Not at all. Read it again carefully. Just know the limitations of your equipment.
"A line drive straight to my face" By Ashley Pais
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Not at all. Read it again carefully. Just know the limitations of your equipment.
My feeling is if you want to wear a mask, wear one, if you want to force your own kid to wear one do it, but if the highschool forced my kid to wear one, she wouldn't play.
And right now that's fine.
But hypothetically if masks were mandated by all organizations your DD would quit softball?
All equipment has limitations.
JJsqueeze
Dad, Husband....legend
Really? Why does she play then? She is forced to use a bat that conforms to a standard for safety, she is forced to wear a helmet when batting, she is forced to slide to avoid a collision, seems like she is forced to do a lot of things already.
look people, I have ready the constitution and parts of the bible that don't include long lists of stuff, the ten commandments, the magna carta, Hammurabi's code, and nowhere....NOWHERE is the right to play a game on your terms part of an individual's rights that are not to be abridged.
"we the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure that our daughters are not forced to use safety equipment..." was not in the preamble, it is not an assault on personal liberty, it is not a reason to quit a game....it is a mask, that helps to lessen and prevent injuries, it is not a one way ticket to a big brother society.
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
FWIW - Saw a D3 girl foul a ball into her face during a game this past weekend. In contrast to the catcher from Baylor 2 (?) years ago, this girl was able to continue her at bat and the game completely unscathed because her school-provided batting helmet had a non-required wire facemask.
- Jan 25, 2011
- 2,278
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Wow guys, this is something. To me it doesn't matter if she said the speed was an avg. 100mph. When you have an injury to your head, it can be the end so quick. Emily goes in June for her yearly follow up from her almost end of her life " Emily is my dd". She was lucky to have that chance. Let's think about it like this,my Emily was playing basketball, tripped over a teammates foot while on defense, hit her head on the floor, got back up, said she seen a flash, but kept playing. Headache couple of days later, went to family dr., concussion was their conclusion, go home and take it easy, headaches got worse, left eye starts to cross, eye dr. Finds severe swelling. Next thing you know, your dd is on a helicopter being rushed to Pittsburghs children's hospital. Neurosurgeon tells you, your dd will go blind or die if they don't do surgery, 7 1/2 hrs of surgery and 11 days in the hospital and almost 2 years of her not playing the game of softball, her favorite thing in life. She fell and hit her head guys, no dramatic accident, she fell. Ashley Pais has my respect and utmost understanding if her numbers are what some say are off. Dd wears a lacross helmet playing, I love her to much, not to do what ever I can do to protect her and any cost.
I am really not sure what you are saying here- you are arguing that this girl would have been hurt anyway even if she was wearing a mask- so why wear one? that is one of the more ridiculous statements that I have read on this forum. Fielder's masks do offer protection albeit without performance standards- but for the VAST majority of girls playing at 14U-18U who are not coming across 65mph+ pitching- these full face masks- or partials, i.e. LAX mask plus mouth guard-(which stand up to the rigor of high velocity LAX balls while protecting the upper facial bones from direct impact) can avoid the trauma that this girl went through. Is it a perfect solution, no. but to suggest that it is not better than a full on facial impact is nuts- to suggest that wearing it subjects the girl to increased risk is nuts. You dont think these masks are put in front of a pitching machine firing softballs at them at 70 mph from 15 ft away to see how they stand up? I am certain they are- and I am sure that if someone put together a trial to compare the extent of injuries of girls with and without masks- which way the data would go.
BTW- think of how that catcher might have been had she NOT been wearing protective equipment- at least she is recovering from her injury- softballs at high speed can fracture patellas (dds friend), long bones (dds pitching coach), hands (me) and facial bones, jaws and teeth. They can cause concussion. Any parent who lets their DD on the field is aware that there is risk involved, when they are young and inexperienced-you can choose to protect them with the equipment that is available which IS effective at preventing the majority of injuries, or NOT. when they are older, you can discuss risk with them and help them make choices that are safe for them
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Riseball ( in a good way ) reminds me of my own daughter, with our conversations about possibly using a mask, she always had a "list" why she just refused to even consider it. I honored those reasons, as a former pitcher I never used a mask either. She was very much like this young lady, finally took a face shot her senior year, after pitching for 10 years.
After her injury, the negative list disappeared. She was "pro-mask". The other night I asked her if she had a daughter who wanted to pitch, would she opt for a mask? She said, "from day one, I don't want her to know any different than it's a simple added layer of protection".
Looks like she will be a better parent than I was.
After her injury, the negative list disappeared. She was "pro-mask". The other night I asked her if she had a daughter who wanted to pitch, would she opt for a mask? She said, "from day one, I don't want her to know any different than it's a simple added layer of protection".
Looks like she will be a better parent than I was.
Riseball ( in a good way ) reminds me of my own daughter, with our conversations about possibly using a mask, she always had a "list" why she just refused to even consider it. I honored those reasons, as a former pitcher I never used a mask either. She was very much like this young lady, finally took a face shot her senior year, after pitching for 10 years.
After her injury, the negative list disappeared. She was "pro-mask". The other night I asked her if she had a daughter who wanted to pitch, would she opt for a mask? She said, "from day one, I don't want her to know any different than it's a simple added layer of protection".
Looks like she will be a better parent than I was.
Goingdeep - my DD is a few years behind yours, but the best thing I ever did was to tell her to wear a mask from the first day she started pitching. She never complained until 2nd year 14U when she noticed more and more pitchers not wearing one, so I told her she did not have to wear one as soon as she paid her mother and I back for all of her dental work - $7,219 and counting!!!!
