The cup check

[JeffK]

How do you do it? I have a new policy requiring groin protection be worn 100% of the time. I'm a female instructor with mostly male students and while I personally wouldn't be embarrassed to ask for the "knock-knock" check, it's a new world out there and I'm not interested in a lawsuit for inappropriate or suggestive discussion/behavior. What's your across-the-genders approach to the cup check?

So, how did you handle this issue and did you get students to wear their cup to every class?

About 1/4 of the guys I train with are going without a cup. My instructor is female and brings up the groin protection requirement every class. Typical offenders are women and men in their twenties.

Since other student know I wear a cup, they don’t even ask, just assume I’m protected. It takes ‘balls’ to complain that they hurt foot on partner’s athletic cup.

 

[Buka]

Groin contact was allowed under our sparring rules. Cups were mandatory under our dojo rules.

There was no need for cup checks. If a student didn’t wear one, they likely never did that again.

You might wonder why groin was legal in our sparring. It used to be legal in tournaments, legal in most schools, too.

When a male student used to ask why they had to wear a cup, I told them, “once you’re flexible enough to throw a head kick, after you get out of the shower and dry off, stand in front of a full length mirror and throw a head kick. That’s why.”