NFHS equipment check
 

Here in Nebraska we are just getting ready for the high school softball season (NFHS.) How did everybody's first-year go where we do not have to check the equipment before games? Was there very much illegal equipment, etc, found in the course of the game?

I had no issues with illegal bats or equipment this Spring. However, I seemed to have more players wearing rubber arm/wrist bands that necessitated team warnings even after asking the requisite, "Coaches, are your players legally equipped?" and reminding coaches & captains at the pregame meeting to be sure nobody was wearing any kind of jewelry. :rolleyes::(

I did't see any illegal as such bats, just grips that were worn or torn.
The most common thing remains masks on catcher helmets missing screws or other damage.

I've also seen catcher's helmets missing screws in baseball. For softball, I have mostly seen catcher's shinguards coming undone.

Saw one non-approved bat.

Honestly, at least in my neck, I never encountered any issues with equipment. Coaches never challenged opposing teams, and, quite frankly, I really didn't go looking for violations.

My opinion, if NFHS doesn't want umpires to do pre-checks anymore, why should we bother looking while the game is in progress? I didn't think the pre-game checks were that big a deal to begin with. They didn't take long to do, especially after NFHS required teams to put equipment outside the dugouts. Why there were umpires out there whining about having to do them is beyond me.

Now, if I had come across something blatantly obvious, I would have stopped the game and directed it get taken care of. But I just didn't make it an effort to look for a missing screw on the catcher's helmet as she turned around to ask me a question or anything like that.

NFHS 3-2-12 says "Players in the game are prohibited from wearing jewelry such as rings, watches, earrings, bracelets, necklaces (including cloth or string types) or other hard cosmetic or decorative items." Some of my friends and I are debating whether or not “(including cloth or string types)” applies to just necklaces, as it would appear how the sentence is written, or to all jewelry. The issue is whether or not string and other bracelets that are not "hard cosmetic" are prohibited. Thoughts?

As someone who officiates NFHS basketball (and officiated NFHS soccer) and umpires NFHS baseball and softball and has friends who officiate NFHS football, volleyball, soccer, and swimming and diving. As far as the NFHS is concerned: No matter what the sport, no jewelry means no jewelry and the best definition of jewelry is: If you weren't born wearing it, it is jewelry.

MTD, Sr.

I really do dislike that application. People are not born with braces on their teeth, eyeglasses on their face, or insulin pumps in their back pockets. We wouldn't disallow a fielder to wear sunglasses, even if they were adorned with rhinestones. :cool:

To quote Justice Potter Stewart: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."

MTD, Sr.

We can pretty much always assume that rule books are poorly written and poorly edited; even when published by an education based organization. :rolleyes:
I think you know the parentheses apply to all items and NFHS allows none of them.

Personally, I believe the NFHS' suggestion on jewelry is ludicrous and the absolute application beyond the scope of the organization.

JMHO

Why is jewelry prohibited in NFHS games anyway? I would understand if there are hard items that can be dangerous to another player, or rubber bands that can break opponents' fingers, but it makes no sense why a player cannot wear a watch.

And I would counter with, "Why in the world would a player want to wear a watch on the field in the first place??"

The rule is the rule. NFHS is pretty much absolute in its position on jewelry, and leaves nothing for interpretation because if it did, there would be so much inconsistency on what the umpires allow and disallow. Where I might think post earrings are of no real consequence, another umpire may have seen a player get seriously injured when a pitch hit her earflap and the post gouged her neck. So NFHS just says No to everything.

I wondered why Irish Mafia would say that say that "NFHS' suggestion on jewelry is ludicrous" if there is a valid reason to not where jewelry. Maybe there are types of jewelry that are not dangerous, but NFHS is taking a very strict liability approach, similar to them not allowing traditional 2-piece separable helmet/mask combinations for catchers, so that they don't get sued. Perhaps the jewelry provisions are just a CYA thing.