re: 57% of Tommy John surgeries in USA performed on 15-19 year olds .

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How so?

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I should have said the "select model" but I'll expand. The select model goes by age. 12u 13u 14u and so on and so forth so your kid is most likely gonna play on a team with only kids their age against only kids their age. That in combination with the ability to jump teams easily if you aren't getting what you want creates kids that when they get to HS level sports have never had to sit the bench in their life. A good percentage of kids quit in their first 2 years of HS sports because they think they should play even though it's hard for a 14 year old to compete with an 18 year old for playing time. They've never learned that dynamic because the select model and the money making nature of the model means plenty of teams and plenty of playing time even if you may not be good enough to be a starter for a legit team.

Another major issue is the fact that most of these teams will play 4-8 games over the course of a weekend and only practice maybe once a week. The games end up not meaning as much to the kids because they know they have 4 more this weekend and if they lose out we got 6 more next weekend. It creates kids that don't know how to compete every single play or every single pitch because it's impossible to lock in and focus and give your best for 40 innings or 24 quarters in a weekend. Also the lack of practices creates a shocking experience when they get to HS. Now you practice bare minimum once or twice for every game you play no matter the sport. They aren't ready for this and they don't know how to practice the right way to begin with because over the course of a calendar year with their select team they had 12 practices but played in 65 games.

It also creates issues with the kids and their HS coaches. They don't know what actual coaching looks like because Braxten's Dad just had us hit in the cage and take grounders for the last 10 years or Michaels dad had us do layup line and play full court at practice for the last 10 years. When they get to HS and have to do conditioning, lift weights, and practices involving real work. Kids haven't been prepared for this at all so they get discouraged. "He's too hard on me." "The game isn't fun anymore" "Coach X took the love of the game from me".

TLDR,

The select model doesn't prepare the kids for HS or college as well as we think because the model is nothing like HS or college.