NOCSAE doesn't provide the standards, ASTM develops the standards based upon what the equipment needs to accomplish/provide.

NOCSAE certifies the equipment offered meets those standards.

And none of this is done on a lark or gratis.

IOW, it won't happen until someone pays for it!

My first thought was absolutely there should be a requirement to wearing face protection. (I almost had a slow pitch pitcher get drilled in the face tonight, missed her ear by about 2 inches. Ironically, the opposing pitcher pitches in a catchers mask because he took a line drive to the nose last season and had to have surgery to repair the nose.)

With that said, if there is not a manufacturing standard in place for these facemasks like there is for batting helmets then the rule needs to be looked at.

We had a similar push about 15 years ago for pole vaulters to be required to wear helmets. The problem was that there was (and still isn't to my knowledge) a helmet specifically designed and tested for pole vaulters to wear. One school mandated helmets and a student athlete was wearing a skate board helmet, landed on the mat poorly and flew off the mat, hitting his head on the standard. Despite wearing a helmet, he suffered a significant concussion. His parents settled out of court with the school district that mandated the helmet use. The reason the district settled was that they were requiring equipment to be worn that was not designed for what it was being required for.

Since there is not tested and approved safety mask for the purpose, the KHSAA might be opening themselves up to legal action if someone is injured or killed while wearing this piece of protective equipment.

With that said, I would still much prefer a pitcher or corner infielder wear a mask of some sort. I don't think it should be mandated because parents should require it of their children. Sadly we see to many cases of "I don't want to wear it" turning into "I wish I had been wearing it."

I've coached young players for 2 years, and I required even the outfielders to wear them. Our fields are crap and I've seen base hits bounce up and hit players in the face.

I know that masks will get fewer and farther between as the kids get older. I know this -- as long as I'm paying any bills MY daughter will wear one no matter what position she plays.

As someone on a "you'll get sued" list - how do I know if the mask is sufficiently protective? What do I need to do to meet such a rule? What if we select Brand A and it fails and we get sued by someone who claims we should have known Brand A is no good? What basis does either of us use in such for such a claim?

Curious if my umpire's mask is NOCSAE rated/approved.

Where would I see the markings?

It likely is not approved, unless it is approved as a catcher's mask, and even then, the approval will likely require it to be paired with an approved helmet.

NFHS requires a mask for PUs. Do I get to sue them if it fails and I get injured?

:rolleyes:

Sure. Do you get to win? Well, that's a different question! :D

Well, as Irish claims, it should be about the competition. Does it really matter who wins? ;)

One of these days, one of you guys are gonna say "Young lady, is that facemask properly tested and certified?", and she's gonna kick you in your cup protector and say "Is that tested and certified?" :D:D:D ;)

One of our local slow pitch league's officers wanted to mandate face-guards and cups for pitchers. This was brought up at their kickoff meeting back in March.

We told them it was their league and they could write bylaws to govern their league, but our umpires were NOT going to be performing cup checks on their pitchers.

Remember that commercial a few years back, maybe Staples, about who had the "office pen"?

Not going there...