The dreaded "nut cup"

I knew this would come back to haunt me. I haven't scrolled back to look, but I believe I posted about this very subject sometime last fall.

Gage is in the Bismarck Youth Baseball Cal Ripken T-ball league. We have now had our third practice and next week (Tuesday) he will have his first game. One of the rules in this league is that all kids are required to have a "nut cup" as Gage calls it. I sent Scott out to Scheels last week to buy one. Monday night was Gage's first opportunity to use it and he refused. The protective cup comes with a pair of underwear which has a pocket that keeps the cup in place and there is no skin contact. He tried it on and absolutely refused to wear it. Scott told him he had to and all that did was make Gage quite angry. I went to his room to talk to him about it and also check it out to make sure he had it on properly (like I know anything about that!). He was mad and did NOT want to wear it and I told him he didn't have to wear it that night, but that he would have to the next time.

We went to practice and there was another kid at practice that was having a terrible time with his "nut cup". He was constantly readjusting it and when he was running the bases, it looked as though he had a broken leg, or perhaps there was a turd in his pants that he was trying to keep from falling out. I mentioned to his mother that he seemed to be having equipment malfunctions. She agreed and didn't know what his problem was, and thought maybe he had his older brothers underwear on which were too big to hold the cup in place. After practice Scott talked to the boys about the athletic supporter/protective cup, which Gage quickly pointed out the other name "nut cup" and all the boys got a kick out of that, and you know the conversation went downhill from there. Scott told them all they needed to have one to be able to play, and to have them for tonight's practice.

Gage agreed to wear his without any arguing because everyone else would be wearing it too, or so he thought. Still there were several without them, but a few more did actually have them. (I can't believe I'm even talking about this! Gage will certainly be ticked to know I blogged about this!) Not too far into the practice Gage came up to me and said it was hurting him. Being a Mom, I was trying to find out why, but not trying to embarrass him at the same time. He said it was hurting his skin, not his privates. He too was constantly readjusting the dumb thing and complained about it the entire practice. I can just see it now, we're going to have 10 boys out on the field and all of them are going to be readjusting their "nut cups" and not paying any attention to the game. The cups will probably end up being more of a hazard than a protective device, as instead of getting hit in the nuts, they are going to be knocked unconscious from getting beaned in the head with a line drive because they weren't paying attention. I told Scott he needed to email the man in charge and make sure that these are absolutely required, as one of the father's said the kids in the upper minors league did not have to wear them unless they were playing in the catching position. However, I distinctly remember them telling us at the parents meeting that they can't play without them, and even girls had to wear them if they were playing catcher, and they also can't play if they forget their baseball caps, as that is a mandatory piece of their uniform. Scott says he also knows they said the same thing at the coaches meeting.

Tuesday's game is going to be quite interesting!