"Dressing Up" Like a MCCC Athlete

10/31/23

With Halloween falling this week, what better time to discuss the “costumes” our teams wear as our athletes are always putting on special gear and uniforms when they step on the field or court. 

If you look behind the plate at the softball or baseball field, you’ll find a masked figure behind the plate…the catcher.  The catcher must also put on a chest protector and shin guards.  In softball, pitchers may also wear a face mask to protect them from any balls hit right back at them (as the mound and home plate are closer than you may realize).  While at bat, softball and baseball players often wear batting gloves to get a better grip on the bat and protect their hands.  And when batting, all players wear a helmet to protect their heads.

Masks and gloves aren’t just found on the baseball and softball fields, but on the lacrosse field as well.  Every player on the field wears a helmet and gloves.  And did you know, the length of a lacrosse player’s stick will tell you whether they play offense or defense?  Defensive players use long sticks while offensive players use shorter sticks.

Soccer players wear protective gear on their legs…shin guards.  These go under soccer socks to protect from getting kicked in the shin (which really hurts)!  Goalies in soccer wear gloves to help get a better grip on the ball.  Goalies also stand out on the soccer field because they wear a different color jersey than their teammates.  The colors of a goalie’s shirt do not have to be their school’s colors so you may see Mercer’s goalies sporting teal, purple or orange jerseys even though our colors are green and gold.  Team captains in soccer wear Captain Bands so officials can easily spot them during a game.

Moving from the field to the court, we will take a look at tennis.  Did you know that tennis players have shorts and skirts that allow them to keep extra balls ready so they don’t have to run after every ball after each serve or play?  Tennis skirts feature shorts that players can slide a ball under and easily grab for the next serve.  Men’s players wear shorts with pockets to hold the extra balls so that play can move along. 

The final sport “costume” to look at is basketball, which is the probably the easiest of all the sports as there’s the least amount of additional gear.  Basketball players just sport a jersey and shorts on the court.  One thing unique about basketball is the numbers on jerseys.  Players can only wear number combinations featuring numbers 1-5: so 32, 55, 44, 23, etc.  Why is that?  It’s for the referees who need to be able to show a player’s number on both hands for foul calls. 

Last but not least, when discussing our sports teams’ “costumes”, we can’t leave out pinnies.  Pinnies are the jersey athletes put on and have two different colors to distinguish teams from each other.  These are necessary since teams often all wear the same practice gear and are for soccer, baseball and lacrosse.  You will see substitute players in soccer wearing pinnies to distinguish them from those playing in the game.

There’s a little explanation of the “costumes” or uniforms our athletes sport and how to "dress up" like a MCCC athlete.  We hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!