Football Equipment Central

Football equipment runs the whole gamut, from relatively inexpensive to quite pricey, and from safety to style and everywhere in between. Basically, however, most equipment used for this sport falls into one of two broad categories: safety and training. Each of these types has multiple subgroups, so here is a brief overview of the different types of football equipment and the purposes they serve.

Safety equipment is the first and most important type of gear you should get for football, and for other sports as well. Football protective equipment is worn on the body to protect players both during a game and during practice. Safety equipment generally performs one of three functions:

1. Head protection (helmet, facemask, mouth guard, etc.)
2. Mid-body/torso protection (shoulder pads, rib pads, neck rolls, etc.)
3. Leg/lower body protection (athletic cups, tailbone pads, thigh pads, hip pads, etc.)

Training equipment is used, of course, during training. Football training equipment is a lot more than just playing practice games over and over. There is a considerable amount of football practice equipment, exercises, drills, and strategy studying that go into training for a single football game. As equipment goes, the gear that a typical football team (or an individual player practicing outside of team practice) will use can generally be divided into two categories: gear for physical strength, and gear for physical skill.

1. Strength-based football equipment helps players get the physical control of their muscles for certain movements (like outrunning the other team, avoiding getting tackled, throwing or kicking a long and accurate down, etc.). Many of these practice tools are based on providing resistance to the player’s exercise, which means that when they play without the resistance, it will seem much easier. Resistance practice is often done with resistance chutes  and resistance sleds.
2. Skill-based football equipment hones specific skills and techniques. They are less fitness-based and more about details of the game. A great example is the “dummy” lineman bag, which is propped up to take the place of the opposing team’s line. During drills, players will practice their approach and technique to these ‘linemen’ so that scrimmage in a real game is second nature.

If you are getting your youth ready for their first season on a football team, it can be very helpful to understand the types of football equipment that the child will need. Almost all of this equipment is devoted to safety, which for parents, is a very good thing. We have all read or heard stories about the importance of safety on the football field. Making sure your child has the equipment he or she needs to stay safe on the field is of utmost importance. So educate yourself as a parent or guardian before the season starts, and make sure that your little (or not so little anymore) on has everything necessary to play safely.

The first category of youth football equipment, safety wise, is head and face protection. The helmet is, of course, the most popular and visible type of equipment in this regard. It prevents head injury and is essential. It also requires a face mask, the cage type piece that fits across the front of the helmet, protecting the nose, mouth, and eyes. A chin strap helps hold the helmet securely to the face and should always be properly fastened. Finally, the mouth piece keeps the player from knocking their jaw together, thus preventing broken teeth and a bitten tongue.

The second type of safety football team equipment protects the body, and padding makes up most of it. Players will wear elbow pads, knee pads, rib pads, shoulder pads, thigh pads, tailbone pads, hip pads, and butt pads, if not more. These should be properly inserted and secured inside the (often padded) football pants, which are designed with a special material that also helps disperse the force of a blow to reduce injury. Along with padding, players should wear an athletic cup that is secured independently or as part of the pant system.

Proper shoes are important, too. They should be the right size and have proper cleats, to ensure the player has a firm grip when they run.

Other football equipment helps not with safety, but training. For youth, a ball is usually sufficient, but older players will want more in depth training options.

As football equipment goes, there are several different purposes that the equipment fulfills. Much of the equipment people buy is for safety and protection during the game itself. But the other major category is for training purposes. During a game, you basically just use a ball and sometimes a small kickstand. But during practice, there are dozens of items and training tools that can really teach players, from those in peewee football all the way up through the NFL, the skills they need to play the game and to always increase their skills.

Some of this football equipment helps players improve general fitness, and others work on specific physical skills that they will need during the game. For a fitness example, players need to run and lift their feet high so they are harder to take down during a tackle. Therefore, something that helps the leg muscles prepare for this is a very helpful piece of football equipment. Many teams have training ropes that form an elevated grid; the players run through the ropes during drills, and have to lift their legs high to get through.

Another type of football equipment used for fitness is a speed chute. This is essentially a small parachute attached to the torso of a player. When the player runs, he experiences quite a bit of wind resistance from the chute. This makes him work harder against that resistance, which will increase his speed on the field when he is playing without the chute, and also help him resist the attempts of the opposing team to slow him down.

Running sleds also help improve the physical athleticism of the players. Running sleds are meant for use on grass. They are small metal sleds with handles that allow the player to practice running with his head down, as he would on the line. They can also be loaded with a weight to increase the challenge of this exercise. When weighted, they can be attached to a harness and dragged behind the player, to also help with resistance during running.

There are dozens of other football equipment training aids, but these are just a few that you can use to help yourself get in shape.

As football equipment goes, there is a whole lot to choose from. From practicing with the team to practicing at home, and from playing in the big game to suiting up before the season starts, you have a lot of gear options ahead of you. Here are five of the most useful (and sometimes, required) types of equipment for football that an average player will need to use at some point during the season (or off-season). Of course, what you buy will depend on your position, but these are five of the most helpful.

1. Helmet. Choosing the helmet that is right for you is mostly about fit, but style and materials can also play a role. Check with what’s required by the organization you play under, and make sure you have adequate padding, a solid facemask, and a well-fitted chin strap.
2. Padding. Shoulder pads and rib pads go un under your jersey, but some thigh, butt, and knee pads actually fit into pockets in specialized football pants. Still other pants have tailbone and hip pads permanently attached. No matter how you do it, padding is essential both in competition and practice.
3. Resistance sleds. These are great for linemen wanting to strengthen their forward motion while crouching near the ground, especially sleds that are weighted to really challenge you. Sleds can also be pulled by cords and a harness for players wanting resistance while running.
4. Tethered ball. Great for kickers, quarterbacks, and anyone else responsible for launching the ball, a tether can attach either to a harness that the player wears (good for passing practice) or a ball stand / ball tee (good for kicking practice). Often quite flexible yet not too long, a tether lets you practice long range passing and kicking without having to retrieve the ball from so far away. This is also good for people practicing in a backyard rather than a full field.
5. Running ladder/ropes. Good for overall fitness and agile footwork at the same time, a running ladder or running ropes (in a raised grid pattern) challenge you to run fast but precisely and raise your feet well off the ground.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of football equipment products that are designed to help players work off-field to improve their game on-field. Generally, these items fulfill one of two purposes: fitness or technique. Fitness football equipment helps athletes get in shape by focusing on the muscles and movements that they will rely on most during the game. Technique equipment will help develop specific skills related to plays. Here is a deeper look into the first style: fitness equipment.

For one example, having the ability to run through the other team without being pulled down can be very useful in football. So players practice running with resistance equipment, which puts weight on them and forces them to learn to run in spite of that. Examples of resistance equipment include:

• Resistance chutes. These are small parachutes that are strapped to a harness around the player’s torso. Running causes the parachute to fill with air and resist the runner’s motion.
• Power sleds. These are small metal sleds that ride on the ground. They can be roped to a harness on the athlete’s back and made heavier with weights. This also provides resistance to the runner, adding strength and endurance when he gets on the field.

Power sleds are an especially versatile type of football equipment. Besides being used for upright running, they also have handles. These handles let the athlete lean over and push the sled with their arms while running. This improves the hunched stance and force that players will need on the line to push through the opposing team’s players.

Then there are training aids used in drills that challenge players to perform more specific skills, such as running with high steps, to avoid being tripped up by the opposing team. One very common type of football equipment for this skill is a rope grid. Football running ropes are placed in a grid pattern raised a foot or so off the ground. Players run through and have to lift their feet high enough not to trip. If they do this daily, they will develop the muscle strength and agility to run this way on the field, as well.