Why are warm-ups important?

Why are warm-ups important?

·         To get everyone loose and ready to play

·         To reduce the injury risk from pulls and strains in cold muscles

·         To bring the team together as a unit

Why should we as a League be concerned with how our teams warm-ups?

One reason is that baseball pre-game and pre-practice periods are the most dangerous times because of the increased number of balls flying through the air amongst an increased number of people, including players, coaches, umpires, groundskeepers, siblings, parents, and grandparents who may all be in the line of fire.

Secondly, we want to prepare our kids to proceed up the baseball ladder, hopefully beyond Little League. Standard stretching, jogging and infield/outfield warm-ups are a consistent part of baseball all the way into the Majors. If we can ingrain those habits in our kids along with the basics of throwing, catching, fielding and hitting, they will be much better positioned to succeed in the future.

Here is a great and pretty complete set of stretches. Like anything else, consistency is key. Make it a part of each and every practice. Make late arriving kids do it on their own. Don't skip it...ever.

We will talk more about infield/outfield in a later post. That portion of our routines may well vary greatly from division to division...but stretching can and should be applied at all levels.