Most players rent their shoulder pads and helmets from the league. I recommend that approach as being no more expensive and generally safer than buying that equipment. A single pair of youth-sized shoulder pads can range from $50 to $150. If your son grows - and all his coaches hope that he will - he will probably need a new set for every season of youth football. And he will probably outgrow his helmet from year to year too, necessitating another $60 to $150.
Shoulder pad and helmet rental for the season at FCCJC is $60. Buying the cheapest helmet and shoulder pads you can get, and replacing them even every two years, which may not be possible, would save you only $20 over four years versus renting. That is a bad risk, both financially and protection-wise.
You will need to purchase a mouth guard, football cleats, football pants with appropriate padding, and an athletic supporter.
The league requires a molded, colored mouthpiece - it can't be clear. I recommend the kind that has a plastic loop that goes around the face mask with the mouthpiece running back through, rather than the one with the disconnect-able attachment. If the attachment is disconnected this year, even if the mouthpiece is in the mouth, we get a penalty.
I recommend football cleats instead of soccer shoes or tennis shoes - though all three are legal. Football cleats usually have more traction than soccer shoes and always have more traction than tennis shoes. Being fast or strong really doesn't matter if your feet slip.
There are two types of pants. Lots of kids have the traditional kind that hold a set of seven snap in / slide in pads (pads are about $15 a pack at Dick's Sporting Goods). Color doesn't matter for practice. Here's a link to those pants. Some kids (or moms) seem to favor the pants with the built in pads. They're more expensive but less trouble I guess. Here's a link to a sample of those. For games our players will need black football pants, no stripes. My son has black for both games and practice - that way in a pinch he could wear either one, and sometimes one pair is actually clean.
My oldest son plays for the high school team, and he uses a 'girdle' under his pants rather than the snap in hip and tail-bone pads. That is a matter of personal preference, but all the pants must ultimately have the two thigh pads, two knee pads, two hip pads, and the tail-bone pad.
I highly recommend some type of athletic supporter and cup. Something like this is what many kids use, but this would work too. Some of the cups are 'soft', and seem like a cut-down knee pad. But other kids want the harder plastic cups. I never liked those very much because you could get what was called a 'cup ringer' - you'll just have to use your imagination for that. But that's all they had back in my day.
Whether or not you have a "practice jersey" is up to you. Some players get a nice mesh jersey for the hot days. But it is perfectly OK to wear some previous year's game jersey, or your dad's T-shirt, or even your mom's sorority sweatshirt on a cold day. When I was in the fifth grade I may have been the only Chi Omega playing tackle football. Whatever fits over the shoulder pads will work just fine.
If you have questions about equipment or what you'll need, just drop me a note or leave a comment.
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