“What Should We Wear?”
Football needn't be expensive, and there are a few tips you can use to help keep costs down
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Shinpads
If we can give you one bit of advice as parents of budding footballers: invest in a good pair of shinpads!
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They are robust, an easy hand-me-down to your next child, and a decent pair will cost you about £10.
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TIP 1 – Some kids initially complain about them being uncomfortable, so we suggest either wearing them outside long football socks until the fabric softens; or wear an extra pair of thin socks underneath.
TIP 2 –Â Try and get ones with ankle protectors attached (they have little padded plastic discs that sit over the ankle joint). If not, you can pick up the ankle protectors/guards separately; see below:
Outdoor Footwear
N.B. if you are attending a trial, normal trainers are ok for the first couple of weeks
All these sessions are OUTDOORS
Mondays @ Moseley School (Kings Heath Sports FC only)
Tuesdays @ Moseley School (Kings Heath Sports FC only)
Wednesdays 5pm & 6pm @ Kings Heath Boys School
Fridays 6pm @ Archbishop Ilsley School
Saturday 9am & 10am @ Moseley School
Sunday 9am @ Moseley School
Moseley School & Archbishop Ilseley School (3G)
Perfect – Artificial Ground, Firm Ground, Hard Ground
Unsuitable – Turf Trainer, Trainers, Football Boots with blades or metal studs
Kings Heath Boys School (Astroturf)
Perfect – Turf Trainer
Unsuitable – Artifical Ground, Firm Ground, Hard Ground, Football Boots with blades or metal studs
Indoor Footwear
Normal trainers are absolutely fine here, as long as they are non-marking i.e. don’t have black soles, although to make things extra confusing some specifically indoor trainers do have black soles!Â
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If in doubt, ask 🙂
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If you do want to invest in a good pair of indoor trainers then these types of trainers (below) are excellent.
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IMPORTANT – Do not wear astroturf trainers indoors! They can mark the floor but most importatnly, they offer MUCH less grip than indoor trainers.Â
These session are INDOORS...
Wednesday 5pm @ St Thomas Aquinas School
Wednesday 6pm @Â St Thomas Aquinas School
Goalkeeping Gloves
Thankfully, the days of water-absorbing gloves which offer no protection against hard shots or studs, are well behind us.
Pretty much all of the gloves you can buy have a spongey material (Latex) on the palm and fingers, so when you clench a fist the water drains off! Clever eh?
There are broadly two type of gloves – with finger protection (aka ‘finger safe gloves’) and without finger protection.
This is a hotly contested topic amongst grassroots…
We’d recommend buying gloves without finger protection but it’s important you make your own decisions.
Pros
- Provides some protection for fingers from being stood on (with studs for example)
 Cons
- Goalkeepers can’t make a ‘fist’ to punch the ball, which increases the chances of breaking digits when the ball bounces on the end of fingers
- Goalkeepers become used to the finger safe protection doing the work for them – and not developing the strength/responsiveness in the fingers
Gloves & Base Layers
If your kids are playing outside it’s imperative to keep them warm and dry during this period.
Football on AstroTurf (particularly under the floodlights) is an amazing experience, but nothing will turn your child off outdoor sports quicker than the cold and wet, especially on their fingers.
Gloves and base layers go some way to solving both these problems.
Don’t expect your child to train in their big thick coats; they might end up getting too hot and when they take them off, they’ll feel the chill even more.
There’s nothing wrong with arriving in a warm coat, but its best to wear a base layer, t-shirt, and a really warm fleecy top when they train.
If it’s raining, then a thin waterproof mac is a great addition!
Have a question about clothing?
Add your details to the form and we’ll call you 🙂
