Each Fairmount Soccer player will need their own soccer cleats and shin guards for outdoor play and their own indoor soccer shoes or sneakers and shin guards for indoor play. Goalkeepers are required to wear mouth guards. Players who wear glasses are required to use sports straps to hold them on. Goalkeepers in the Traveling Division who wear corrective lenses are required to wear "sport glasses" at the very least and urged to wear contact lenses. Goggles over glasses are never permitted. For information about safety and player equipment, see our Risk Management Page.

• Soccer cleats are required for both Intramural and Traveling Fairmount players during the outdoor seasons. Wearing soccer cleats outdoors makes the player safer due to increased traction.
• Any cleats (baseball, football, etc.) other than regulation soccer cleats are positively forbidden!
• Shoe size is the most critical aspect for good soccer shoes for every player. Wearing last years cleats if the youth player's foot size has increased or wearing an older sibling's cleats with "room to grow" are serious mistakes. Foot injuries will occur to a player who is not wearing properly fitted soccer cleats. They will not play well and will hate going to the practices or games. Good soccer cleats which a youth player will probably get only one season from should not cost an arm an a leg, so fit the player with the right size shoe.
• When choosing a pair of soccer cleats find one with a cleat arrangement which does not place a cleat directly under the ball of the big toe.
• The cleat placement on the shoe should be as far apart as possible, expecially in the heel area.
• If a shoe pad is needed in the heel use a silicone or plastic pad. Foam pads compress too much and do little good after wearing them for about a half hour.
• Generally a good commercial soccer shoe brand will be satisfactory for any youth player. Some brands are cut a little differently, just like regular shoes, so a particular player may favor one brand over another for fit.
• You do not have to buy a $100.00 and up "Copa", or even a $50.00 soccer shoe. The less expensive soccer shoes are satisfactory for the typical youth player. For some traveling players, however, a more expensive shoe may be less expensive in the long run. Many Fairmount Traveling players will play 20 games or more in a season for us, plus another 15 to 20 for school, plus they practice every day they aren't playing a game. A less expensive shoe may not last the season. The shoe must be in good shape at the end of the season so the foot is still properly fitting and protective. Buying a second pair of soccer shoes in one season for a youth player is expensive and a finding a good fitting pair of shoes may be difficult late in the season, at any price.

Return to Top

• For Intramural players sneakers are satisfactory for indoor play, although kicking with indoor soccer shoes is easier. For Traveling Players good indoor soccer shoes make it far easier to handle a ball compared to sneakers and so the indoor soccer shoes are highly recommended. In fact no indoor Traveling player for Fairmount wears sneakers.
• Shoe size is the most critical aspect for good soccer shoes for every player. Wearing last years shoes if the youth player's foot size has increased or wearing an older sibling's shoes with "room to grow" are serious mistakes. Foot injuries will occur to a player who is not wearing properly fitted soccer shoes. They will not play well and will hate going to the practices or games. Good indoor soccer shoes which a youth player will probably get only one season from can be worn like a regular sneaker after the season is over, so every player will get full value from the shoe.
• If a shoe pad is needed in the heel use a silicone or plastic pad. Foam pads compress too much and do little good after wearing them for about a half hour.
• Generally a good commercial soccer shoe brand will be satisfactory for any youth player. Some brands are cut a little differently, just like regular shoes, so a particular player may favor one brand over another for fit.
• You do not have to buy a $100.00 and up "Copa", or even a $50.00 soccer shoe. The less expensive soccer shoes are satisfactory for the typical youth player. For some traveling players, however, a more expensive shoe may be less expensive in the long run. Many Fairmount Traveling players will play 20 games or more in a season for us, plus another 15 to 20 for school, plus they practice every day they aren't playing a game. A less expensive shoe may not last the season. The shoe must be in good shape at the end of the season so the foot is still properly fitting and protective. Buying a second pair of soccer shoes in one season for a youth player is expensive and a finding a good fitting pair of shoes may be difficult late in the season, at any price.

Return to Top

• Shin guards are worn to protect the shin from impact injury due to being kicked by another player. If the shin pads are incapable of giving any real impact protection they are not worth your money. If the shin pads are so short that they don't cover the players shin they are not worth your money.
• Shin guards should fit well. They should not be so large or bulky to impair a players movement but large enough to cover the shin and thereby spread any impact over a wide area, thus lessening the impact of the blow. They should be loose enough to not squeeze the life out of the players foot or lower leg, but tight enough that they do not turn around the leg protecting the calf instead of the shin. They should have a satisfactory method of staying up against the shin during games.
• Shin guards should have enough padding so that they can absorb the energy of impact. Shin guards work in two ways. First they spread the impact over a large area of the shin through their surface area against the leg and second by absorbing the energy of the impact with their padding. The thin plastic shin guards seen being worn by many younger players DO NOT afford them more than minimal subpar protection and SHOULD NOT be purchased.
• Recently shin guards have been designed with hard plastic protective cups along the the lower sides of the guard. The cups are designed to protect the laterial and medial malleolus which are often injured in soccer. These are the ankle parts which stick out on the two sides of the ankle. Shin guard with this protection is recommended.
• In the May, 1995 issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine an article was published by Dr. D. H. Janda, M.D., of the Institute for Preventive Sports Medicine discussing the study he did with Cynthia A. Bir, M.S., R.N., and Stephen J. Cassatta, M.S.E. to determine the effectiveness of shin guards to prevent injury. They found that load forces were reduced by 41.2% to 77.1% on 22 of the major brands of shin guards for sale in 1994. One can conclude therefore, that shin guards are effective in preventing injury to the lower leg.

  The study discusses the fact that the shin guard can't be bulky and heavy or you just can't get a player to properly wear them, or play well in them. While we want to highlight the top four shin guards in this study based on a weight at or below 3.5 ounces and reducing force load by at least 60% it is important to understand that as is our policy we do not endorse the purchase of these specific brands. The following table lists those results.

  Shin Pad	Manufacturer	Weight (oz)	Percent Force Reduction at 20°C
  Shin Pal	Ohio Cellular	2.00	68.3%
  The Protector	Ohio Cellular	2.50	66.0%
  Pro-Pad	Quassar	3.00	71.5%
  Pro	Uhlsport	3.50	62.3%

Return to Top

• No mouth guard is particularly expensive, but a mouth guard, especially worn by a goalkeeper can save a fortune in dental bills
• The best mouth guard to purchase is a moldable one. Purchase the proper size and then using hot water and following the directions that come with the mouth guard mold it to the shape of the player's mouth.

Return to Top

• All glasses worn by Fairmount Soccer players at games and practices must have shatterproof lenses.
• All Fairmount Soccer players who wear glasses must use a sport's strap to keep the glasses from dislodging during a game or practice.
• Goalkeepers in the Traveling Division who wear corrective lenses must wear "sport glasses" at a minimum. The Fairmount Soccer Association urges that all Traveling Division goalkeepers who wear corrective lenses wear contact lenses.
• Goggles worn over glasses by any Fairmount Soccer player are not permitted.

Return to Top

• All Traveling Division goalkeepers are required to wear protection for their genital area.
• All Traveling Division players are urged to wear protection for their genital area.

Return to Top