Fastpitch Face Mask Required

This year our girls must wear helmets with a face masks (high school softball, Hawaii). Some of our girls hit with face masks before, but most haven't. This will be an adjustment we work on throughout pre-season. Right now, the girls hit with masks during tee work, soft toss, basically as much as possible. For one of our smaller girls, the bottom of the mask actually touches her shoulder when she gets into her batting stance.

Last year, we tried to have them practice with the masks since we knew they'd have to do it this year. Talk about grumbling! They just didn't want to do it.

"The bars get in the way"

"I can't see the ball!"

Well, this year, they have to deal with it. There hasn't been the same kind of resistance we got last year, but we still hear a few comments about what's tough about hitting with a face mask. Last week though, we had them hit off the machine for the first time. Most are doing just fine. If there were players that thought about using the mask as an excuse, they know they'll find themselves on the bench. Most of their teammates hit just fine, in fact, better than I was expecting....even with the mask. So us coaches already know, the mask is no excuse.