Bats and Gloves - A Parent's Spring Ritual

Bats and Gloves - A Parent's Spring Ritual
By Guest Author Mike Ripley

Whether it's picking the right size bat or the best glove for playing infield or outfield, many parents find this task very challenging and rewarding at the same time. Appropriate softball/baseball equipment will help your child to show his or her talent at the field. However, there are a few differences between softball and baseball equipment, which makes good sense since softball descended from baseball. Some baseball equipment can be substituted for softball equipment, such as helmets, youth shoes, but bats as well.

However, you can play softball with a baseball bat and reverse, but the gained results will vary. You should keep in mind that softball bats are lighter and while playing baseball it will probably get cracked. Then, baseball bats are heavier and softballs are larger, so it may be bad choice as well. Youth League uses bats long from 26 to 31 inch with weight between 16 and 23 ounces. Today, baseball and softball bats are made of a wide variety of materials Long time ago, softball/baseball bats were made from solid wood. Since the sports technology progressed, baseball/softball bats are now usually constructed from metal alloys such as aluminum, titanium.

More over, it is very difficult to determine if a bat is the right weight for your child. The best thing to do is to see how he/she performs against pitched balls. Hitting off a tee or at soft ball may give you faux results. It can happen that you purchased a bat that is either heavy or too long, and then it is the best solution to stick it in the bag and wait next season. Inadequate bat may discourage your child and it can also hurt his/her team ability to win games. Above all, you can find bats as very expensive, especially when you try to weigh the price and performance. On the other hand, you have to be aware that no matter how good you maintain a bat, your child may grow enough, and in this respect a bat can last only one season.

Then, very important for your child is catchers' mitt or a glove. Before you go shopping for these items you need to have some knowledge of them. First, you don't want to purchase a glove at toy store. Those tiny mitts end up being dreadful for catching the baseball or softball. They can never soften up as authentic mitts. Above all, they are too tiny to be able to help the young player scoop even a marginally wayward toss. Then, you should very seriously approach to the size of the glove. If your young athlete can wiggle his/her fingers inside the baseball mitt, the fingers of the glove will move. If ever those small fingers simply cannot shift the glove fingertips, the glove is just too big, and therefore you should go for size down. At last, if your child requests a 1st basemen's glove or perhaps a catcher's mitt, wait until he/she is at the least 10 and after that invest in a quality mitt.

If you have a young softball player you will need to invest your money in other softball gear besides bats and gloves. You have also to think of protective softball equipment, which includes shin pads, chest protectors, masks, helmets. In addition to all mentioned softball equipment, there are softball uniforms. Softball uniforms differ in colors, brands and sponsorship. Above all, softball girls don't put on caps but they often use visors. It is really difficult to distinguish softball from baseball outfits. However, young baseball players employ gloves and helmets. It is very important for all young baseball players to have spikes that fit them. Protective baseball equipment includes shin guards, a chest protector, protective cup and a mask.

Quality softball and baseball equipment

http://softballbaseballequipment.com
http://baseballsoftballbats.org

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