In the November 2, 2009 ESPN the Magazine, Ric Bucher writes and article titled, “Want to win it all? Then you’d better be willing to lose a few.” The article quotes Ray Allen who says:
“A body wasn’t made to play 82 games.”
If the body of a highly-trained, well-paid professional athlete with access to medical care, massages, therapy, athletic trainers, nutritionists and more is not made to play 82 games, how many games should a developing athlete play each season?
Most high school players play 25-35 high school games during the high school season. However, during the off-season, many play 8-10 more games in a spring league, summer league and/or fall league, meaning 24-30 more games just with the high school team, basically an entire second season.
Many of these players also play with a club team participating in anywhere from 4-12 (maybe more) tournaments where they play anywhere from 3-8 games per tournament or anywhere from 15-60 more games.
These amateur players with developing bodies are playing anywhere from 60-120 games per year, which does not leave a lot of time to develop skills, prepare one’s body for the next season, rest and recover, lift weights to prevent injuries or the other activities that a true off-season provides.
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