Arm Sleeve

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I am not a doctor but I do play one on TV; no, that's not right. I am not a doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night; no, that's not right either.

Here is my two cents:

The sleeve thing came to the forefront when Allen Iverson started wearing what looked to be a compression sleeve. There are medical reasons for wearing a compression sleeve on either an elbow or a knee; I know I wear the neoprene compression sleeves on my knees (it's heck getting old, ). I have also seen a player who wore special type of sleeve because he was recovering from burns suffered in a fire; it was a compression sleeve of sort but was made from special material specifically designed for its medical function and I doubt that it came in array of colors.

I am also seeing now is compression sleeves that have an elbow pad as part of the sleeve. That raises an interesting question: Is that this a compression sleeve goverened by the "arm sleeve rule" or is it an elbow pad that we see players wearing in old pictures from the "ancient days" which are not governed by the "arm sleeve rule"? Remember, no where in NFHS R3-S5 will one find any mention of knee or elbow pads except for Article 1 which states: "The referee shall not permit any team member to wear equipment or apparel which, in his/her judgment, is dangerous or confusing to other players or is not appropriate."

An example could be a school's colors are red and blue and one of its players wears green knee pads and another player wears orange knee pads. NFHS R3-S5 does not prohibit this situation, nor does it prohibit this situation if we changed the knee pads to elbow pads.

Therefore, are sleeves that have elbow pads in them considered "elbow pads" and not covered by R3-S5-A3?

MTD, Sr.