Batting helmets

They're all Nocsae and will do the job until they're cracked.  It's all about fit.  Oddly, the "one-size-fits-all" all fit differently.  Get to a place he can try some on.  He'll know.  

Oh, unless the other one looks way cooler.

I would recommend contacting the booster club before I went and bought one helmet and wrote my kid's name on the inside.  I suspect your kid would get ribbed pretty bad if he set his helmet off to the side and didn't let anyone else use "his" helmet.  

One of my very first experiences as a dad of a baseball player was one of the first t-ball practices.  I just assumed that the coach would haul out the old duffel bag and dump the collection of bats and helmets - didn't happen.  There were a few helmets in the closet, but my wife chimed in and asked me how I was going to feel when our kid showed up with lice - my kid soon had a nice new shiny helmet with his name on the inside - as did every single kid on the team.

Son always used his own....the just wore plain navy so it wasn't an issue.  Between HS and travel, we bought 2 or 3 a year.....that way we always knew they were in good shape and never had to worry about cracks or padding wearing out.  He always did Schutt

gunner34 posted:

so my son  hs 9th grader has been wearing the school provided helmets    (schutt's).   one of his friends was ear holed at scrimmage the other day and even had to go to hospital they were worried he had fractured the bone behind his ear.   turns out he is ok and cleared to play after sitting out wkd and mon-tues.     When I asked my son about the helmets and condition of them he said many of them are cracked and not in all that good shape.   Part of me wants to ask the booster club about them but i'd rather not ruffle any feathers and probably just get my son his own helmet.   Which do yall prefer.    I'm surprised that Rawlings seems to have scaled back their offering.    They have the hs/college cool flo,  and the RFP which looks bulky,  is it comfortable? 

If your area has umpires that are remotely competent, this issue will solve itself at the first game. Cracked helmets are not allowed.

I’m surprised the school puts cracked helmets into service. Our district requires helmets to be inspected by someone certified by the manufacturer after and before every season.

joemktgson always used his own, and I think it was a Rawlings P100 as he was facing kids during the travel circuit who easily topped 90. Helmet lasted quite a while, albeit with a certain aroma.

This one has really been bothering me. 

Assuming the helmets are not in suitable condition, the school is in danger of a kid being hurt due to their negligence, and they would be on the short end of a lawsuit. In fact, this incident alone could spiral into that. While getting one's own kid a helmet may solve the problem for that particular player, it does nothing to solve the overall problem.

I can't say what an individual parent's role should be when it comes to the greater issue. I don't know the ins and outs of the dynamics in that program. There has to be a way to bring this up to someone who can create a solution--because the next kid might not be so lucky to be able to have his own helmet and the consequences may be more severe than missing a few days of practice.

Yeah the more I thought about it I decided to ask the parent liason to politely ask the coach if they had inspected the helmets.  That he heard some of them might be cracked. 

gunner34 posted:

Yeah the more I thought about it I decided to ask the parent liason to politely ask the coach if they had inspected the helmets.  That he heard some of them might be cracked. 

Are you not allowed to email the coach and tell him what you heard?

Rawlings has some great helmets.  Helps to fit him in the store so that it doesn't fall off while running the bases.  The new C-Flaps are cool too and you can buy them online and just attach to the helmet and they offer some great added protection.  

Contact the coach. Today. Putting a kid at the plate with a cracked helmet is insane. If he doesn't know he needs to. If he knows, well.....bigger issues.

The athletic director in me just cringed reading that.  There's no way in the world a kid should ever put on a cracked helmet.  That helmet MUST be thrown away just on the off chance it might get mixed in with the good helmets.  Taking over the baseball program I went through our helmets about 2 weeks ago and threw away 23 that were cracked, poor padding or just downright nasty.  They weren't in use because they were buried in the corner of a storage room but there was no reason to keep them.  I ended up buying 8 new helmets just to make sure we had enough in case the ones we have end up breaking down during the season.

If the booster club buys them then make sure they are NOCSAE stamped because as Matt13 said they will be tossed in the first game when umpires inspect equipment.

coach2709 posted:

If the booster club buys them then make sure they are NOCSAE stamped because as Matt13 said they will be tossed in the first game when umpires inspect equipment.

FYI, since this rule has changed since you last coached...there is no more pregame inspection. The head coach's pregame validation is now sufficient. For the few HS games I do, I still make a quick glance at each batter. I couldn't live with myself with a kid being comatose or dead for something I could have helped prevent.

joes87 posted:

I’m surprised the school puts cracked helmets into service. Our district requires helmets to be inspected by someone certified by the manufacturer after and before every season.

I remember talking with our HS AD and he commented helmets have a certification that is good for only 10 years.  Even if a helmet had never been used, it had to be removed once the certification expired.  At the time he was referring to football helmets, but I believe the same applied to baseball and softball helmets as well.   

I my mind the varsity level helmets (meaning guys seeing 80 mph +) should be new every year. Shuffle last years down to JV, etc. Any helmet with visible damage gets chunked.

We generally by Rawlings or Easton helmets at around $30. You could theoretically get by with as little as 6 helmets for a team. Well worth the money.

Matt13 posted:

coach2709 posted:

If the booster club buys them then make sure they are NOCSAE stamped because as Matt13 said they will be tossed in the first game when umpires inspect equipment.

FYI, since this rule has changed since you last coached...there is no more pregame inspection. The head coach's pregame validation is now sufficient. For the few HS games I do, I still make a quick glance at each batter. I couldn't live with myself with a kid being comatose or dead for something I could have helped prevent.

Thanks for the heads up.  Softball they will check bats and helmets or at least the umpires in our area do.  It has been a while since I've coached baseball