I’ve always wore a visor since I have been playing softball and even started wearing one back when I started in T-Ball, so after my pitching injury- I took a direct line drive to my face, breaking my nose and both eye orbits my mom and dad asked me to wear a fielding mask at least until my injury healed. I really didn’t want to wear one, not because I thought it was a bad idea, I mainly didn’t want to wear one simply because it didn’t have a visor.
With the types of bats being used today, softball has become a hitters game and the balls are being hit harder and further and traveling a amazing speeds. So fast, anyone is at risk of getting an injury, especially those playing the corners and at the pitching position like I do. I also play second, short and centerfield but do not feel these positions are necessary for wear a fielding mask. Most of the time you play further back than the pitcher and don’t come up on bunts like the corners normally do. Unless you are a crashing on bunts at second base, I/my parents and even my coaches feel there is more than enough time to react to a ball from those distances. I would prefer not to wear a mask at all in all honesty, but until my face has healed have been asked by my parents to wear one. Who knows, maybe I will get use to it and it. Surly it isn’t going to hurt meif I get hit in the face again while I am wearing one.
With the types of bats being used today, softball has become a hitters game and the balls are being hit harder and further and traveling a amazing speeds. So fast, anyone is at risk of getting an injury, especially those playing the corners and at the pitching position like I do. I also play second, short and centerfield but do not feel these positions are necessary for wear a fielding mask. Most of the time you play further back than the pitcher and don’t come up on bunts like the corners normally do. Unless you are a crashing on bunts at second base, I/my parents and even my coaches feel there is more than enough time to react to a ball from those distances. I would prefer not to wear a mask at all in all honesty, but until my face has healed have been asked by my parents to wear one. Who knows, maybe I will get use to it and it. Surly it isn’t going to hurt meif I get hit in the face again while I am wearing one.
The following week after I was injured and while I was healing and basically bed ridden, my parents had bought a Rip It fielding mask and thhat same day dad brought it home he customized it to make me feel more comfortable. At the time, Rip It had not came out with their visor. So I am not sure if we were the first one’s to attach and play with a visor on a fielding mask or not… It really doesn’t matter if we were or not but I do want to thank my dad for helping feel more comfortable on the mound wearing the mask.
Step 1
The first step in making a custom fielding mask with visor is to buy a Rip It fielding mask and also a visor. We purchased our visor for a $1 at Walgreens but I am sure you can find them just about anywhere. The next step is to remove the visor from the band. What my dad used is a scalpel blade. Take your time ripping the seems along the bill of the hat on the outside and then slowly and carefully on the inside. It is very simple and only takes a few minutes to remove.
Step 2
The next step is to clean up the rough edges. We used a hot glue gun. First fold over the two corners and glue them on the bottom side. This may sound gross but my dad licked his fingers when pinching down the corners. You can do the same or dunk your fingers in a bowl of water. The reason he said he did this is because it cools the hot glue and helps you from getting burned and your fingers sticking to the molten plastic. Once the glue has cooled and you have the corners glued you then can start gluing the rounded edge. Again fold over the material towards the bottom. Remember to dampen your fingers when pinching the material and hot glue together. If you don’t, you’ll remember the next time I promise!
Step 3
OK, now that you have cleaned up the bill you are ready to mark it with some holes and a slit. Start by eyeballing the center of your mask with the center of the bill, you can measure for center if you like but it really isn’t necessary. Once you have centered the bill on the fielding mask go ahead and mark a slit about the same size as the slit on the mask for the center strap. Next mark out 4 evenly spaced holes to drill so that you can attach your visor to your mask. The holes and slit should be marked about 1/4” from the edge. Your marks should be made with a contrasting marker so you can easily see them when you are ready to tap those holes with your drill and scalpel.
Step 4
Now that your holes are tapped let’s go ahead and ad 6 tie straps to your bill through the pre-drilled holes and slit. With the tie straps added go ahead go ahead and move your focus back to your mask. Remove the padded velcro lining from the interior of your fielding mask. Once the lining is removed go ahead and loosen the center strap, but leave it attached. Now go ahead and feed the strap from the bottom of the bill up. Feed the strap back through the buckle and then make sure to have your player test fit the mask with loosely added new bill (don’t forget to ad the inner padded lining). Once it is decided that the fielding mask fits well, double back the strap and feed it back into the buckle so that the visor is now locked into place. To insure that the strap is locked into place go ahead and lock it into place with the center two tie straps.
Step 5
We now have the bill loosely attached with one strap and two tie-straps. Now let’s go ahead and attach it for good. First step is to start at the corners. If you will notice your bill at the center and where it is attached should be lined up in the center and towards the top of the fielding mask. The reason I am telling you this is I prefer a little bit of a curve in my bill. To make that possible, your bill should be groomed to your standard. Once you have that established go ahead and attach you outer two tie-straps. If you notice those two tie-straps are secured lower on the fielding mask… About an inch. If you prefer a straight bill, do not groom it and secure the outer two tie-straps equally as high as the center strap and tie-straps. Once the outer tie-straps are secured in either position go ahead and secure the center two tie-straps and now walla! You have secured you bill to your fielding mask. Test it though before you re-attach your inner lining. If it moves back and forth or up and down you need to simply tighten the tie-straps until there isn’t any movement. Once it is firmly secured, go ahead and re-attatch the inner padded lining for a test fit and to let your player see how cool her new custom visor looks on her.
Step 6
We decided to add a little extra comfort to the mask. Remember the original visor? Go ahead and remove the inner linning from that by cutting it off with a pair of scissors. Next, go ahead and attach a piece of equal length double sided sticky tape to the back side of the lining (at first only remove one side. Now take the taped lining and again remove the padded lining from your fielding mask. Now take the original visor liner and round off one end to give it a finished look. Next go ahead and line the original visor liner with the rounded edge and run it along the inner side of the fielding masks’ padded lining. Mark it off appropriately, then round off that end. Now you can go ahead and remove the second double sided sticky tape strip and connect it to the padded fielding mask. The reason we did this was to ad additional comfort to the mask because I didn’t like the feel of the rubber lining on my forehead.
Step 7
This is basically the last step and it isn’t even that important. On my fielding mask the chin pad kept on falling off because the Velcro on the chin strap wasn’t great. We went ahead and removed the opposite side of velcro that was needed. That is which ever side is connected to the metal frame of your fielding mask cut off the opposite of that from you $1 visor. Round off one end just like you did with the inner lining from Step 6. Now, again test fit this piece against the frames’ velcro mark the appropriate length and round it off. Next, make sure to test fit your mask and find the absolute best fit and best placement for your chin pad. At least within a half inch in any direction. Once that is established. Mark it and attach your rounded velcro strip to the chin pad with hot glue. Once it has cooled ad the chin pad back to your fielding mask and test fit.
Step 8
The only thing left is to wear your new custom mask around for several minutes just to get use to it. I would recommend test fitting your mask for how ever long one inning of softball is played while you are in the field . If your innings are a few minutes. Wear it around the house for a few minutes. If they are 15 to 20 minutes ,get use to it by wearing it for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Make sure you wear your fielding mask at practice as well. That is, if your wear it during games while pitching, playing first third or wherever, wear it at practice as well. Practice makes perfect.
Step 9
Play ball!
Good Luck!
-The Bulldog Team
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