Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
“Customized Product without the Customized Price”
As the life of a centre half can be hard sometimes, you might have to replace different types of gear that some other positions on the team might not have to. A goalkeeper might have to change gloves, one or twice a season depending on weather conditions, but as the weeks went gone on last season I was having to replace shin guards on a more regular basis, three pairs to be exact.
Shin guards I have to say is one area I normally wouldn’t have spent time on deciding on, I guess I know what I like and would normally reach for the cheapest in the style I preferred. For me, I don’t like the ankle guards which I know you should consider being a centre-back but I rather the feel of whatever boots I’m wearing, sometimes the ankles guards can be quite bulky. So, I prefer the slip in style but a large coverage on the shin. Now I don’t know if it was my decision to go with the cheapest version, as I don’t think the tackles have got tougher over the years. For me I definitely think the quality of some of the lower end shin guards is questionable.
I have always liked certain companies who can give a customized product, as it relates to you, and you can feel like the pros on a soccer field, the issue normally surrounds the price of said product to be customized?
When I met a friend for lunch that week, he was returning from having some surgery on his arm, and I asked where his cast was. He said he didn’t need to wear a cast towards the end of his surgery as he had invested in an arm guard from EvoShield. I checked their website that night and noticed they sold shin guards that you can custom fit within 30 mins. I got in contact with Anthony who runs Evoshield in Ireland and he was happy to help out in sending me some gear to review.
How do they Work –
So the packaging is very well laid out, and gives step by step instructions on how to create your own custom made shin-guard. The product comes seal-packed in a silver packaging.
Step 1 – Remove all the contents from the sliver air-sealed packet. It will contain the soft shin guards, shin guards socks and some gauze.
Step 2 – Put on the shin guard shocks and prepare the gauze.
Step 3 – Place the soft, malleable shin guard into the shin guard sock and wrap the gauze tightly in place. The shin guards should be place where you like them to stay for a complete game.
Step 4 – Leave the shin guard in place with the gauze for at least 30-40. I would encourage you to do this for as long as you can.
I tested Step 4 to the max, as I started the full process one hour before I was due to leave for a game.
Feel and Process
The whole process is seamless and works really well as with a product this customized you really only get one shot to get the fit right. The process from when I finished applying with the gauze until the shin pad had hardened enough took about 40mins.
Game Time
I decided to leave the football sock on as that’s how they had formed to my shin. The product, when it had stiffened had ample protection, but also felt extremely light, to the point I checked my sock a couple of times to make sure I had something on..!
As a normal game there was a few standard tackles, but there was also some crunching ones and I’m delighted to say the EvoShield shin guards handled them very nicely. As they were formed to my shin I got that extra comfort I haven’t got from mass produced products that you find yourself trying to find a happy medium with. These shin guards are now my go to product when asked by other people for comfort and protection.
Negatives
The only slight negative is that normally with insert shin pads, they are totally alike you just place them inside your sock, as these are formed differently to each leg I had to write a small “L” and “R” on corresponding guard to make the transition easier, similar to Nike and Adidas football socks.
These guards arrived into us from evoshield-ireland.com check their site for more details on how to pick up a pair.
For those of you in the US, you can find pairs available on Evoshield.com
Anyone tested these guards? If so, how did they work out to you and would you recommend them to other soccer players?
Just wondering what’s ur height and what size did u ordered for the evoshield shin guards?