My daughter plays with the Beverly Bandits organization which regularly places players in D1 at a high level and no one is yelling at them to take their masks off.Yes. That was the Be The Best coaching clinic in New Jersey. I was the one that asked that question. Because this topic riles me up. I coach a 10U travel team, and in 2010 I had a hard-throwing 9U that was a regular in our pitching rotation. In the spring: line drive up the middle. Straight to the face, just below her left eye. Face was swollen for weeks. To this day, she still absent-mindedly pokes at her face. Until that moment, I had always recommended masks, but never forced anyone to wear one. Starting the next season, I had an epiphany: I was the head coach, and if I wanted everyone to wear a mask, then they'll darn well wear a mask. Now, every year, I tell every parent at tryouts that their 10yo DD will be wearing a mask if they play for me and, if they don't like it, they should play for another team. In the years that have followed, every 10U team we play against now wears masks.
Sounds like a success for acceptance of the mask, right? Well... Each year, I pass my 10Us up to the 12U level, and *almost* every year, the new coach will yell at them on the first day of practice to take the masks off. "No one will recruit you if you wear a mask!" This is why I asked my question when I did. Now, if a 12U coach insists a girl can't get recruited wearing a mask, I ask them, "How many D1 coaches have you actually talked to personally about that?" Of course, none of them has. So I tell them the story you just told. They still don't accept the premise, but I feel with more masks appearing in college, we're making progress.
I'm convinced this will play out just like it did in hockey. Anyone who's old enough can remember when no hockey players wore a face shield. The players fought against mandatory face shields tooth and nail, saying almost exactly the same nonsense that today's softball players say about fielding masks: "If you wear a mask, you will become afraid of the puck." "Masks hinder your play and obstruct your vision." "I've played my whole life without a mask, and they're no way I can adjust now." Well, face shields became mandatory and, lo and behold, none of the doomsayers proved accurate. Today we look back and think those guys were insane for ever playing without a face shield. In 10 years, we will be saying the same thing about fielding masks.
Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk