This is another article about gear that I feel is very important to cover. Personally, I wore headgear for a short amount of time. This was right after I bumped heads with my own defender trying to clear a ball out outside the box! Decision making was not the strongest part of my game at the time; that’s for sure. Just like with knee pads this is something that you don’t see often at least in the pro game.
Petr Cech is the obvious poster boy for wearing headgear as a keeper. His story is a bit similar to my own. Cech broke his skull in 2006 when an opposing player hit him with his knee right to Cech’s head while the keeper was diving low to pick up a ball. In the same game, Carlo Cudicini, who replaced Cech after the injury, was himself knocked out cold and had to leave the game.
If you are a keeper or a parent of a goalkeeper and you read this story, you will probably want to drive down to the store right now and get some headgear. It’s better to be safe than sorry, right? Yet, if you scan keepers across the world and even in some of the youth leagues and Sunday leagues across the world, you will find that very few keepers are wearing any type of headgear.
There are a couple of reasons why this is the case. Those are exactly the topics that I want to cover here. It would be a total lie to say that there are absolutely no risks involved in playing in goal. The way I’ve always seen it is that you are at risk when you are playing any sport. The bigger question here would be to see if a helmet could effectively reduce the risk of head injury.
Will A Foam Helmet Reduce The Risk Of Injury Considerably?
I’ve yet to encounter a league that is going to allow players to wear harder helmets to play football. That’s likely never going to happen. Most of the options that are out there right now are foam-based helmets. There are also other options in leather if you are looking for something very old school. If we are just talking about the gear that you will be able to find that is made by companies that manufacture soccer/football gear, foam-based helmets are what you will be able to find. The idea is that the foam is going to be able to soften the blow a bit. It reduces the risk of cuts and severe head injury. At least most options indeed claim that they do.
In my personal experience, the “helmet” was able to soften the blows a little bit. The time that I spent wearing it, I don’t recall suffering a significant impact to the point where I was thankful to be wearing it. The thing is, if and when some type of impact happens, there is a good chance that if you have something covering your head, the impact can be lowered. Why don’t we see more pros wearing it, though?
Why Most Pros Don’t Wear A Helmet
I mentioned before that I wore headgear at one point in time, after the head injury that I had even slight contact kind of right on the scar tissue hurt quite a bit. As time went by I didn’t feel pain anymore so one day I just took it off and never put it back on. The main reason was I was never comfortable with the fit. I am someone who doesn’t like to wear any type of hat though in my regular life. Therefore, that certainly played a role for me not feeling comfortable. Certainly, the fit issue is one of the reasons most pros cite. The other thing is, they probably don’t like how they look with the helmet on!
You have to remember that these days players are as concerned with their play on the field as they are with how they look while playing. Keepers are a pretty narcissistic bunch, and we want to look good while we are in goal. Going back to Petr Cech, he embraced the look, and he is going to be tied to the helmet for life, especially if no more top-level pros go looking for a helmet to wear.
If you are reading this thinking that there are not great reasons why more keepers don’t wear a helmet, you are completely right! Even worse, some of us don’t wear anything that may cause others to try and bully or make fun of you. The pro game, at least in my experience, is a rough set up there is a lot of bullying a lot of macho stereotypes at times. At least in my experience in the male game, I certainly can’t speak for a female locker room. Where we do see many more players wearing helmets in the pro game. The women’s game has certainly embraced the helmet much more than the male game. From what I can gather, more players don’t wear helmets over fit issues and some personal insecurities for some of us!
Find Something That You Feel Comfortable With
There are different types of headgear that you are usually going to be able to find being sold by the major sports retailers. The type of headgear that I wore was more of a crown-like piece. Exactly like the one that you can see in the picture. This piece was not very much different from the rugby style helmet that Cech made famous. These smaller headpieces are going to protect you more from frontal impact. At the time, that was exactly what I was looking for. Since I actually had a gash in the middle of my head at that particular time. Would I say this option is better than the traditional rugby piece, which is pretty much what Cech wore in his career? Not really.
With the rugby style helmet, you are going to be able to protect your head from all sides. When you think about it, if you are already going to be putting something on, why wouldn’t you just wear headgear that protects more parts of your head? Now, this probably sounded completely hypocritical because I just mentioned that what I did wear was not the full helmet, but only the crown-like option. All I can say about that is find what fits you best. I mentioned this before; I am someone who doesn’t like to wear anything on my head. Not even a hat when the sun is shining as bright as can be. Therefore, I was looking for something that I wouldn’t have to keep nudging on to adjust it during a game.
For those reasons, It’s essential to make sure that you are going with something you can adjust to. It’s probably a good idea to try and practice with the headgear on before trying to just put it on in a game, and make it work as well. It could be a good idea to try and tinker with the fit at home before you even hit the field. The problem is that anything extra gear that you wear is not going to be easy to adjust with the gloves on. It can make for a very uncomfortable experience if you don’t find that right fit before you find yourself in front of the goal.
Why Do Goalkeepers Helmets Have All Sorts Of Different Price Tags Online?
One of the things that I realized while doing some additional research for this article was the fact that the price tags on this type of gear were all over the place. You are going to be able to find options on eBay for under ten dollars. If you go to an official store, the price could top 30 dollars. You can find these types of differences in prices in a lot of gear for goalkeeping. The truth is a lot of the made in China products are usually going to be advertised at lower prices.
I am not going to sit here and say that all of these products are the worst thing in the world. There is a chance that you can find quality at low prices on eBay or Alibaba. Most of the time though, there is a catch. You will have to wait a couple of weeks for the product to arrive or it’s used or something like that. If you want to take your chances, go right ahead.
Most of us goalkeepers are pretty picky about our gear. For example, I love trying out gloves from different brands and different designs. Still, I want to make sure that I am buying the real deal. Therefore, I usually stick to providers that I know can deliver quality products for me. With this type of gear, it may also be a good idea to buy from a place that has a good returns policy. That way, if the fit is not quite right, you can send it back without too much trouble. Sadly, most of the products at low prices are a bit of a gamble. That being said, that doesn’t mean that you will always be safer buying the most expensive option on the market. Just make sure that you use a seller that you happen to trust!
Should Goalkeepers Wear Helmets Yes or No?
After saying all this, it’s time to give out a verdict. With the story about what happened to Cech and how he started wearing a helmet to play and practice, it’s safe to say most parents are going to be running to find a helmet if and when their kid ever tells them that he or she wants to get in goal. At the end of the day, the helmet can help soften any blow to the head. Most pros site though, the problem is that they don’t want to have to keep adjusting it on the fly with gloves on. That can get on your nerves fast. As a young keeper, it can be hard to find a helmet that fits perfectly. Kids could get irritated very quickly while wearing one.
If you are a parent and you want your goalkeeper kid to be extra safe, get them started wearing helmets early in their playing careers. Trying to adjust to something later on can get much more challenging. Don’t be too worried, though, if you just can’t adjust to wearing a helmet or force your kids to wear one. While there is a risk of head injury while playing in goal, most of the highball plays you can be involved in as a keeper will allow you to use your hands to go for the ball and the rest of your body to shield yourself from contact. As a goalkeeper and as the parent of a goalkeeper, I would be worried about making sure that the right technique is being used in these plays rather than trying to add any type of padding for protection.
Having the proper technique will lead to better judgment calls while you are out on the pitch. As far as my injury goes, you could make the case that I brought the problem on myself over a poor judgment call. Those are going to happen from time to time. With more practice, though, the hope is that you’ll be better equipped to make decisions while out on the pitch. If you find that wearing a helmet is comfortable and worth it for you, that’s awesome. The best way to avoid injuries, though, is by having better technique.
