Next, he straps on his kidney protectors, a series of narrow plastic slats lying vertically across the curvature of his back.

His slatted leggings, flexible resin ribbing covered with a half inch of absorbent rubber, go on in two sections, one for his calf, one for his thigh. The two portions join together in an alloy hinge at the knee. Narrow mesh metal mailing snaps into place over them.

Arm guards, thinner than his leggings but constructed and worn in exactly the same way, go on next.

Chest and back plates, also made of flexible resin, clamshell into place over his neck. The plates are supported by spring mounted, energy absorbing plastic braces contour fitted to his body. The braces neatly straddle the slats of his kidney protectors. The undersides of his chest and back plates are lined with a high impact, penetration resistant alloy.

Fiberglas backed foam rubber shoulder and hip pads, a mail covering over his lower abdomen and groin, and a foam rubber cushion across the back of his neck round out his body protective equipment.

He hooks on his garter belt, pulls on a knee-high pair of stockings, and fastens them up. He unrolls his snug blue uniform pants on over leggings, stockings, garter and pads. Because his team has been designated Visitor, he dons his blue and gold “away” jersey. He sticks his hand into the oblong pocket, the gut pocket, sewn into his jersey just over his stomach, to make certain it’s fully open and empty. On long runs, the football will go in here leaving T.K. with both hands free to defend himself.

His shoes are high-topped and metal lined with rubber soles. He has them equipped with deep suction cups for better footing on ice. Cleats of any type are expressly forbidden. He threads new laces into his shoes, tightens them up, then buckles a nylon strip over them to prevent the laces from being cut during the game.

He double checks the pressure on the inflatable bags in his honeycombed resin helmet. He also assures that there are no leaks in the ring of encased jelly that circumvents the helmet’s base and affords a measure of extra comfort to his jaw and the back of his neck.

His polarized Plexiglas face mask, self adjusting to give him correct glare protection under any degree of illumination, edges flawlessly into place in the frontal grooves incised around the facial opening of his helmet.

He slips his long knife into its sheath and clips on his bola. Lastly, he pulls on a pair of thin, resin mesh gloves, the fingers and palms of which are open for better ball control.