Throwing off the facemask

I remembered that Dave Weaver had posted a comment on this subject a long time ago, but I didn't remember where. Turns out it was on page 2 of this thread!!

this is what he said:

What I teach at my camp is that the pop up is the only play where the mask can come off. With the ever improving design of the masks, we are now seeing such good visability that many kids do not have to take it off to see just fine. The more technology we borrow from the ice hockey world on mask design the better the visability has gotten. To help gauge your catchers ability to see clearly get behind her at the backstop and do this drill.

Have your pitcher pitch an "Invisible ball" to her. Have a batter swing at the right time. As the batter swings you throw the ball up in the air back towards her. She is not allowed to look behind her to see where you are standing before the pitch. The pitcherr then reacts to where you tossed the ball by pointing at the ball, yelling UP UP UP!!. The catcher then turns to make the play and gets practice locating and catching the ball. Use this to help judge the kind of visibility you catcher and her mask have.

If it is clear she can see fine then I say let he leave it on. For many girls with glasses or long hair tucked under the back of the helmet, taking it off is sometimes almost impossible.

Click to expand...

that makes sense.

I want to say thanks to all of you that responded to this post. Years ago, I had DD1 rip her helmet off for everything. Since then I have learned better. Today I posted this to our team fb page:

Should a Catcher keep her helmet on? I say YES. Here is my reasoning:
1. You waste valuable time and effort pulling off and discarding the helmet
2. Hockey style helmets give great visibility and do not shift around much (if properly fitted). Football players, Lacrosse players, and hockey goalies can see just fine with helmets.
3. A helmet pulled off becomes something to trip over (you, the batter, the runner, or the Umpire) potentially embarassing or worse
4. A helmet can protect you in the event you misjudge that popup (for some reason the angle of the ball is harder for catchers to judge) I have seen more catchers hurt on popups than any other position on the field
5. What if it is a popup and you and the pitcher (who I guarantee is wearing a mask) collide ?
6. most importantly, if there is a play at the plate between you and a runner, consider this: the runner may have to slide head-first (with her helmet). Wouldn't it be safer for you if you still have yours on?