SPANISH FORT — While the high school varsity playoffs normally signal the end of baseball and softball season, for many players it is merely a halfway mark before they embark on an even busier summer season.
It's no wonder why around half the baseball and softball players treated by Dr. Andy Harcourt at Baldwin Bone and Joint come in with overuse injuries. However, to combat those, he included proper technique and recovery among some of the biggest factors that promote longevity and that's where Coastal Sports Academy comes in.
Owned and led by Matt and Jen Pockrus, the baseball and softball training facility filled a vacancy in the Spanish Fort area and three years later, they've helped 22 athletes step up to the college ranks with training sessions, workouts, recruiting and some summer league teams. Combined with their previous facility in north Alabama, CSA has over 200 college athletes and 10 MLB draft picks.
One of those current college athletes is Parker Reimensnyder, a Spanish Fort alum who pitches for Bishop State in Mobile. After his April 12 outing against Coastal Alabama where he earned the win out of the bullpen, he swung through the facility he's been training at to get his postgame workout in — which included a resistance band routine that serves a specific purpose for overhead throwers.
"The rotator cuff is the deep root of muscles and tendons around the ball and socket. When a kid goes in the weight room and does a bench press, they use their pec and deltoid and trap to move that weight. What the rotator cuff does is coordinate how the ball and socket work together to make that motion happen," Harcourt said in an April 18 interview. "You don't really isolate the rotator cuff with dumbbell exercises or with weight exercises, they're working but they're not getting focused on. So, you have to get down to that low resistance with the bands, three to five pounds of resistance, to really isolate the cuff."
That arm care is reflected in the Pockrus training sessions for athletes as young as 7 years old where in-season workouts not only depend on the last and next game played but what the athlete's team is working out at the time as well. In the offseason, they'll crank up the weight while taking advantage of a throwing break.
"Let's say a kid that is going into the playoffs and their game is on a Friday. They come see us on a Sunday," Matt posed in an April 14 interview. "We can go a little bit lower rep per se, slower movements, slower tempo and a little bit heavier weight in that sense. But if they come to us on a Wednesday and they play Friday, then that tempo might be a little bit faster, fast-twitch and more athletic movements with flexibility."
Keeping all of those muscles in shape, and using them with proper technique, was high on Harcourt's list of suggestions.
"One of the things that happens with these kids is their shoulders get tired. Over the course of so many games, their mechanics begin to not be as good so they drop their arm angle they begin to put more pressure on their elbow," Harcourt said. "This is how they get to the Tommy John (surgery) situation where our shoulder is weak relative to what it needs to be so it's fatigued, we drop our arm angle, we begin to stress our elbow and we get elbow injuries in addition to our shoulder not being as good as it needs to be."
Taking time off from throwing in between seasons and recovering the right way were also good ways to stay in the game, Harcourt said. Although the pitching motion is different on the softball diamond, Jen is instilling arm care lessons early on as well.
"I'll provide them with other things to do like bands things at home and foam rollers and things like that and teach them what to do," Jen said. "We do that and then we change it up with the lessons as far as the pitching goes so we're not pitching quite as much and we're definitely not doing a bunch of bullpens when they're in here during the season when they're playing a lot of games."
However, with the caliber athletes around Baldwin County, and the cooperating weather, baseball and softball can be played nearly year-round so sometimes the recovery can be hard to come by.
"These kids are good athletes and sometimes playing multiple sports, so they're playing rec soccer and they're playing basketball and they're playing baseball and those three all kind of overlap for a short period of time," Harcourt said.
All the while, Coastal Sports Academy athletes will be continuing their workouts to retain the progress they've built up. When they're in the facility, many of the swings they take and the throws they make are being logged by player-tracking data technology that helps them see their progress in real-time and over months at a time. It also provides CSA with the numbers they can sell to recruiters.
"The stronger your arm is, the more valuable you are at also playing another position," Matt said. "If the arm isn't very strong, then you might be limited to playing second base or maybe left field where you hit a cut-off man every time."
The athletes will also be continuing to build on their strength which Harcourt said might not prevent torn ligaments but will help bodies perform their tasks safely for longer.
"Strengthening is not going to prevent the traumatic moment. It's not going to prevent you injuring something when you collide with someone else," Harcourt said. "But as you're stronger, you fatigue less and your ability to do things the safe way lasts longer through the day and longer through the game. So, you're less likely again to dip that arm or do something that you are now not using good mechanics because you're tired."
Overall, Harcourt said limiting the overall volume overhead throwers execute their motions with things like pitch counts, the technique when throwing the objects as well as time off after seasons all factor into a recipe for longevity. Add to that good nutrition and plenty of sleep and the games might just keep coming.
"The things your mom used to tell you when you were little, 'eat your vegetables and go to bed,'" Harcourt said.
