CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) - There's been a long debate in youth sports about how much is too much. Parker Thomson knows that all too well. At 13 years old, his favorite sports are football, basketball, and baseball.
His favorite? Baseball, but an arm injury kept him away from the sport for more than a year.
"He started playing t-ball when he was 5 years old," said Greg Thomson. "From there he started getting recruited by other coaches. By the time he was eight years old, he threw his arm out. He had tendon damage from pitching so often year round."
"I was just totally devastated," remembered Parker. "I didn't know what to think. Baseball was just my life at that moment. It's like having a really good dream and all of a sudden waking up."
His diagnosis? Little league elbow. It was so painful, that it hurt to pick up a fork.
"As you throw excessive amount of pitches either during a game or during as season you start creating a lot more forces through the inside of the elbow on the growth plate," explained Dr. Hector Mejia, who works with the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic. "It begins to separate because it's the weakest part of the elbow."
"A lot of times the coaches were more concerned if the kids could throw strikes not throwing properly," said Greg. "It uses bad form and bad technique. It get multiplied by however many teams he is on. So he could potentially pitch three to four games a week and less than 70 pitches a game."
Instead of playing all year, Parker now only plays baseball for his middle school team and is limited to throwing 75 pitches over three days.
"I really appreciate it because if you played it way too much you would have no joy in playing it," he said. "That's one of the main reasons I play sports is too enjoy it."
