How does my son remain modest while playing water polo?

[rkmansfield]

Our eldest son is fifteen years old, and he participates in water polo. The standard water polo suit for men is a rather small, tight “bikini”-cut suit. He is wearing “jammers” at the present time. Jammers are tight (“fitted”) swimsuits that extend almost to the knee. They are not generally worn for water polo because defensive players may grab them underwater and they do not permit the same range of movement as the other suits. Certain tournaments (such as the Junior Olympics) prohibit jammers. Our son is a relatively well-formed young Catholic gentleman, and he does not wish to dress immodestly. At the same time, it would seem necessary to wear traditional suits in order to compete at a higher level. The traditional-cut men’s suit covers one’s private parts, but, especially in light of their fitted quality, they tend to accentuate. Would wearing a traditional men’s water polo suit during practice and tournaments violate his duties regarding modesty?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Lots of questions on the topic of modesty have been asked and answered in this forum already. If you need more information, run a search in this forum on “modesty.” I do have one new bit of information to add, a quote I recently found that seems particularly appropriate to your question:

When a person uses such a form of dress in accordance with its objective function we cannot claim to see anything immodest in it, even if it involves partial nudity. Whereas the use of such a costume outside its proper context is immodest, and is inevitably felt to be so. For example, there is nothing immodest about the use of a bathing costume at a bathing place, but to wear it in the street or while out for a walk is contrary to the dictates of modesty (Bl. John Paul II, Love and Responsibility, 191-192).

Your son evidently needs a particular kind of swimsuit to participate in water polo, and your choice of phrasing indicates to me that you might be fostering in him unnecessary scruples about wearing one. There is no reason to do so. Allow him to wear the suit he needs. When he is done with the activity, he can change into “jammers” for socializing around the pool or for recreational swimming.