Last year, after each player had completed his or her regular 12-game season from April to early June, an all-star little league team from Jim Thorpe played another 16 tournament games into late July. For all these games, the players traveled a total of 800 miles back and forth to the greater Hazleton area, which added up to16 hours round trip. With practices scheduled between games, the team played nearly four straight months of baseball.

So? What's the big deal, you may ask.All the players on the team were seven and eight years old.Well, maybe it's still no big deal, you may say.Some experts in the field of sports management, however, might disagree. Dr. David Geur, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist from Charleston, South Carolina contends that we might be expecting too much from our younger athletes. He says that an overschedule of baseball activities or another sport for that matter within several months of time can actually harm a child both physically and emotionally.Kevin Prebil, a certified strength and conditioning specialist in Glendale, Arizona says that with year round indoor baseball leagues, fall ball, traveling tournament teams, showcases, camps and clinics, there is significant pressure upon parents to enlist in these opportunities if they want their children to be able to compete at the advanced high school and college levels. This is why families may pay up to $2,000 a year for a full year commitment to the game.Tom Leinhard, a Jim Thorpe Little League coach, is experiencing the demands that a rigorous baseball schedule currently has upon his nine-year-old son, Garrett."As parents and coaches we have to be aware of what we are asking our children to do," says Leinhard, whose son has played baseball for nearly 11 months of this past year. "Garrett loves baseball and even when he's not playing or practicing, he's watching games on TV. So he plays Little League, All Stars, travel tournament games with the Carbon County Copperheads, and fall ball. He loves it all."This past winter Garrett wanted to wrestle and play baseball as well."With both sports, it was a six day a week commitment," says Leinhard. "I saw that it not only became too much for him," he says with a laugh, "it became too much for me too. There was one time when I had to wake him up at 5 a.m. to make a 6:45 batting practice that was forty minutes away to prepare for an 8 o'clock baseball game during the wrestling season. It can be exhausting. As a parent, you have to know when to pull back and take a break. For our family, we at least shut it down for the whole month of August."Stepping off the field for a while is not just about giving a young player's mind a rest. In the United States, there are close to 16 million kids who play baseball at some level and as many as 20 percent of those between the ages of 9 to 15 will suffer a physical injury that requires medical attention.Prebil claims that playing too much baseball can prohibit a child's development of particular muscle groups in his body because he is only working those that are utilized in playing one specific sport. Then there is the concern for overusing particular muscles. For example, there is an ongoing debate about how much or how little a child under 15 should throw a baseball. Prebil advocates that these age groups should take at least four months off from throwing to reduce the risk of shoulder and arm injuries. He also recommends that kids play more than one sport to avoid burnout and to help develop other muscles through participation of different activities.Pat O'Connell, General Manager of the Pocono Dome in Sciota, oversees the Edge Baseball Academy, a baseball training and conditioning program for elite players between the ages of nine and 14."We develop our players for a period of eight months, but it's not all about playing games and tournaments," he says. "We emphasize a strength and conditioning philosophy over winning games and tournaments. Kids in the Northeast have a significant disadvantage in improving their physical skills compared to those who live in the South and West due to the weather. We are trying to level the playing field so to speak."O'Connell, who has 19 years of coaching experience, says that his program's goal is to develop the character and the physical health of the player."When college and pro scouts come to the Dome to watch players who have graduated out of our Edge program, we want them to know that these kids are models of great character. The only things then left for the scouts to evaluate with an Edge player are his baseball skills."Some 9-10 year-old tournament teams like the Northeast Titans from Pocono Summit can play well over 100 games a year as their families travel to hotels in New Jersey, New York, and as far away as Virginia for weekend tournaments. The chances of burnout for kids playing as many as six games in a weekend increases when the sport they have loved becomes a grind that ends up feeling like a chore or a job.Dr. Geur points out the signs for baseball burnout. Performances are consistently below the normally achieved results. A lack of motivation exists for practices and games. A player may show little interest in the outcome of games and may even become uncooperative with coaches and teammates.O'Connell has experienced burnout on a very personal level. His son, Colin was a talented pitcher through the youth leagues and was even taking private lessons."When he was 15, Colin told me that for the past two years he was playing baseball for me and not for himself. He wanted no more of it. It broke my heart because I love the game so much, but I realized that our relationship as father and son was more important than him playing the game."O'Connell also warns parents who are into heavy baseball commitments that a kids' field of dreams can turn into a field of screams. When parents yell at umpires from the bleachers and coaches yell at their players for lack of performance, the game is no longer enjoyable. Kids throw bats and helmets. They cry. One alarming statistic is that according to the Wall Street Journal, overall baseball participation has declined by 24 percent in the past decade.Yet many parents fantasize about college scholarships and even Major League contracts. The facts, however, state the reality of the odds.Only 11 per cent of the nearly half a million high school baseball players in the U.S. will be awarded Division I scholarships. According to You Go Pro Baseball.com, only one per cent of all players get to the minor league level of pro ball while the chances of playing in the Majors is significantly less than that. These are the same odds for younger teams to make it to the Little League World Series."On the other hand, kids who practice and train more will succeed more at higher levels," says O'Connell. "The kid who doesn't stay with it is the kid who, with just natural ability, hit .600 as the stud of his little league team, but now, without further instruction and training, is batting .230 as a substitute on his freshman high school team. And furthermore, some kids simply can't emotionally deal with the higher rates of failure that come at the advanced levels."Dan Chimenti is another Jim Thorpe Little League coach. His son James is a member of the Edge team and is into his seventh straight month of baseball."Besides the development of his physical skills, I think that James' commitment to the Edge team has improved his understanding of the game as well as his overall maturity in accepting the responsibilites that are outlined in the contract for the program."Chimenti's concern about burnout with James has been addressed directly with his son."With practices, training, and games he was at the Dome three nights a week. Before the second Friday night league was to begin, I asked him if he still wanted to play," said Chimenti. "He said he would still practice and train, but he would take a break form the games so we reduced his schedule to two nights a week."If you want to know if it's too much for your kid, then just ask. You should get an honest answer and then act accordingly."Chimenti believes there are other options to prevent burnout, He says kids may need a break from the game, but they can still foster team unity by building community off the field. As a team, they can visit children in hospitals, or the elderly in nursing homes. They can offer services to meet some civic needs in their neighborhoods."On the field, coaches should be able to tell when it 's time to lighten things up," he says." Do what it takes to get the kids to smile. In practice, have them bat opposite of their natural side might be one idea to have fun. Sometimes I will pitch at practice and talk trash to the hitters as they come to the plate. You can make even the most dedicated kids laugh. It's important for them to know that practices can be fun and be serious at the same time.""Just let them be kids," Chimenti adds with a smile. "We can't ignore the fact that many of them are seven, eight, and nine years old. They deserve the time to go home and play with their toys again."To be guarded against playing too much baseball, Leinhard focuses on one priority for his son."Garrett has to keep up with his grades in school. If his academics slip, then we will need to pull back."The bottom line about baseball burnout is that there is no bottom line. Parents have to be wary. Can their child emotionally handle the intense competition of the games? Is he playing to try to make them proud of him or because he truly loves baseball?After all the wins and losses, the home runs and the strikeouts, dragging the entire family to far away games, eating late night quick dinners and sacrificing vacations for the summer schedule of tournaments, O'Connell, Leinhard, and Chimenti all agree that parents and coaches can sometimes forget the simple idea that kids play baseball because they want to have fun.The attraction for the game may have all started one day with playing catch in the backyard. Perhaps the simple act of throwing a ball back and forth without the pressure of winning or losing is where one of the greatest joys of baseball lies.For parents and coaches like Tom Leinhard and Dan Chimenti, nurturing this good feeling throughout the successes and failures on fields of competition can ensure that their kids will continue to have positive experiences that will someday become cherished lifetime memories.