National Ball Check Day Encourages Men to Start Their April By Touching Themselves

Two testicular cancer survivors and Band of Ballers alumni, Jason Greenspan and Thomas Cantley, have come together to create National National Ball Check Day. I sat down with them to learn more about their new initiative. 

ABSOT: What is National Ball Check Day™?

Jason and Thomas: “We invite all men to join us to celebrate National Ball Check Day™ on the first Tuesday in April to raise awareness for testicular cancer. National Ball Check Day™ is a social media campaign and day aiming to MANdate testicular self-exams and raise awareness for early detection of testicular cancer.

Our mission is to eliminate the stigma surrounding this type of cancer. This is the first-ever day dedicated to performing testicular self-exams and we are a complement of Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. 

We have each done numerous awareness projects but this is something we both think can be the largest yet! We hope to GRAB everyone’s attention with their unique branding to bring awareness to this important issue.”

ABSOT: Tell me about the genesis of this important event. Why April?

J&T: “We came up with this day because we thought that it was something that was needed but hadn’t been created yet. There are national days for everything but not testicular cancer! We also did not want this to be solely an awareness day. We definitely want an awareness element – hence the entire social media campaign, but we really wanted an action item associated with the day. This way we know guys are actually getting checked on the day but also spreading awareness to everyone else. 

We chose the first Tuesday in April for a few reasons. It’s in April for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month and on a Tuesday because a lot of people might refer to Tuesdays as Testicle Tuesday. 

It’s also towards the beginning of the month but during the week as to try not to interfere with Easter or Spring Break. This way colleges and universities would always be able to celebrate the day. This was important since college students are our main target age. Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in males 15-44, but we also need to break the stigma associated with this type of cancer.”

ABSOT: Why one day per year versus one day every month?

J&T: “The reason we chose one day instead of a day each month is because we wanted to really have one huge impact day. This one huge day we hope will lead to a further discussion of performing monthly self-exams. So in theory, we ultimately want everyone to do a self-exam each month but we need to get everyone’s attention first!”

ABSOT: How can people get involved?

J&T: “To learn more, please visit www.NationalBallCheckDay.com and be sure to share your photos and posts on social media using #NationalBallCheckDay and #ICheckedMyBalls! Together we will save lives, one ball at a time!”

ABSOT: What are the future plans?

J&T: “Our future plans are to make this day as widely known as possible and to remove the stigma associated with testicular cancer so all guys can discuss this topic openly without being embarrassed. We are looking forward to the future and how large this can become and how many lives it will ultimately save!”