Of course, it is not about the boots, it is about the player! But football cleats can give you the confidence and assurance that your feet are ready to tackle that ball for the first time and the relationship between the foot and ball just gets better with a right, authentic pair of football cleats.
Right pair
What may look good on your favourite player may not be the right pair of cleats for you. Each person's game is different based on his or her training and personality. And there are different kinds of cleats based on the surfaces played on, based on the position players choose to play at etc. Plus the number of world class manufacturers of football cleats, just makes the choice though difficult, necessarily a well thought out one.
Things to consider when purchasing football cleats
For that first pair for a little boy or girl, every aspect of his or her football cleats is a novelty and a decision to be taken.
Sizing is one important factor, the weight another and of course the price. It should not be too big, which you can conclude it is, if it's your baby finger width space between the toes and the top part of the boot. Something with a little less space than the width of a baby finger would be just right. Coupled with leather uppers, which are soft and flexible, such a pair of football cleats would be easy to break in. If you are worried about them growing out of it too fast, go for that baby finger width. The leather upper would stretch too, to accommodate growth spurt.
Here it must be said that if you consider the above, you could be compromising on the weight. A leather boot generally weighs an ounce more than a synthetic one, but is more durable. 8 ounces is considered the regular weight of a football cleat.
The same choices hold for older players in addition to a host of other factors such as:
1. Positions played at - Are you a defender or a midfielder or both? Defensive players will want more protection of their feet from frenzied goal hitters and midfielders need a shoe that is good for running as they are the ones who traverse the length of the football pitch many times during the game. A forward will require a boot that allows for a neat strike and also be sufficiently lightweight to allow for sudden movements.
2. The nature of the football pitch - You could choose soft ground, firm ground or hard ground football cleats. The newer turfs that have special cleats for them are called the Artificial turf and artificial ground. So in short, we have FG, SG, HG, AG, AT and IN- this last one for any sort of court soccer play.
3. Type of upper material - This classification could be K- leather (kangaroo leather) leather (calf or goat), synthetic leather which is the most popular now and making great strides in its mimicking real leather. Additional traits like water proofing are added. Synthetic and mesh are lightweight upper materials while knit, the latest revolutionary entrant, has the upper lined with a protective layer to keep out the water.
