Mask or No Mask

[Rocketech1]

Couldn't agree more with your last sentence. I made DD wear a mask through 14U and couldn't believe how many times I was asked "how do you get her to wear it?" Why is it so hard to tell your kids what to do and make them listen? Wear the mask or don't play. Simple. You don't need mandates in place of good parenting.

I guess you feel the same about mandatory use of catcher's gear, car seat belt laws and safety switches on hand guns should be a right left up to the parent to decide what is best for their children?

 

[riseball]

I guess you feel the same about mandatory use of catcher's gear, car seat belt laws and safety switches on hand guns should be a right left up to the parent to decide what is best for their children?

Again with the apples to oranges seat belt analogy. That mandate was pushed by the insurance industry and medical profession, and included exhaustive scientific study. It was not a knee jerk reaction by a bunch of parents with a solution in search of a problem.

As to catchers gear, that is to prevent injury from a very common event. A facemask prevents injury from an extremely rare event, which typically is not serious.

With respect to "safety switches" (never head it called that) on a hand guns, most have no such device and they are not required. Just goes to show that like I have said, this is all about emotion, not much else.

Nothing prevents a kid from wearing a mask. Show me a rule or policy that forbids it. That said, if you are unable to stand up to you kid and be a parent, or if your kid succumbs easily to peer pressure you have bigger issues than any mandate can fix.

 

[Rocketech1]

Again with the apples to oranges seat belt analogy. That mandate was pushed by the insurance industry and medical profession, and included exhaustive scientific study. It was not a knee jerk reaction by a bunch of parents with a solution in search of a problem.

As to catchers gear, that is to prevent injury from a very common event. A facemask prevents injury from an extremely rare event, which typically is not serious.

With respect to "safety switches" (never head it called that) on a hand guns, most have no such device and they are not required. Just goes to show that like I have said, this is all about emotion, not much else.

Nothing prevents a kid from wearing a mask. Show me a rule or policy that forbids it. That said, if you are unable to stand up to you kid and be a parent, or if your kid succumbs easily to peer pressure you have bigger issues than any mandate can fix.

I think the point is that as the game of fastpitch becomes faster, especially infield play (i.e. bat technology, better conditioned athletes/batters, shrinking strike zones, etc) the more frequent and serious the potential injury is and the use of additional safety should be considered. Just this weekend, 14YO DD was pitching against a 16u team, and a line drive went off her left knee cap (luckily she wears a mizuno knee pad over her softball pants which helped absorb the impact) and she was able to continue after several warm-up pitches. In the past 7 years, she has been hit dozen of times, mostly arms and legs, with the worst shot taken was to the stomach (which left ball seam marks on her belly). I hope she never gets a line drive to the head, but I know for certain that while wearing the mask, her $5,000 of dental work (braces) will be intact. You look at pitchers like Tori Finucane (formerly at Mizzou) and she is not the same pitcher she was before taking the line drive to the skull a year ago. It's a shame...

I'm not saying that masks should always be mandated but I would hope that parents and players seriously consider the risks associated with NOT using some face protection, especially if they are playing vulnerable positions such as pitcher and 3rd base.

 

[colin]

i see wearing the mask for dd's as a no risk, high reward situation.

 

[MNDad]

I think the point is that as the game of fastpitch becomes faster, especially infield play (i.e. bat technology, better conditioned athletes/batters, shrinking strike zones, etc) the more frequent and serious the potential injury is and the use of additional safety should be considered. Just this weekend, 14YO DD was pitching against a 16u team, and a line drive went off her left knee cap (luckily she wears a mizuno knee pad over her softball pants which helped absorb the impact) and she was able to continue after several warm-up pitches. In the past 7 years, she has been hit dozen of times, mostly arms and legs, with the worst shot taken was to the stomach (which left ball seam marks on her belly). I hope she never gets a line drive to the head, but I know for certain that while wearing the mask, her $5,000 of dental work (braces) will be intact. You look at pitchers like Tori Finucane (formerly at Mizzou) and she is not the same pitcher she was before taking the line drive to the skull a year ago. It's a shame...

I'm not saying that masks should always be mandated but I would hope that parents and players seriously consider the risks associated with NOT using some face protection, especially if they are playing vulnerable positions such as pitcher and 3rd base.

This is a good post and I agree with most of it. I do have a couple questions though. How do you know her braces will be intact while wearing a mask? At what point will the various masks on the market fail? Is a $15 mask as safe as a $50 one? I'm all for the masks, but logistically I can't see how we can mandate them at this point. I like the Rip-It and Schutt masks, but it would lead to huge problems if we tried mandating specific brands.

 

[chinamigarden]

I guess you feel the same about mandatory use of catcher's gear, car seat belt laws and safety switches on hand guns should be a right left up to the parent to decide what is best for their children?

Safety switches??

 

[InsidePitch]

Saul Alinsky would be proud of this bunch.

Oh and bats aren't getting hotter and the strike zone is getting bigger.

 

[canyonjoe]

Actually this is what a lot of girls do who don't wear a face mask. Hard shot hit at them and to prevent from getting hit in the face they turn their head. A lot of girls who wear a face mask are more comfortable handling a hard line drive and will not turn their head. Depends on the individual, but it can certainly prevent a girl from turning their head.

I will say that on our team at least, every kid who turn their head have masks on. Every single one. I'm in no way blaming the mask, but in all my years I have never seen a good middle infielder wear one. I'm in no way suggesting that there reason they are good is because they don't wear masks. I don't see that these kids feel any safer with masks on. It's only on 4 or 5 teams so it's a small sample size.

 

[Rocketech1]

Safety switches??

You have never heard of a "safety switch" on fire arms?

 

[Lenski]

Safety switches??

Safety
Safety switch
Safety mechanism
Safety selector

They're all synonymous........