Game Face Masks

[Tucson]

I know, but people don't believe me if I go into gory details. They don't believe me, anyway ,or they are thinking "it won't happen to my kid."

[NewCoach]

You cant legislate foresight, or intelligence. My first priorty is to protect my own.

[GIMNEPIWO]

You cant legislate foresight, or intelligence. My first priorty is to protect my own.

Okay .... devils advocate ... Most of us grew up riding bikes without helmets on ... How many of us had a friend that suffered more than a bloody knee from bike riding as a child and now in many states helmets are mandated ...

[NewCoach]

I can think of several of my friends, and one of my daughters, that broke bones riding(or falling off of) bikes. It may have felt like it at the time, but I dont think I ever hit 70mph on my bike.

I dont advocate making masks mandatory for all players, but it is mandatory between me and my DD.

[MTR]

You cant legislate foresight, or intelligence. My first priorty is to protect my own.

Okay .... devils advocate ... Most of us grew up riding bikes without helmets on ... How many of us had a friend that suffered more than a bloody knee from bike riding as a child and now in many states helmets are mandated ...

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Zero, none, nada, zilch, zip, not one out of hundreds.

Has anyone ever considered that too many folks believe that wearing "safety equipment" is a viable substitute for actually learning how to properly operate and use an instrument (like a bicycle)?

How and the hell did I ever live to the ripe age of .....(over 56) without wearing a helmet on a bicycle, playing ball without a helmet, not locking the doors on our house anytime no one was home, not having 24/7 adult supervision while out of the house, driving a car without a seat belt, etc.

[NewCoach]

Has anyone ever considered that too many folks believe that wearing "safety equipment" is a viable substitute for actually learning how to properly operate and use an instrument (like a bicycle)?

I have seen several girls, at young ages, pull their head up on a ground ball. Put the mask on and they have the confidence to keep ontop of the ball. Works kind of like training wheels for a bike.

[GIMNEPIWO]

You cant legislate foresight, or intelligence. My first priorty is to protect my own.

Okay .... devils advocate ... Most of us grew up riding bikes without helmets on ... How many of us had a friend that suffered more than a bloody knee from bike riding as a child and now in many states helmets are mandated ...

\

Zero, none, nada, zilch, zip, not one out of hundreds.

Has anyone ever considered that too many folks believe that wearing "safety equipment" is a viable substitute for actually learning how to properly operate and use an instrument (like a bicycle)?

How and the hell did I ever live to the ripe age of .....(over 56) without wearing a helmet on a bicycle, playing ball without a helmet, not locking the doors on our house anytime no one was home, not having 24/7 adult supervision while out of the house, driving a car without a seat belt, etc.

... To take that one step further ... when DD's were little they all had in-line roller skates ... roller blades or whatever their called ... every one of them wanted ALL the elbow & knee pad accessories ... helmets etc. .... I said ... your never gonna wear all that stuff, are you? ... I was wrong ... they all wore every piece of it the first time and after that it was just something to move every time I mowed the grass ...Yes, I could have forced them to wear the safety equipt. and probably saved them some bumps and bruises, but I didn't ... My oldest, 23, has a horrific scar on one knee from a bike crash that 15 years later they still won't tell me the details of ... I never thought about forcing them to wear bike helmets because of the 'what-ifs' ... The 2 that have been playing infield this season do have mouth guards ... but won't wear them if they have to pitch ... they say it messes up their breathing ... I suppose they could take one to the chops at practice tommorrow and I'll feel like a big sh*t ... but ya can't bubble wrap them against everything ...

[Little Cat's Dad]

True, you cannot mandate every piece of safety equipment there is. On the other hand you don't have to take silly risks. Seat belts...a good idea. I remember when motorcycle helments were mandated in Ontario....the number of kidney transplants went down because more head injuries survived. I wear a helmet when I ski. I started doing it to keep the kids in helmets. On the first day I wore it I had my only nasty fall for 10 years and only smashed my goggles rather than getting a concussion. Why are we regulating the balls and bat composition?

DD has worn a game face pitching since a fellow pitching dad and I ganged up on our daughters. Her pitching teacher (ex-DivI), pointed at her own nose and the scar over her eye, named who'd thrown the balls and told DD to wear the thing and shut up! DD claims it gives her confidence to go after balls when she's playing 1st or 3rd. I've never seen her come close to taking one in the face (lots of F1's though) but it does distract the batters........

I have heard many stories of pitchers hit in the face who had to have surgery. Why start wearing one after an accident?

[black&blue]

Add us to the close call list. DD was pitching and that line drive came back at her face so fast, I can't believe she got her glove up and caught it. Everyone on both sides was quiet for the longest time. Thing is, she had 2 masks in her bag but she never practiced with them. After the inning, she came over to me and said "we are practicing with that mask after this game." I nodded my head and tried to smile but I just felt sick. Thank God she got her glove up.

For what it's worth, I've bought all 3...Game Face, Defender and now the Rip it. The Rip it is by far the best one. Don't even bother with the plastic ones.

Thank God she got her glove up.

[Tucson]

I will order the Rip It, now. I wear the Gameface, myself and love it. But, I want to show the masks to my students.

My SP teammate (SP) took a hard one hopper to the face area, on Sun. But, she caught it. Thank God. That ball was on her quicker than we could even see it. She is 68 and it knocked her to her knees, but she threw the runner out.

As my students become better throwers (not many are hitting their spots) the ball is getting hit back at them harder. A few are starting to inquire about the masks. I do have a few wearing mouth guards.

One student got hit in the throat, during warm ups. She wasn't watching the girls in front of her. Actually, I have seen more girls hurt during warm ups, than in the game.