I’ve found that as I get older, it becomes harder and harder to do some serious athletic activities.
As most of you know, and if you don’t from my name on the board than you have no clue, I am a softball nut and play as much as possible in the summer.
However, in recent years, I’ve neglected certain things — such as warming up properly, getting the arm loose, stretching etc. By doing that, muscles hurt more, I strain things when I shouldn’t and I hurt a lot more.
So I’m going to be throwing today (Thursday) as part of an off-season plan to be more ready once the season starts. By doing this, I’m hoping my wing is in better shape once the season starts.
See, the problem is, several years ago, I threw the arm out. I went to a game in one of our leagues early in the season. It was a night game in early may and it was cool out. I showed up about 30 minutes before the game, but figured I was just being a DH, as per normal.
Well, about 10 minutes before the game, it was found out that our catcher wasn’t coming. So as the backup, I got the call and never had a chance to loosen up properly. In the first inning, the leadoff guy gets on and decides to challenge my arm right off the bat.
I threw him out trying to steal and along with it, I think my arm sailed into center field. Needless to say, my arm hasn’t been the same since. I can’t blame the arm for my throwing problems when trying to get the ball back to the pitcher, that’s all in my head. But the lack of power, or being able to humchuck it, well that’s all part of it. And that probably helped with the head problems, too. I loved catching, but had to give it up. I still do it sometimes, but my arm really hurts at times after.
So this season, I’ve decided to do things different. And it all begins with today’s throwing session. I need to start learning to stretch my arm, loosen it up and get it ready to go before a game. Considering, too, that I’m going to hopefully be pitching a little bit more, I need to make sure things are loose and ready to go. Our pitcher now, somehow, arrives, walks right on to the field, throws five or six warmup pitches and is ready to go. Not me. I have to warm up or I can’t go.
Hopefully this starts a year without getting pains in the arm. I know I don’t ever want to worry about having it looked at, scoped or full-blown surgery. So it’s time to watch things a little better.
Thankfully, however, I don’t work Thursday. So if it’s sore, I can rest it!
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