Mission, Vision, and Site Focus

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Many focus on safety only after a major injury occurs. That’s not our story. Thankfully, we acted first, before an injury occurred, learned how serious the problem is, and prevent injuries and increase participation by prioritizing and standardizing safety. 

While coaching his first Tee Ball practice, Safer Baseball founder Grant Mydland had a player throw a bat that nearly hit two teammates. Shocked, and thinking parents may not let their children return for practices or games, Grant thought about it and brought the brightest towel he could find to the next practice. He asked players to drop the bat on it after leaving the batter’s box. That gave them a spot to focus on while learning the importance of controlling their bat and most importantly not throwing it hazardously. After several seasons coaching Tee Ball, Single-A, and AA (pictured here), his teams had only one thrown bat hit a player. Coincidentally, it was when the towel wasn’t used due to windy conditions.
 
Bats are Thrown At All Levels: Previously, our league’s safety lead was hit in the head with a thrown bat and a league coordinator’s daughter was hit in the face with a swung bat. The local travel team had a player’s home run overturned due to a thrown bat. After researching the significant number of bat-related injuries occurring across the country, how umpires call interference on and possibly eject batters whose bats end up impacting play, and how leagues often supply helpful safety information that isn’t followed, Grant asked the league to let him implement a program to help coaches, umpires, and players control bats and increase safety. The Banner Mat replaced the flimsy towel and was tested during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, received tremendous feedback, and is now part of the league’s ASAP (A Safety Awareness Program).   

Leagues & Coaches Need Help: As a coach for many years, Grant realized there are a lot of safety issues coaches are expected to handle. Unfortunately, many aren't properly prepared or have good tools to help them increase safety. Studies show over 90% of amateur coaches in this country get little training beyond a two- or three-hour free league clinic, usually sponsored by a regional organization. Most are just thrown into the job because they might have played baseball in their youth. They are expected to figure most things out on their own since underfunded and understaffed leagues do not have the ability to create, train, and monitor standardized programs to build skills and increase safety. 

Many Safety Issues Need Attention & Standardization: The Safer Baseball Training and Target System (patent pending) was created to address the main injury issues from bats and balls with a special focus on “external cues” to easily increase safety for everyone. The "Safer Baseball System" also addresses the concern by leagues and umpires that during games, an onfield item like the one pictured above, was a slip/trip hazard. The goal was to create a comprehensive safety system to help players develop their own routine of handling a bat or throwing a ball. External cues, like a STOP sign for drivers, are key to reinforcing safe actions. Any coach (and parent…) knows you can ask a child a dozen times to do something, but they soon forget to do it – especially correctly and consistently. Since repetition is key to success in any sport – especially baseball and softball – the Safer Baseball System helps all participants train, monitor, and comply with key safety aspects. Parents can also use the system to reinforce safety away from the team or personal trainer.

No Silver Bullet But We’re Getting Better: Safety is a key challenge due to the type and scope of potential injuries, the discrepancy in sizes when youth are the same age but physically very different, the varied skill levels when players play in both travel and recreation leagues, trying to control the situation (e.g., other players, spectators) when injuries do occur, and most importantly addressing the specific injured player(s) or other participants. Leagues list safety issues in their materials and on their website. Unfortunately, they are not always or briefly reviewed and rarely updated. Beyond a few dedicated programs (i.e., First Aid training, preventing child abuse) and guidelines including using medical release forms and how to handle inclement weather, coaches are often left on their own to learn about and manage safety on their team. Far too often, the first opportunity to discuss a major safety issue is after-the-fact, which means the coaches, team, and other participants were not prepared for the new experience (e.g., serious facial injury, freak storm, or bizarre occurrence including a non-team member getting injured near the bleachers). Thankfully, Safer Baseball has many easily implementable tools and services.