A real man has tools
 

Comedy of errors pre-match tonight. First, we arrive 20 mins late because my partner had a business meeting run long. It happens. I go to check the balls and discover they're all a little flat. So I pump the first one up, and as I'm pulling the needle out of the ball, it breaks off! :eek:

There I stand, with only a very few minutes to go before match time, looking sheepishly at the rapidly deflating volleyball in my hands. Only thing that would have been better would be if it sputtered around the gym like a balloon. :)

After a couple minutes, I manage to extract the broken needle from the ball. No problem. I'll just swap the needle from my gauge back and forth. Except I can't get it off the gauge. I finally have to hunt down the custodian and borrow a pair of pliers. I finally manage to get the game balls all sorted just as they are finishing player introductions.

So, as a permanent addition to my gear bag, tonight I added a small pair of pliers. And tomorrow I'll hit the sporting goods store for a new needle. And a few spares.

As one of my favorite T-shirts says, "Manure Occureth"....which is why I have a Leatherman Micra (pliers version) in the pocket of my Ref bag.........

Nail clippers are really useful too...but I suppose if you've got a leatherman or gerber multitool it'll be part of it.

plus, I keep my net chain in a film cannister, with three extra needles poked in.

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But if you keep the chain in the cannister and it stays all neat, what do you do with the time you'd be getting the knots out of the chain when you pulled it out of the bottom of the bag?:D

Film cannisters are great to store extra needles in... when they are thrown in your bag, they find the worst places to poke holes or hide.
Free advice: Find a hardshelled container to put your gauge in, it allows you to leave your needle in the gauge, protects the gauge itself from drops and cracks, protects the needle/gauge connection from breaking (if stuff in the bag cause the needle to bend one way and the gauge to bend another...snap), AND it stops your needle from poking into other things in your bag, or poking out of your bag. I say this because I keep a few chemical ice-packs in my bag, and... yes, you guessed right, a needle found one of the ice-packs and secretly (almost on purpose :) ) popped it... and liquid poured and absorbed into "everything"... ugh.