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Where To Get Equipment You may or may not have a store where you live that sells field hockey equipment. Yeah, that's right, they have nice goalie stuff all out on display...How pretty...Unless you have connections and can get a discount DON'T BUY IT. When I was shopping around for new legguards and kickers, I first went to the field hockey store near one of my game fields. Sure, they had some stuff. It was expensive, but they had it. Then I went online, and guess what I found out? It's almost always cheaper to order online than it is to buy from a store!! Of course, like I said before, if you live by a factory outlet, or your mother's best friend's uncle's dog-sitter works for a supplier and you can get a discount, it might be worth your while to just drive out and buy some stuff. But if not, I highly recommend buying off of the internet. I bought my OBOs online and saved almost $500 Canadian. Nice, huh? But where do you start? Well, first of all, decide what brand you want by checking out some of the following sites (also look at some testimonials on the "what we use" page): OBO are the undisputed goalie gods. I got my pads from the OBO website, and I LOVE them! They tend to be a bit on the expensive side, but they are very good quality. Plus the staff will answer any questions you e-mail them. The site has really nice colour photos, and detailed descriptions. They also have a forum that posts questions and tips from other goal-keepers. All the prices are listed in US dollars. These guys are OBO's main competitors. They're based in Germany and make almost every field hockey product you can imagine! A lot of goalies in my club use TKs. They have great colour photographs, and their equipment is very reliable. They also sell some Bauer stuff, like helmets. Only problem is, there aren't any prices listed, and very limited info. The legguards and kickers are very protective, and they move quite well too. Their foam gloves are also said to be the best gloves on the market, because of their rebound and protective design (especially the right hand). I had never heard of these guys until recently. They have really cheap goalie equipment, but quite frankly, it sucks. It's mostly just the old steel-bar kind. But if you want a good laugh, by all means, visit! Grays are the great makers of top-notch field hockey sticks, but they also make goalie equipment. I've never used it, but here's what Justin had to say: "I used grays g200, g400 and g500 legguards/kickers before, and I reckon the g500's were the only half decent standard! the old style were really bad, sucky ankle protection was the problem; and it was difficult to slide with straight/square pads. the new design of the kickers and legguards of the entire range have eliminated (to an extent) the low-ankle protection, but it can't beat obo robo (what i have) ankle protection coming straight at you. however the advantage about the grays over the obo straight tongue, is that it's collared around the ankle... but it's not high enough for my liking. so the new design g400 and g500 are decent, rebound is fuller than the robo hi-control, but it doesn't last as long..." I hadn't heard of these guys until I did a net-comb, and finally found a site with a list of goalkeeping suppliers. Their stuff doesn't look half bad. But don't take my word for it, I've never seen the stuff in action. If you use Mercian, please give me a shout! Monarch
is an internationally used brand-name, and was used by two (or more?)
goalies in the last women's world cup. I've received mixed feedback on
their legguards/kickers. Justin: "I got to use monarch kickers for
half-a-season, and I truly liked them! they had amazing rebound, great
protection, and didn't seem to wear out much at all!" Chris:
"I use Monarch pads and in my experience have found them to be
Crap!!! A lot of people seem to like Gryphon equipment. I've found their old stuff to be a bit bulky, but John says: "Their equipment is top notch, and they have a new style coming out soon that looks a lot like OBO pads. . .And personally I think their pads, kickers and hand protectors are the equal of anybody else's". Justin also added this comment on the Gryphon upper-body protection: "I use the body amour, and I really like it! it might not be flashy in design, but there's a serious foam padding on the underside to protect the ribs and all! the only flaws I can put to it are exposed elbows (which you can get elbow protectors for) and a clumsy collar..." The boys' team in my age division uses Slazenger pads. The ones their goalie is using aren't top level, of course, but I thought they were very good. The only problem I found was that the legguards did not always stay on properly. They were very protective though, and the boys' coach swears by them! The pink colour was a bit of a laugh though... Brabo isn't used where I live, but I got an e-mail from Junior, and this is what he said: "There is a Dutch Brand going by the name of Brabo, They are well known around my small town (even though we're in Australia) mainly because they hold coaching clinics here, They make reasonable Goalie gear for people our age but I wouldn't recommend them for top level goalies, which is what I'll be soon so I don't actually wear them... Their site is in Dutch so Go there if you wish but you'll probably blindly find your way around by clicking links..." I'm assuming this is an Australian brand. I got this link from KiDDy, but it's not their official web-site, just I place for browsing/buying. It doesn't look like anything great, and the colours are pretty ugly. This is actually an ice hockey company, but several people have told me they use an Olie helmet. They've got awesome designs, are reported to be VERY protective, and they've got great special throat protection. Some other companies make goalkeeping equipment, but I wasn't able to find any online info about them. If you can help out, please e-mail me! |
