- Jun 1, 2015
- 501
- 43
What age level?
I coach a 16U sub-rec-level summer team (Consider it essentially a rec-type local league for girls who wouldn't thrive or financially afford any form of travel ball. It was formed years ago and designed to keep girls active between the end of softball and the start of fall sports.)
Our teams in this league, while we are 16U, are often made up of girls from 12-16 (as we have no minimum or requirement of how many of different ages are on each team - often times, we're lucky we get who we get. I'm actually the organizer for the league, along with having coached in this league, and just about every team has girls of differing ages on it.
I've never had any blowback about requiring protective masks from any of my players/parents because most of them recognize the benefits outweigh the risks (plus, again, few of these girls play travel ball as it is, so they'd rather stay protected than anything else). My pitcher(s) and corners will wear them, but I really, REALLY want all of my infielders wearing them since many will want or likely do play different positions for their HS teams. It's my belief they should get used to it regardless of if they go on to play in college, etc.