Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Special First-Ever Metal Cleat Edition



Hello Everyone - Recently I received news that the National Federation has passed a new rule for 2008. It's a rule change that I have fervently been trying to get put into place since 1980.



High school girls softball players will for the first time ever, be allowed to wear metal cleats in 2008. Pitchers will also be able to use a metal pitching toe.



Anyone who has been reading these bulletins from the get-go knows just how passionate I have been about the metal cleat issue. This past softball season I took it upon myself to collect information about accidents and mishaps that involved girls slipping on bases and home plate. There were dozens of them and one where the player was lost for the entire season and is perhaps career ending as a torn ACL was the outcome.



I had been advocating a choice for girls for many years and always seemed to be bumping up against people who never thought it had a chance to be changed or who had never had the chance to feel the difference between metal and rubber/plastic.



I guess it goes to show that if a person is passionate about an issue and hangs in there and keeps working at executing change, that change might occur. I wasn't the only one though and I certainly don't take credit for the change - no credit what-so-ever but I do take credit for keeping the issue in people's minds the past few years by being opininated and fighting for a change that I believe is the greatest safety change in the game in my 28 years coaching girls' fastpitch softball. It's a greater change than double first bases, greater than bat performance factors, Coefficient of restitution rules, ball compression rules and yes, even greater than facemasks on batter's helmets.



Does that mean that the other side of the coin won't come into play? Of course not. The other side of the coin is - players getting cut when being cleated with metal spikes. There will be some of those, but there already were serious cleatings with the modern hard plastic cleats. We've had girls from Poynette get torn up and cut with those. This I can assure you though, there will not be as many girls tumbling, stumbling and getting knees torn up because there was water on hard rubber bases and home plate. Some might still fall but not nearly as many.



I have told people for years that my goal was to stick around long enough to see high school girls having a choice about what kind of footwear they wear. Even after 28 years I had not given up hope.



With the new rule change I'll move my passion towards another safety rule that will make a huge difference in lessening serious injury. That rule will be the requirement that players wear mouthguards. Our all conference third baseman bit completely through her lip this season when she slid headfirst into second but didn't have the greatest slide of her career. She hit hard and the shock of the fall forced her teeth completely through her lower lip. She was a mess and hurting. She would not have bitten completely through with a mouthguard in place. She would have had a sore lip but not one that looked as bad and felt as bad as the one she wound up with.



The regional pool groupings were posted on the WIAA website on June 27th so take a look at that. There are some eye-popping changes in all divisions of play. One factor that is different is the fact that there are more Division 4 teams in 2008 than there were in 2007 and that is a good change. Check out the regional pool groupings and sectional assignments on the WIAA website.



Coaches should also make sure that they have completed all their responsibilities for 2007 which includes ranking umpires. I think a good move by the WIAA would be to penalize schools whose coaches do not complete the rankings. A good tool would be hosting regional games. My thoughts are that a school whose coach fails to rank but an announced deadline would lose their right to host any regional games. They would be allowed to be the higher seeds but would not be allowed to host any games. I know some people will argue that my thoughts are unfair etc. They are just my thoughts! Something needs to be done to get every school to complete those rankings. One common thread I hear centers around the efficiency level of umpires. One of the best tools the WIAA has to increase the level of efficiency of tournament umpires is the coaches ranking forms. Get them done. I will have been in contact with the WIAA and will be posting the names of the schools whose coaches have not completed the task.



Check out the WFSCA website to see who the WFSCA selection people picked to represent Wisconsin in the Tri-State Challenge. They have a tough job and have picked a good group of kids.



The summer has been filled with lots of summer action. I have been to some venues and have enjoyed the games and the visits.



The Capitol Area Fall League will begin organizing this week. Look for an e-mail bulletin concerning that league which begins the Sunday after Labor Day. Players will be allowed to break in their metal cleats in the Capitol Area Fall League.



Have a great day and a better tomorrow and as always



Here is the link to the news article about the metal cleat rule change. Thanks to Greg Jones f(Head Softball Coach at Winona State) or forwarding it to me.



http://www.nfca.org/news/?id=2802 metal cleat edition



Keep it Rising!

Bob