Where Are The Protective Helmets for High
School Coaches?
Staff
In 2009 MLB
required coaches
to wear protective
head gear while
coaching the
bases. On the
heels of the MLB
decision the NCAA required the same.
When a high school player fills in for a
coach and is in the coaches’ box - they
have to wear a helmet.
Secondarily to winning, in high school
baseball or in any sport for that matter,
safety obviously comes first. But safety
isn’t only for the players but for the
coaches also. It seems to reason that if
high school players are required to wear
helmets when in the coaching box for
safety – shouldn’t coaches too?
Even though BBCOR bats have slowed the
ball speed off the bat most research still
has the average high school batted ball
leaving the bat between the speeds of 8090mph. Your more “elite” high school
players have batted balls close to the
100mph range. The average for college
players is 90-100mph so not much
different. Now add to the fact that base
coaches, especially with runners on base,
often aren’t focused on the batter. Their
reaction time to a ball hit toward them is
much slower.
High school coaches do have the option
wearing one – but how many high school
coaches wear a helmet – very few. It
used to be an option to wear a seat belt in
your car. It was there but few wore it.
When it became mandatory (or if caught
you get a fine and a ticket) it was no
longer an option and most people wear
one now and don’t even think about it.
The coaches’ helmet is a good idea. But
what happens when a coach (while
wearing the helmet) gets hit in the ear
and goes down? Do we then change to a
full helmet with ear protection? Or when
he gets hit in the face – a face mask also?
It can be discussed and debated until the
end of time. The bottom line is that it’s
better than nothing - any protection is
worth it when it comes to health & safety.
There isn’t an epidemic of high school
coaches having head injuries due to foul
balls but it does happen. If the MLB and
NCAA have recognized the potential for a
catastrophic injury to a coach and are
trying to prevent it – why isn’t high school
baseball following suit? ”An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure”.