As the mother of three sports active sons I bought my share of cups and supporters. It is important to know when your son plays contact or collision sports, there is always the risk of genital injury.  To protect against such injury, boys need to wear protective cups.

It doesn't matter how young your son is.  Four-year-olds just starting out in T-ball, all the way up to the pros, need to wear protective cups.  Boys also, of course, need to wear an athletic supporter (e.g. jock strap) to hold the cup in place.

So what exactly are cups and jock straps? They are protective equipment worn under an athlete's uniform as part of the base layer of their underwear. The cup is primarily for supporting and protecting a boy's testicles or genitalia.  The cup is a hard molded piece of plastic that fits inside of a pouch, either inside of a brief or in a jock strap.

Up until about two years ago the selection of boy's cups and supporters/jock straps was pretty basic.  The vast majority were manufactured by Bike, a brand name that has its origin in the "bike jockeys" of the late 1800s.

We've come a long way since then.

Here's a video that provides an overview of some of the brands and types of cups and jock straps that are now available.

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Recommended for all contact and collision sports

Cups are recommended equipment for just about any sport your son plays which involves a puck, a ball, or possible collision or contact with another player, including:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Football
• Ice Hockey
• Soccer
• Rugby
• Lacrosse 
• Martial Arts
• Boxing
• Wrestling
• Swimming (jock only).

Posted February 27, 2012

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