FWIW An Observation

[Little Angels Softball]

I get it now. But the question is, if the girls going to wear the mask no matter the level of play whether it be rec, college or NPF, what difference does it make since she would be making the play anyway? Or are you thinking along the lines of she may bow to peer pressure and toss it so now you really don't know if she will be the same player since you've only observed her with a mask on?

Kind of. That is a real concern.

The biggest concern, though, is that we do not know how the girl reacts under the most severe pressure. The girl who will block a ball with her face and still throw the girl out after the ball bounces off of it can be trusted under such pressure.

The girl who does things while protected may not react as well under the most severe pressure. I am not saying she won't, only that we don't know what she'll do.

When you are talking about the top 1%, knowing that the skills are 100% ingrained and natural to the girl becomes something to consider.

 

[Rocketech1]

Kind of. That is a real concern.

The biggest concern, though, is that we do not know how the girl reacts under the most severe pressure. The girl who will block a ball with her face and still throw the girl out after the ball bounces off of it can be trusted under such pressure.

The girl who does things while protected may not react as well under the most severe pressure. I am not saying she won't, only that we don't know what she'll do. When you are talking about the top 1%, that becomes something to consider.

Wow, just Wow. LAS you really don't get it and you are so blinded by your no-mask bias that you cannot see the bigger picture.

That's ok. Hopefully a few coaches who read this thread will think twice about the players who do wear masks and can further evaluate whether or not they hold a bias against these players or can evaluate their talent objectively.

I'm done with this conversation, it has been enlightening to me and shows that there is still a lot of work to be done in this area...

 

[riseball]

Kind of. That is a real concern.

The biggest concern, though, is that we do not know how the girl reacts under the most severe pressure. The girl who will block a ball with her face and still throw the girl out after the ball bounces off of it can be trusted under such pressure.

The girl who does things while protected may not react as well under the most severe pressure. I am not saying she won't, only that we don't know what she'll do.

When you are talking about the top 1%, knowing that the skills are 100% ingrained and natural to the girl becomes something to consider.

So we are to assume that you are only recruiting the top 1%? That seems a bit of a stretch.

 

[YOCOACH]

Kind of. That is a real concern.

The biggest concern, though, is that we do not know how the girl reacts under the most severe pressure. The girl who will block a ball with her face and still throw the girl out after the ball bounces off of it can be trusted under such pressure.

The girl who does things while protected may not react as well under the most severe pressure. I am not saying she won't, only that we don't know what she'll do. When you are talking about the top 1%, knowing that the skills are 100% ingrained and natural to the girl becomes something to consider.

With the scenario you mentioned above, hypothetically, let's assume that the player uses her mask to stop the ball. Hypothetically, she has stopped many balls with it (kind of turning it into an IFers tool of sorts) and made numerous outs routinely whereas the non mask girl is in the hospital getting facial reconstructive surgery for a crushed orbital and cheek bone. Non mask girl comes back and wears a mask and is extremely gun shy.

Looking at it from a pragmatic POV, as a college coach I would much rather have the player wearing the mask making the plays for all 4 years at the top of her game than having the non-mask girl play one year then sit out the next on a medical disability or possibly lose her altogether if she can't return or has to be released to make room for another scholarship replacement. Is this really the train of thought at the upper levels?

 

[Little Angels Softball]

So we are to assume that you are only recruiting the top 1%? That seems a bit of a stretch.

Not necessarily. But the colleges we're trying to have look at our girls are, and they are very specific in their requirements.

 

[riseball]

Not necessarily. But the colleges we're trying to have look at our girls are, and they are very specific in their requirements.

Ok. I am throwing the BS flag if you are insinuating that your organization only caters to top 1% of schools. Because when you look at the top organizations in the country and where players actually sign that is a myth.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

With the scenario you mentioned above, hypothetically, let's assume that the player uses her mask to stop the ball. Hypothetically, she has stopped many balls with it (kind of turning it into an IFers tool of sorts) and made numerous outs routinely whereas the non mask girl is in the hospital getting facial reconstructive surgery for a crushed orbital and cheek bone. Non mask girl comes back and wears a mask and is extremely gun shy.

Looking at it from a pragmatic POV, as a college coach I would much rather have the player wearing the mask making the plays for all 4 years at the top of her game than having the non-mask girl play one year then sit out the next on a medical disability. Is this really the train of thought at the upper levels?

I have seen only two rather difficult injuries that ended in some sort of hospital stay or reconstruction work. One was to a 12-year-old girl not wearing a mask where the mask wouldn't have prevented all of it, but it more than likely would've helped a great deal. This injury was her coach's fault, as he had her playing 25' from home plate against a slapper who also happened to be a natural left-handed hitter with quite a bit of pop. And while the mask would have somewhat mitigated the severity of the injury, playing the girl at 40' would have prevented it altogether.

The second girl was wearing a mask, and a ball hit it just right and the combination of the mask and her sunglasses opened about a 3" gash atop her right cheek. In this case, the injury would not have occurred if the girl hadn't been wearing the mask. So, as far as my experience, both sides are batting .500.

I have witnessed five concussions incurred by girls in the infield. None of them were due to a ball hitting them, as all of them were due to their heads hitting the hard dirt infield while they were diving for a ball. Three happened to be wearing masks, two weren't. It mattered not in any case.

I've seen girls get hit in the face without injury and I have seen girls get hit in the side of the head and neck without injury. I don't enjoy seeing any girls get hit and I don't want any girl to get injured.

The pro-mask folks like to think that girls are dropping like flies and getting hurt all the time. That is simply not the case. There are no statistics to say that a girl in college is going to spend time on IR because she doesn't wear a mask. If it were even a 5% problem, all college girls would wear masks at the request of their coach and/or AD.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

Ok. I am throwing the BS flag if you are insinuating that your organization only caters to top 1% of schools. Because when you look at the top organizations in the country and where players actually sign that is a myth.

Read it again. I said the college we are trying to get to look at our girls.....

 

[riseball]

Read it again. I said the college we are trying to get to look at our girls.....

Almost every kid wants to play for UCLA, Arizona, Alabama or Florida. However, the reality is that if it is a top TB organization maybe 25% actually end up going to a top 1% school. So mask or no mask placement at the top 1% more often than not does not actually happen.

 

[YOCOACH]

I have seen only two rather difficult injuries that ended in some sort of hospital stay or reconstruction work. One was to a 12-year-old girl not wearing a mask where the mask wouldn't have prevented all of it, but it more than likely would've helped a great deal. This injury was her coach's fault, as he had her playing 25' from home plate against a slapper who also happened to be a natural left-handed hitter with quite a bit of pop. And while the mask would have somewhat mitigated the severity of the injury, playing the girl at 40' would have prevented it altogether.

The second girl was wearing a mask, and a ball hit it just right and the combination of the mask and her sunglasses opened about a 3" gash atop her right cheek. In this case, the injury would not have occurred if the girl hadn't been wearing the mask. So, as far as my experience, both sides are batting .500.

I have witnessed five concussions incurred by girls in the infield. None of them were due to a ball hitting them, as all of them were due to their heads hitting the hard dirt infield while they were diving for a ball. Three happened to be wearing masks, two weren't. It mattered not in any case.

I've seen girls get hit in the face without injury and I have seen girls get hit in the side of the head and neck without injury. I don't enjoy seeing any girls get hit and I don't want any girl to get injured.

The pro-mask folks like to think that girls are dropping like flies and getting hurt all the time. That is simply not the case. There are no statistics to say that a girl in college is going to spend time on IR because she doesn't wear a mask. If it were even a 5% problem, all college girls would wear masks at the request of their coach and/or AD.

I understand what you're saying and believe me, I'm not all gloom and doom. I was just turning your hypothetical situation around to play devils advocate. However, I can honestly say that between the many college networks I get from my programming package, I have seen at least a handful of college players with the clear masks on due to injury...at least that was what the commentators said. I know that one was actually an OFer for a top 25 team and another was F5 for a top 50 college. I can't remember which one nor can I remember which schools the others played for. But it does show that it happens even to some of the best out there on the fields.

I still can't believe that the college coaches aren't starting to see the pragmatism of not caring whether a player wants to use a mask or not. Again, it makes no sense to me. If they're looking for how a girl will respond to an extreme pressure situation while wearing a mask, I can lay good money on them responding exactly how they have in the past given the same or similar situation while wearing it. Therefore, the point becomes moot about the pressure and any particular situation given the fact that they will always have it on while playing.