28 May 2010

'Sack Tapping' - Boys Punching Classmates in the Groin - Leads to Serious Injuries

NY Daily News

 
Punching the family jewels is no game, boys!

The act of hitting other students in the groin, a dangerous fad called "sack tapping," is sweeping through schools across the country. It can result not just in excruciating physical and emotional pain for the victim, but in emergency surgery with a lifelong impact.

"It's just gotten way out of control," urologist Dr. Scott Wheeler told KARE11.com, a Minneapolis TV station.

Wheeler now operates three or four times a year on boys who suffered complications such as a ruptured testicle after being groin-punched.

"All parents, you need to have this talk with your kids not to do it," he said. "It's lost its humor."

Homemade videos of students' "sack tapping" shenanigans can be found all over YouTube.

For victims like 14-year-old David Gibbons of Crosby, Minn., the pain after being punched in the groin by another student at his school was so intense he woke up his mother at 1 a.m. Christy Gibbons took her son to the hospital, where he had his right testicle surgically removed.

"This may be called a game, but it's not a game," the mom said. "It's dangerous and it needs to stop."

David's parents have since pulled him out of that high school and plan to move to a different school district. David's old school is investigating the incident. Meanwhile, doctors have reassured David that even though he now has just one testicle, he should still be able to father children one day.

Gibbons wants other parents to be educated about the dangerous practice.

"I've seen the pain he was in," she said. "I've seen what he went through every day, and it just breaks my heart and I don't want any other child to have to go through this."

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