Tips To Keep Your Kids Safe This Baseball Season
Baseball season is in full swing across the country, and with kids getting more competitive at early ages, it’s important to keep safety in mind at all times. Baseball isn’t a contact sport that one might automatically associate with injury risk like football or hockey. Because of that, basic safety measures needed to help kids have safe, fun seasons for many years to come can often go overlooked.Follow these safety tips to make sure your child has the best possible experience, and keep an eye out to make sure your league and coaches enact best practices so every kid has a chance at a fun, injury-free season.
Make Sure Your Child Is Protected With The Right Gear
Every hitter needs to wear a batting helmet. High school athletes can throw as fast as 80 mph and don’t always have perfect control. Some leagues require chin straps or face guards in addition to the standard helmet, which protects from wild pitches in the batter’s box and line drives on the pitcher’s path.
Catchers should have helmets, face masks, chest protectors, shin guards and catcher’s mitts at all times, even when warming up pitchers. Catchers and other infielders should wear protective cups and all players should wear athletic supporters. Plastic, never metal, spikes should be worn by all players. Metal spikes can cause serious and unnecessary injury in a collision.
Teach Your Child And His Or Her Teammates How To Avoid Collisions On The Field
Many leagues outlaw headfirst sliding because of the added risk of injury. To avoid serious injury caused by jamming the legs, breakaway bases are typically recommended. Make sure players practice calling each other off and know who has the right of way in the field to avoid collisions.
Prevent Injuries With Proper Warm-Up Routines, Especially For Pitchers
Players should warm up thoroughly before games to avoid injury, especially pitchers. Pitchers are especially susceptible to injury and should be kept closely to pitch counts. USA Little League and the American Sports Medicine Institute generally recommend no more than 100 pitches per week.
Kids are out there to have fun and do their best, and adults are there to help them learn and remind them to be safe. As long as everyone keeps that in mind and follows the safety guidelines in place, everyone will have a greater chance at an injury-free season.
Play ball!
Source:
Safety Tips Baseball, kidshealth.org
