ALTERNATE PROTECTION
Beyond Goggles and Barrel Plugs

INTRODUCTION

Everyone knows about goggles and barrel plugs. If you don't, stay off the field until you do. There are other protective items you should be thinking about, and using.

PROTECTION FOR . . . ER . . . UM . . . SENSITIVE AREAS.

For both men and ladies. I can't talk about this in any more detail, because if you don't know what I'm talking about you're either too you or too innocent to understand. Either way, I'm not going further with this. (I missed a day's work because I wasn't wearing protection. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. I'm just lucky I'm not singing soprano.)

GLOVES

The gloves should have a moderate amount of padding or hard armour. This protect the backs of your hands from painful impacts. It also helps to prevent you from getting splinters. While it may SEEM minor, protection for your hands in important. You have a lot of tendons, nerves and blood vessels and no natural padding to protect them.

KNEE AND ELBOW PADS

Even if you're not a crawler, you should at least have knee and shin pads. I've had knee problems for over a decade, there's no worse pain. Your knees are very venerable to injury, so are your shins. Like the backs of your hands, there's little natural padding. As with your elbows.

FOOTWEAR

Strong, reliable footwear is essential. They should have good ankle support and a deep tread. Leather is the best material for footwear. Maybe your feet will be stinky at the end of the day, but you'll still have two good ankles to walk in the front door on. Treads are important to prevent you from losing your footing and taking a nasty fall.

THROAT GUARD

I've been shot in the throat at close range, and it didn't tickle. My windpipe became swollen and I had difficulty breathing. (I have the worse luck sometimes.) Since then I've been wearing a hockey throat guard and been none the worse for wear.

YOUR BRAIN BUCKET

You should wear a hat or bandanna on your head. Not just to protect yourself from but from the ravages of the sun. Being out in the sun, with an uncovered melon is the surest way to get sunstroke. If you continue to go out in the sun without a hat, you're going to end up like me. You don't want that to happen.

ANTI-FOG

Fogged lenses are a quick way to getting hurt. If you can't see, you can trip over things you normally wouldn't trip over. Besides, if you can't see the "bad guys", how can you shoot them?

BODY PIERCING

Not that I'd do it myself, but body piercing is very popular. I just have a personal aversion to having holes punched in my body and bits of metal inserted in them. (I'm fine with the holes I got issued to me at birth, thank you very much.) Get hit in one of these fashion accessories and it could do some serious damage. I saw a guy get his nipple ring shot clean off. (Am I allowed to write the word "nipple" in WARPIG? It feels dirty -- or should I say "durty"?) Slap a self-adhesive bandage (the ones with the gauze padding in them) over the area and prevent some unnecessary pain. Tearing the bandage off, at the end of the day, will be less painful than getting that ring shot out.

EAR RINGS

Hoop or dangling ear rings can get caught in the brush and get torn off. Ouch!

LONG HAIR

Tuck it up under a bandanna. If it get caught in the brush, when you're running, you're going to know it.

So there you have it. There are things beyond goggles and barrel plugs you have to consider.