As quoted by coach Glover in your March 24 issue, “In softball, the mechanics of pitching underhand is more of a natural movement than you see in baseball. It doesn’t put strain on your body like pitching overhand.” Wrong, coach. Coach Glover is the varsity softball coach at Saugerties.
Dr. Sherry Werner is an expert in her field. She is the coordinator of Human Performance Laboratory at the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine. Dr. Werner studied 24 pitchers during the ’96 Olympics. She also did a study of 158 pitchers ages 12-18. She and her team performed a full biomechanical analysis on each of the pitchers. This included 100 different elements of movement, including stride length and arm speed, to measure how much torque and force they placed on their shoulders and elbows. They compared this data with what is out there for baseball pitchers. Dr. Werner is a former Penn State pitching coach and has studied and treated arm injuries for over 20 years. She says, “We found that the stress on a softball pitcher’s arm is very similar to a baseball pitcher’s.”
Dr. Werner states, “Each year, we see 20-30 pitchers requiring some type of shoulder or elbow surgery at her clinics.”
Dr. Werner also states, “For too long, we’ve heard the myth that softball pitchers have a natural throwing motion and they can pitch as much as they want.”
One of the greatest pitching coaches in the country, Ernie Parker, agrees with Dr. Werner. Mr. Parker, to name a few, taught at a very early age, Jennie Finch, Lisa Fernandez, and Cat Ostermann.
Karen Bloch, staff athletic trainer at the University of Wisconsin says, “I commonly see overuse injuries in the shoulder, specifically in the rotator cuff.” Karen Bloch is also the owner of Key Koncepts for Sport Enhancement and Injury Prevention in Madison, Wisconson.
Another cause of injury is improper pitching mechanics. I’ve seen locally pitchers with bad mechanics. One pitcher with bad mechanics is one too many. We need to better train our coaches for the safety of our athletes.
Ken Swart
Saugerties
The writer is an Ernie Parker certified pitching instructor
Schools costs need to stop increasing
Teachers received 4 percent salary increases in each of the last four years, plus step increases averaging 2.5 percent each. They should be content. Homeowners are being forced out of their homes by the high property taxes required to pay for these salaries, pensions and benefits and other overly-generous facilities etc.
This especially impacts older citizens, who pay property taxes without swelling the school population. When their homes are sold, it is usually to young families with children…putting additional pressure on the schools
The census shows a decline in population for Saugerties, and in recent years we have also had declining student populations. Yet this years’ projected school budget will require an 8.75 percent tax increase, or close to that. Something is wrong here. I suspect that the additional $302,863 in state aid [when applied to the tax roll] will not make a significant improvement in the tax burden on the individual taxpayer.
School administrators will always seek to expand the system they administer [simultaneously expanding their own careers]. They cannot be expected to run the schools in an economical way.
Consolidation and reducing the number of aides and other non-teaching personnel [including administrators] is essential. Why has the committee charged with investigating school consolidation held only one fifteen minute meeting in 6 months?
Doesn’t anyone remember that the voters of Saugerties voted overwhelmingly against the last school budget? We will not reelect officials who do not maintain fiscal responsibility.
Norma Zotos
Woodstock
Headline needs revision
Last week’s “New Numbers” article written by Heather Plonchak would be more appropriately titled: “[Police Dissolution] Promises Being Kept.”
Any reduction in taxes is refreshing news. No matter how you spin this story, it is great news for beleaguered Saugerties Village taxpayers. Scary predictions made by opponents of the village police department dissolution were misguided [at best]. I tend to reserve my compliments of local government officials. The way I see it, we [public] need to hold public officials accountable for their decisions, while in office.
But in this case, praise to Mayor Murphy and Village Trustees (past-Trustee Suzanne LeBlanc included) are well-deserved.
David Radovanovic
Saugerties
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