Youth Baseball: Pain and Suffering of Catching

The baseball season grinds on and an injury to my son reminds me of my youth.

Game 59

I watched the game from the stands with the mother of a son who was seriously injured by a line drive last year. While my son is working hard to overcome a prolonged slump, her son is working hard to walk normally again.

In the first inning, my son threw out another base stealer, his 10th of the year. He looked at me with pride in his eyes. In the second inning, a foul ball hit the bottom of his All Star Catching mask. I guess the mask was not fully secure because the mask turned upon impact and the ball got hit my son in the throat. My son fell to the ground immediately and was struggling to breathe. The coaching staff ran onto the field to tend to my son. The mother of the injured player yelled for me to call 911, she  knows that time is critical with serious injuries. I took out my iphone ready to dial.

I asked the coach if I needed to make the call. He held up his hand telling me to wait. I had a flash back to my high school lacrosse days.

I cut toward the goal, the center middie threw me a perfect pass. I caught the ball and was immediately decked with a cross check to my throat. My feet continued forward as my head hit the ground. I remember staring up at the clouds while grasping for air as panic set in. 

My son started to calm down and breathe normally. His neck hurt for a few days, but it turns out that like my situation, the panic was worse than the pain.

The Main Point

Committed dads feel all the frustrations, the joy and the pain that their kids experience in sports. Try to limit the pain by making sure that your kids sports equipment fits properly and is in good working condition.