Am I being precious over DS’ cricket kit?

[Justnocricket]

DS (10) plays cricket at school and is crazy about it. For his birthday and Christmas, we and his extended family all contributed money and together we bought him bat, helmet, pads, gloves and whites. It came to approx £400. He was thrilled, all good.

But now he is playing in school matches. Everyone has the whites but only 70% have their own bat, helmet, gloves etc, so he is just expected to share his.

At a match today I watched as his helmet was taken off and tossed down into the mud by a classmate. His gloves taken off and left on the grass and someone promptly stood on them with spikes on. Another was throwing his bat in the air and trying (unsuccessfully) to catch it. DS was running round at the end trying to gather his kit back up.

Is this normal to share in cricket, or do schools normally supply their own kit for those who don’t have their own? Private school BTW.

Agree!

OMG, I would be raging! My DSs were never expected to share their cricket kit. Putting on sweaty gloves and helmet after someone else has worn them, yuck.

I would refuse to send him in with his kit until the school could guarantee that his kit would not be a share kit. Sign him up for a private cricket club.

Firstly, that really is not the point. Secondly, as is said every bloody time independent schooling is mentioned, the vast majority of families at private schools are not rolling in it. Did you read how family clubbed together to buy it as a birthday gift?

This is such a frustrating thread. @Justnocricket -of course you're not being precious. Your ds shouldn't be asked to share, however much his kit costs. Poor boy-it must be horrible to see his stuff treated so badly. Ring the school and speak to the coach. I hope he isn't aware of what's going on and will put a stop to it at once. If he doesn't-escalate.

@JudgeJ "Love how some on MN hate anyone who works hard" That really is a stupid thing to say.

You need to talk to your son and tell him that he doesn't have to loan his equipment out, and shouldn't lend it out. He needs to take care of his valuable equipment so it lasts. Obviously he's just trying to be a nice kid. Talk to the team coach and explain your reasoning, family gifts and what you witnessed with others misusing son's equipment. It will be fine.

I think you’re missing the point.

This cricket kit was a birthday and Christmas treat from all the family. He got nothing else last year.

I am aware it could be sourced more cheaply (but I must say I’ve never seen a decent hard ball bat for £30!). Normally I’d cobble together second hand.

But we bought DS the bat he desperately wanted, rather than the most basic one available. His last soft ball one was £15 from Sports Direct. I’m guessing you get your DC things they want, but might not necessarily need for their birthday/Christmas?

Hi you are quite right, I went off on a tangent.

Partly deliberately because I think it's important that people reading don't think that cricket is an overly expensive sport.

Of course your child should have treats for his birthday and of course he shouldn't have to lend nice bats and kit to his school friends. Tell him to say no.

Bats can and do break, it would be awful if another boy broke his birthday present. Kids become attached to their nice bats. My daughter has almost outgrown hers, she loves it so much!

@Justnocricket if the school has second hand uniform they might have second hand cricket kit donated. Ask if they can give it to the school PE dept for everyone to use. I'm sure they'll say yes.

Definitely raise the safety concern about bats being thrown above the head.

But also if it's hard ball cricket then it's the school's responsibility to make sure the children are wearing the correct safety kit. So you can frame it as concern for the other children who need more correctly fitting safety kit provided by the school, or ask them to send an email to parents. Many parents don't know what safety equipment their child actually needs.

Oh I understand, my other son plays Ice Hockey and those kit costs are eye watering.

However, we’re not talking 16 at county level but 10 years old for school. That said, he has every right to spend him birthday money how he chooses and 100% the OP should be speaking to the school about the inappropriate sharing.

just say that you are concerned that at the end of practice/match ds can't always find all his kit as others have shared and it cost over £400.
As the school encourages sharing can he reasssure you that when the shared kit is lost the school will replace it?

Could he put that in writing please?
Similarly is the helmet has been hit hard or dropped from height onto concrete when worn by child other than ds and needs replacing will school replace?

If he can't reassure you of that in writing then he needs to stop asking ds to share as you cannot afford to replace it.

It is disrespectful of the other players to throw your son's belongings around. If they do not respect his generosity, it should be revoked. No one should be made to share their own things.

Just a heads up that a lot of private schools do provide kit including helmets and bats to the pupils - I know as I've sold it to them before!

Also a £120 bat could easily be damaged by them throwing it about if it were to land awkwardly on the handle or toe. Likewise if they are playing with hard balls the bat is going to pick up wear and tear, they don't last forever.

This would really irk me.

I wouldn't let him take his equipment into school.

The other children can end up damaging or losing it and it's not theirs to use!

Keep it at home and just take it to matches outside of school (and don't let him share it)!

If it's a private school then the school should have the money to buy the equipment!

I think he will have to stop taking it to school practice and maybe matches but agree it’s a shame as what is the point of having it. Is he in a club as it’s likely to be different there with more kit available?

But do mention to the teacher. Worth a try!

Both my DS's were cricket mad at that age and would have also picked a bat as a big present.

I 100% do not think he should be sharing any of his equipment-why should his kit be treated in such a careless way? My DC played at an independent school where most but not all had kit-otherwise they used the school back up.
They also played for a club which was not at all wealthy-the club also had back up kit-often donated by members when outgrown etc.

I think the school needs to make a rule that no one can use other DC equipment in case of loss or damage-otherwise your poor son is left with mates round him asking/nagging/pressuring to borrow his very nice bat.
Which is completely unfair stress and pressure on him.

I am sure no one would replace his bat if they cracked it.

Does he have a cricket bag where he can put his things when not in use?

🤣🤣🤣🥲

I'd be fuming.

Tell your son not to share his kit and tell his teachers they're not to make him.

If they need kit for the other kids they should either ask the school to provide it, hold a fund raiser, get a kit sponsor or see if the ECB will help them out.

YANBU.

Why would you be happy for his belongings being thrown about?

Your son is being put in an uncomfortable position.

I would be having a word.

I wouldn’t let him take it any more.

Yanbu. The school should provide kit if they want them to play cricket - possibly ask parents to supply helmet and gloves as they can get sweaty while they play. If some have their own kit then they can use that. My DCs used school kit - one of them got his own for birthday and was not expected to share - it was their own personal sports equipment. Now they’ve grown out of it, and agreed they would donate to the school.

I’d tell the school / teacher directly that you do not want him sharing (subject to your DS not being embarrassed by this).

Cricket mum here. Cricket equipment costs a LOT, I have 4 kids that play and we spend an absolute fortune on equipment.

Our high school specifically picks kids for the cricket team who play cricket out of school so have their own equipment (the only exception being the girls school team, in which my daughter has lent her bat to her friends)

Our primary school has their own bats etc and schools tend to take part in softball competitions anyway so pads, helmets etc aren't needed (although we have a lot of cricketers at the school who play hardball at a club regularly so could take it if needed).

At a private school, I would absolutely expect the school to have equipment and not expect your child to lend theirs out.

It doesn’t matter if the bat only cost 15 quid other kids shouldn’t be taking it and throwing it around
learning to respect and care for the equipment should be part of the lesson imo

I remember going to take part in a climbing activity with school once and an instructor accused me of throwing a helmet on the ground
I hadn’t “thrown” but I didn’t put it down as carefully as I should either
he bollocked me in front of everyone for a good two minutes asking did I know how much the helmet cost and was I going to replace it if it was damaged.
I was so embarrassed I still cringe actually typing this
i think he was ott and he kinda apologized afterwards so I’m not saying something like that is needed here but I think the children should definitely be taught why the equipment is important and why they should take care of it properly regardless of who owns it

I don't understand why a private school isn't providing sports equipment. Why doesn't the school have bats - that seems pretty basic for cricket? What would they do if no children had their own stuff?