, I have seen plenty of careers ended by reckless decisions on the pitchers mound.