The first RIP-IT face guard was originally developed by Mike Polstein in his garage after his daughter Lauren was hit in the face by a low pitch that dropped off the top of her bat.

He went into the garage with an idea—to design and construct a face guard that Lauren could wear during games. He knew it had to protect his daughter’s face, have the best possible field of vision, be lightweight and comfortable, and it had to fit any brand of helmet she decided to wear. Mike accomplished his goal. The end product was a sleek face guard design that offered a drastically increased field of vision.

It wasn’t long before the other parents started asking Mike to make one for their daughters. He went to work in his garage and produced a few more for Lauren's teammates. With Polstein’s vision and the efforts of his two sons, Jason and Matthew, RIP-IT is thriving and have added new sporting goods to their catalog including bats, helmets, bags, and more.

Allied Steel Buildings was selected by Chronus Construction to provide a 120 feet x 160 feet x 42 feet metal warehouse and showroom for the growing company. The clear span warehouse features a sleek single-slope roof with a valley gutter system on the East side and a parapet wall on all four sides. Located in Orlando, Fla., the steel building was built to withstand hurricane force winds and damaging rain with 150 mph Wind-Load and 24-gauge roof and wall panel.

From the beginning, RIP-IT was founded on the idea to create high-performance, baseball and softball equipment, as well as providing exceptional customer service. RIP-IT has grown many times larger since its birth in the Polstein’s garage, and continues to stick to their early established core values.