I have a recent article that talks about what can make goalkeeper gloves good. In writing that the first thing that I realized is that what makes goalkeeper gloves “good” is extremely subjective. Yes, manufacturers can put a ton of work into making sure that the gloves feature the best grip. There’s an argument to be made that grip is the least subjective of the characteristics that you’ll be looking for in your journey to learn how to choose the right goalkeeper gloves. From there we start seeing gloves of all shapes sizes and even colors, the cut of the gloves can change a ton of things as well. If the cut is too wide or too narrow in a particular area for you and it hurst your fingers it won’t be a good idea for you to chose those gloves. That doesn’t mean they are not good.
Another reason why I do feel that this is an important topic to cover is because we as goalkeepers are usually looking for new gloves about every two years. I don’t mean that your gloves are going to last two years what I mean is that manufacturers usually change up models and you can’t really find the gloves that you liked after about two or three years. At least at that point the gloves aren’t being mass produced. If you know which characteristics you want to have in your goalkeeper gloves then the process of how to choose the right goalkeeper gloves becomes much easier. That’s exactly what I aim to do here.
How To Choose The Right Goalkeeper Gloves – Why Grip Is The Last Thing You Should Worry About
This may surprise a couple of people, but I’m nost saying that grip shouldn’t be a factor in how to choose the right goalkeeper gloves. What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be so in awe of the grip that you bypass all of the other factors that may clearly indicate that those particular gloves are not for you. Let’s say that you have a very tight glove not a lot of thickness to it, the grip is great, but when those hard shots come in you can feel the burn. The way that I see it there’s always a chance to find equal grip or something similar on gloves that are not causing you pain every single time that a shot comes in.
It may sound like I’m contradicting myself here, but of course you should always look for the gloves with the best grip out there. All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t sacrifice everything else to get better grip levels. When we are talking about the top gloves on the market really the difference in grip levels between one model and the other is like splitting hairs. I wouldn’t necessarily say that one brand is head and shoulders over the rest when it comes to grip. Of course you want to have gloves that make catching the ball a lot of easier. Many of us who struggle with that appreciate the help, but don’t get caught with gloves that just don’t fit you right because they feature good grip.
The Thickness Of The Glove Is A Key Factor
Here I go again with this topic, if you’ve read through some of the other articles on the site you know that glove thickness is something that is a major concern of mine. This is because I feel that many brands have gone to the slick, and thin glove that favours movement over the bulckier options of the past. The problem with some of these thinner gloves is that they don’t provide enough resistance to the impact of a shot. What that means is that you’re going to feel the burn every time that a hard shot comes in. I’ve talked about my experience with Reusch speedbump gloves which are by no means the slimmest option on the market.
Grip can be fine you can even enjoy a ton of different aspects from the glove. Yet, when those hard shots come in you’re going to feel the heat. Ultimately, those shots can add up, and bring wrist issues and finger injuries. Part of how to choose the right goalkeeper gloves is having that courage to choose the boring option. I’m really serious about this, sometimes we want to try the gloves from the hip brand, and the futuristic looks. That’s great I’m a glove addict myself and I understand that urge to try all of the options that arrive on the market. When you get serious into goalkeeping though you probably want to look for the option that maximizes performance and minimizes injury potential.
How To Choose The Right Goalkeeper Gloves – Within Your Size Range
Have you ever gone to buy some new sneakers and realized that your regular size fits weird with those particular shoes? This is something that can also happen with goalkeeper gloves. It does have something to do with the finger cut that we’re going to talk about here shortly. Ultimately though, you have to know that not all size 10 gloves are going to fit the same. To be honest that can be a real problem when you’re essentially in the highest part of the spector. There are plenty of glove brands that make anything above a size 10 glove hard to find. So if you put on the size 10 glove and you can’t get it to fit properly then you should probably just move onto another model that does carry a size 11. The glove has to fit you don’t try to fit into the glove.
When you wear sizes that fall within that middel ground in the sense that you’re going to be able to choose a smaller larger size if the glove doesn’t fit then don’t be tied down by the idea that you’re a size this or that. It doesn’t make much sense to again try to force yourself into a particular glove. If you like the glove, but something is off with the size you can always try another size. It is true though that you may find you’re in the middle ground a bit. Neither size feels like it’s overly comfortable for you. If that happens it may just be best to go on ahead and look for another model. Again, don’t try to force yourself into the glove.
The Cut Just Has To Fit
I’m not going to get into the cut names that glove brands put out there. The reason is rather simple negative cut gloves are a label that plenty of brands throw out there for example. When you look at gloves from different brands that say they both feature a negative cut, the gloves can be completely different. So what I mean by the cut on goalkeeper gloves is literally the way that the contours of the fingers is presented. Back in the day, brands wanted to make their gloves bigger so what we got was larger fingers on gloves to potentially allow keepers to cover a bit more grounds. Now it seems that the trend is for everything to go skin tight.
How to choose the right goalkeeper gloves when you’re factoring in the cut? I can’t come out here and say that one cut is better than the next. It truly depends on what you like and what you’re trying to get out of the glove. What I would say to avoid are cuts that maybe put a lot of pressure on the space between your fingers. If you’ve had a finger injury and now one of your fingers is crooked there could be cuts that you just won’t ever feel comfortable with. Going back to shoe analogy something it’s not size it’s just that the shoe doesn’t feel right because of the way that it’s shaped. That’s the same thing that happens with goalkeeper gloves.
Is Your Wrist Area Comfortable?
This is another part that is super important, mainly because it’s what’s going to help you prevent injuries. In this case as well potentially all of the other situations that we talked about the right way to figure out how to choose the right goalkeeper gloves is to take into account how you play. With the wrist maybe what you want to take into account is if you tape your wrists or not. If you do tape your wrists, and you essentially feel comfortable leaving the responsibility for your wrists to the tape then you may want to have a looser wrist strap on your gloves. When you don’t tape your wrists then you probably want to rely on the strap to do the work. So you want something that can be tighter in that particular area.
Once again it’s not about deciding what option is better overall. It comes down to what’s better for you personally. Along with the glove thickness issue this is another element of goalkeeper gloves that I don’t feel should be overlooked. You could get the best looking gloves on the market, but if they are going to increase your chances of injury why would you do that to yourself? It’s better to go with the glove option that caters to your particular needs and can potentially help you stay safe than going with the option that maybe looks better for your outfit. It seems like a no brainer, but for those of us who feel like fashion icons on the pitch it can end up being a tough decision.
Should You Still Choose Gloves That Aren’t Overly Durable?
Without a doubt this is an issue that you have to contend with when you buy goalkeeper gloves. Can you afford to buy a particular pair that is just amazing in every aspect, but doesn’t last as much as you’d like it to? I’m not just talking about money here, the issue with some of the pro options out there that you may decide to take to less than stellar fields is that they can start ripping real easily. It’s not an issue for the top pros in the game they can get new gloves before every training session in some cases. For the common folk it may not be as easy to dish out north of a hundred dollars for a pair of gloves.
If you regularly play on real good fields then you’re not going to have to worry all that much about durability. What you can do if you have some very special gloves that aren’t necessarily all that durable is just use those for games. You can use a pair that maybe isn’t as great for training, but they can be your workhorse, and you can wear the top tier option when things matter most. Knowing this I think that you can afford to buy gloves that aren’s as durable just as long as you can manage their usage rate and have them ready when it counts most!
How To Choose The Right Goalkeeper Gloves Conclusion
When you understand what type of attributes that certain goalkeeper gloves feature can actually help you elevate your game then you’re going to have an easier time choosing goalkeeper gloves. There’s really no other way to say it. The biggest danger that I see particularly with younger kids is that parents who don’t know goalkeeping will go out and get them the modern glove that the top brands are selling. Really some of the modern features in those gloves don’t help kids who are going to need a little extra padding to cope with hard shots.
Perhaps even a more interesting debate is how important it is to be wearing the right type of gloves. To be fair with older guys or girls at higher levels it’s not all that relevant. The hope of course is that by the time you get to those higher levels of the game you’ll have the right technique to potentially make any glove work. Even then though, it’s always a good idea to understand what you want out of your goalkeeper gloves. Once you can do that the selection process is going to become much easier.
