Footwear

Two weeks ago I was playing Goaltimate with Alena and Anja, both GB women, who were talking about what cleats to bring at Worlds in Vancouver: Regular studs, blades, metal studs etc. I thought that when it comes to equipment (and also for everything else) Ultimate players are geeks.

I am definitely a footwear geek. First, because looking good is everything (I am doing the blue steel as I write), and second, because in the past I had a bad experience from a wrong footwear choice.

OK let’s start with the bad experience anecdote. Once upon a time there was a clueless graduate student who started playing Ultimate. He always had problems finding the correct shoe size. In particular he did not understand why some people could just:

1. go to a shoe store
2. ask for size X
3. try the shoes on
4. shoes fit perfectly
5. buy shoes

Instead he had to:

1. go to a shoe store
2. ask for size X, X+1/2 and X-1/2
3. try all shoes on
4. at least two kind of fit, but not perfectly
5. try another model
6. repeat steps 2-4
7. be undecided: take size X, hoping that they will fit better once they are broken in? Take size X+1/2 and hope that they will fit well with a double pair of socks?
8. eventually buy something

Following this process, once he ended up with a pair of cross trainers that he was going to use in the gym and to play indoor Ultimate.

Digression: Indoor Ultimate in the UK is usually played five-on-five on a basketball court.

The clueless student decided to play an indoor tournament. The team only had 7 players, so although a beginner in his first year of ultimate, he played many points... in his new shoes. He was also wearing a thick pair of cotton socks. He knew that cotton for sport is never good, but for just once, what could happen?

Result: The biggest blisters ever seen. I must still have a picture somewhere.

On his way back to the train station from the sport centre, he could barely walk. As the blisters were on the ball of the foot, he had to walk the whole way on his heels.

A day later he visited a nurse at the medical centre of the university. The nurse initially almost refused to see him for a case of blisters. When she saw the blisters, her eyes popped out, and could not believe that were caused by two days of running around an indoor court. An additional problem was that one of the blisters became infected.

The nurse, who obviously had never done sport in her life, gave random and useless advice on what to avoid blisters in the future.

The student had to walk on heels for about one week and could not play for three weeks.

Happy ending:

The student threw away the cotton socks and ordered good technical socks. £8 a pair and worth every penny.

In the gym where he was a member, once some New Balance representatives were measuring people’s feet to find their ideal New Balance shoes, which have width-sizes. He had his feet measured and it turned out that his feet are particularly wide. That’s why he always had problems finding shoes. He discovered his correct shoe size and became a loyal New Balance customer.

...which leads to the list of footwear that tomorrow he'll be packing in his backpack and taking to Vancouver:

Soft ground: New Balance 991 Low (in the picture at the top right)

American football shoes are the way to go. Soccer shoes don’t have the toe cleat.

Regular ground: New Balance 895 Low (on the right)

The 14-cleat version of the one above.

There is also a black version of both NB shoes. Many see black as the standard colour for cleats, together with dark blue and other dark colours. White is seen as the show-off colour. If you are the kind of player who matches his base layer to his jersey, get the white cleats. Otherwise get the black ones. Guess which ones I have? (I am doing the blue steel again).

American football shoes are difficult to find in Europe. Some online stores, like EasyBay, are based in the States, but ship also to Europe.

Hard ground: Dita turf hockey shoes

The model I have is not on sale any more. I have not found a brand that does hockey shoes with sizes in width. In this case I have to get them 1/2 size bigger and wear two socks. I bought mine online from Hockey Factory Shop.

Socks: Thorlo tennis padded mini-crew

These are the thickest most padded tennis shoes that Thorlo makes. They are made of a technical fibre called THOR-LON, very similar to CoolMax.

That’s it. That’s how I keep my feet happy.

Links

• New Balance
• Dita
• Thorlo
• EastBay
• Hockey Factory Shop
• SportsShoes