CLEVELAND — In a partnership with cleveland.com called “How to win at youth sports (without going broke or breaking down),” 3News talked to experts, coaches and families about the current landscape and what we can do better to develop healthy, well-adjusted players.
It's not unusual to see youth athletes playing one sport year-round, especially if they're exceptionally good. But when it comes to young talent, repetitive training can actually do more harm than good and put a collegiate or pro career at risk.
Grier Peckham, of Hunting Valley, picked up a tennis racket at age eight and never put it down. Now fourteen, she's one of the two hundred best players in the country.
She trains incredibly hard to remain at that level.
"Three hours of hitting per day at least, plus fitness training, at least three to five hours max training per day," Grier said.
A year ago, she knew something didn't feel right.
"My elbow started bothering me. It felt sort of like it was bruised," she said.
She rested for a couple of weeks, but when she tried to play again, the inflammation returned. No damage was discovered on MRIs or X-rays, but the pain wouldn't ease. Two months of rest still didn't fix the problem.
She went to see orthopedic surgeon, James Voos, M.D., at University Hospitals Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute.
“He pushed like this, and my arm got stuck and he said I didn't have full range of motion, and I had shoulder stiffness from overuse,” Grier said.
Her elbow wasn’t the only problem. Repetitive hitting caused the overuse injury with her shoulder that radiated down her arm.
“A lot of these young youth athletes, they go through growth spurts and anytime that happens, sometimes it's difficult for our muscles, tendons, ligaments to kind of grow at the same rate that our, our bones are, and it can kind of create some problems at the attachment sites,” said Brent Pekarski, PT, DPT, Outpatient supervisor and Director of Physical Therapy at UH Rehabilitation Services.
Grier did grow a couple of inches over the previous season.
Fortunately, her injury didn’t require surgery, but improvement may depend on diversifying her training.
“Because you're doing the same movement pattern over and over again that's one thing can create an injury. I think the other thing is not doing, any strength conditioning or focusing on that and just playing one sport all the time,” Pekarski said.
Grier is determined to get back into shape and prove it at Nationals. She also understands the importance of rest in training.