What’s in Your Bag, Mack Van Voorhees?

Click on the various question mark icons to learn more about the item and why it's in Mack's bag.

Body Glide® (anti-chafing balm)

Roll this deodorant-like container of magic on those sensitive areas, and forget that chafing was ever a thing. While it will offer some measure of relief if you’re already chafing, this product is intended to be preventative, in that you put it on before the chafing occurs in order to keep it from occurring in the first place. This makes it fundamentally different from other products such as Gold Bond® powder and the like (which can be rather messy to use effectively, anyway).

$11 at bodyglide.com.

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Water bottle <b>(64 oz., filled with ice cubes)</b>

Water bottle (64 oz., filled with ice cubes)

Nothing is more refreshing and great for your body during an event than plentiful amounts of ice cold water. Don’t rely on the tournament administration to bring you ice cold water, unless you plan to be disappointed much of the time. (Even if they do, that water will not usually stay ice cold for very long.) Fill this huge water bottle up in the morning on your way to the event, and enjoy ice that should remain that way all day long (assuming your water bottle is made to insulate well).

Purchase this basically anywhere. Mack got his from Walmart for around $20.

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Nail clippers

You should have these available for wrestlers who need to clip their nails in situations where a nail clippers is not otherwise available (e.g., no coach has one). While it is not actually your obligation to have nail clippers for a wrestler who needs to clip their fingernails (and get them rechecked by you) prior to the start of the event, it can make everyone’s lives easier (including your own) if you just have one in your bag. It takes up a negligible amount of space. This is totally worth it.

Purchase this anywhere for around $10.

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Neat Tucks®

Neat Tucks keep your shirt properly tucked in so you are looking sharp at all times. Unlike traditional shirt stays which attach to the socks (and are uncomfortable), Neat Tucks attach to the shirt and simply buckle around the leg. We don’t even notice we’re wearing them, and we never have to worry about fixing our shirt out on the mat, ever. We swear by these.

Don’t be a schlub. Look the part.

$25 a pair at neattucks.com. (Note: Get the “Active” version, which has the heavier-duty clips, rather than the “Style” version.)

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Lock and key

For your locker at the event facility, if they have a locker for you. If they do not, our advice is to simply take your entire bag into the competition area with you and place it under one of the tables in an area where you will be working. (Mack likes to do this anyway, because his bag has various items in it, like the healthy food selections he brings with him, that he wants to be able to access throughout the day without having to return to the officials’ locker room each time.)

Purchase this anywhere.

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Anklebands

Use anklebands whenever possible. This is not just for your own benefit, but for the benefit of the scorekeepers and spectators as well; accordingly, the braggadocious retort that “I don’t need anklebands to help me keep track” isn’t really a legitimate excuse not to use them. (Even if you feel you don’t need them, using them means you will have something to fall back on if that self-described failproof memory ever does have a misfire.)

While event administration may or may not have anklebands at your event, you should never depend on event administration to have anklebands for your mat. Even if they do have them on your mat, they may be/become unusable (e.g., constantly falling off because the velcro isn’t sticking well anymore), and extras may not be available. You might rotate to a different mat with a similar problem. You should always have your own, in your bag, that you can utilize for the wrestlers on your mat anytime you wish.

To give certain dual meets or tournament finals that extra-professional, extra-serious touch, you can break out the second pair and have the wrestlers put one on each ankle. (Or, you might just prefer that arrangement by default, because it can be useful to quickly identify whose leg is whose in certain scramble situations. At the collegiate level, for instance, Mack always uses two anklebands for each wrestler, and he strongly prefers that for any event he considers to be sufficiently high-level, regardless of the competitors’ age.)

$11 (includes 2 red and 2 green anklebands) at cliffkeen.com.

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Extra contact lenses

Obviously, this does not apply to you if you do not have contact lenses. Regardless, you should always have an extra of each of the following items in your bag, so that you are prepared for any contingencies that might arise:

• Shirt (Note: If you are in a jurisdiction that has multiple permitted types of shirt but requires all officials at an event to dress identically, you should also have one of the less-commonly-used shirts in your bag, just in case.)

• Pants

• Undershirt

• Underwear

• Socks

• Wristbands

• Whistle (Note: Keep two extra — one for you, and one as either a second backup, or just in case a colleague has some kind of emergency and needs a whistle. Also note: If you do need to give it out, definitely make it clear that you do not want it back, as a whistle is really supposed to be a “one user only, forever” kind of thing. And to whom it may concern: The fact that the whistle cost you ten dollars is completely irrelevant here, you unsanitary little cheapskate. It’s not like this is going to happen more than once in a blue moon, so be generous if it ever does.)

• Lanyard (Note: If you use a Smitty lanyard, you should also keep in your bag a traditional (i.e., around the neck) lanyard you can use with a shirt that does not have a Smitty lanyard attachment on the collar. This is because you may find yourself at an event where the event administration wants the officials to wear custom event shirts, and those custom shirts do not have anything for the Smitty lanyard you normally use.)

• Flip discs (Note: We always keep a couple extra in case a colleague has an emergency and needs one.)

• Anklebands (Note: We always keep two extra sets — one which functions as a backup for you, and one just in case a colleague has an emergency and needs a set.)

• The Mystery Item (below) (Note: Once you’ve started using The Mystery Item, you will dread having to go for even a portion of any tournament without it.)

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THE MYSTERY ITEM

Here’s a clue: For its intended purposes, it doesn’t work at all — but for our purposes, it’s exactly what we needed!

So what is it?

We can’t wait to tell you what it is — but we will anyway, to keep your interest. Be sure to find out the identity of The Mystery Item in our next issue!

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