Write your name on your gear!

by Mike

You wouldn't think that someone would accidentally pick up your ratty old bag gloves that smell like someone died in them (despite your best efforts to keep them clean), or headgear that has a Rorschach blot of salt permanently carved into it, but you need to remember that you're dealing with people who like sweating on other people for fun.

As careful as you are, sooner or later, something is going to end up in someone else's bag, probably by accident, but you never know. While a determined thief is going to swipe your gear anyway, putting your name on it is going to be the best bet for keeping things around longer.

Even if you use leopard-spotted boxing gloves that you're sure no one else has.

New bag gloves: $35
New punch mitts: $45
New wrestling earmufffs: $20

Sharpie 2-pack: $2.99

Try to avoid using red ink on white bits of your gloves. I've been stopped several times in the middle of a round by someone asking if that was their blood on them. Permanent or not, the ink smears, so you'll occasionally need to touch it up and prison-chic as having your name across your knuckles may be, don't put your name on parts of your gear that come into contact with other people - there's enough junk on the ends of people's gloves, etc. without you needing to add more irritants/toxic chemicals to the mix.

I'm surprised that I never heard about the poor bastard that walked off with my old bag gloves - I cut out the grip bar to be more like MMA fight gloves and nearly broke my hand the first time I used them...and I knew what to expect.

There were a lot of people that dropped out shortly after I lost those gloves, but I never found out if any of them did so because they broke their hands.

[Update 3/7/8: Added the bit about red marker]