Turf Soccer Shoes?
- Thread starter G03_SD
- Start date
Most cleats work fine on artificial grass, except those with blade type of studs. If the cleats have conical studs, they will work just fine. The issue with blade type is that it can get caught and potentially induce twist into the player's motion while moving (ankle, knee). The newer AGs with rubber pellets keep it safer but can still happen. Luckily, today's surfaces are nothing like the astroturf of 70s~80s so the chances are significantly less for surface induced injury.
I feel that most fields that we play on in OC that a turf cleat (rubber knobs) is probably better than a firm ground or "normal" cleat. The cleats you see the pros wear are designed for perfect grass. It's thick. It's watered down. There are no dry spots. They need a cleat that will dig in a little.
But for the dirt patches and goat farms that our kids play on - they dont usually need as much of a cleat. I've heard people say that they think bladed style cleats on firm ground can be blamed for all of the knee injuries we see.
But very few kids are wearing turf shoes. There really isn't much of a variety at local stores that carry soccer footwear.
I play in old man leagues - on the new style "artificial" turf and on typical park-type fields. I only wear turf shoes (copas). If they work for my fata$$, your 90 pound 6th grader will probably be fine. I also have jacked up feet (arch issues) and wearing turf shoes means I will actually be able to walk the next day after a game. If I wear my other cleats, it takes a few days until my Fred Flintstone feet work properly.
But for the dirt patches and goat farms that our kids play on - they dont usually need as much of a cleat. I've heard people say that they think bladed style cleats on firm ground can be blamed for all of the knee injuries we see.
But very few kids are wearing turf shoes. There really isn't much of a variety at local stores that carry soccer footwear.
I play in old man leagues - on the new style "artificial" turf and on typical park-type fields. I only wear turf shoes (copas). If they work for my fata$$, your 90 pound 6th grader will probably be fine. I also have jacked up feet (arch issues) and wearing turf shoes means I will actually be able to walk the next day after a game. If I wear my other cleats, it takes a few days until my Fred Flintstone feet work properly.
Probably just their cleats melting on the 120+ degree field surface.
Lots of fantastic information in here. It honestly makes me feel happy with how informed you guys are.
Here are the types of shoes that are intended for which types of surface.
IC, flats - indoor court, think futsal and older astroturf (carpet)
Tf, nubs- turf, think astroturf (carpet) and some 3g turf (more grasslike with the pellets)
Ag, molded studs that are shorter and more of them- 3g turf and some dry grass
Fg, molded studs of normal length and normal amount- dry grass and some wet grass
Sg, studs of longer length and less of them- wet grass
Realistically the perfect all around boot for SoCal kids is going to be the AG soleplate. It has the most crossover for the types of fields our players are on. Ag soleplates have more studs of reduced length to limit the locked in feeling of playing in turf in fg boots, it is hard to explain but once you’ve done it you know the feeling. This is where it gets tricky as causation for injury hasn’t been proven between using fg boots on turf, but it certainly has correlation.
Sg realistically will never be used unless there is a large amount of rain or they are traveling somewhere where there is a lot of rain.
Fg is what we see the most of. They are fine for grass fields and okay for turf, but the ideal in my eyes would be to slip once or twice in ag boots on a harder field than impact your joints more heavily in fg boots on turf.
I hope this helps!
Here are the types of shoes that are intended for which types of surface.
IC, flats - indoor court, think futsal and older astroturf (carpet)
Tf, nubs- turf, think astroturf (carpet) and some 3g turf (more grasslike with the pellets)
Ag, molded studs that are shorter and more of them- 3g turf and some dry grass
Fg, molded studs of normal length and normal amount- dry grass and some wet grass
Sg, studs of longer length and less of them- wet grass
Realistically the perfect all around boot for SoCal kids is going to be the AG soleplate. It has the most crossover for the types of fields our players are on. Ag soleplates have more studs of reduced length to limit the locked in feeling of playing in turf in fg boots, it is hard to explain but once you’ve done it you know the feeling. This is where it gets tricky as causation for injury hasn’t been proven between using fg boots on turf, but it certainly has correlation.
Sg realistically will never be used unless there is a large amount of rain or they are traveling somewhere where there is a lot of rain.
Fg is what we see the most of. They are fine for grass fields and okay for turf, but the ideal in my eyes would be to slip once or twice in ag boots on a harder field than impact your joints more heavily in fg boots on turf.
I hope this helps!
TangoCity
GOLD
wow - did you show that to any of the refs or tournament directors. That is child abuse to play on a 148F degree field.
There are a couple of turf fields that my kid has worn “indoor” shoes to. In particular there was one in la canada that seemed to be made up of the cheapest rolled up Home Depot fake grass without any sort of cushion below. There was probably 20 slip n slide moments by the visiting team (us) in the game.
Regardless of the type of turf, it does get hot as hell. My kid has gotten some pretty nasty burns on the knees. I purchased some of these: https://m.dickssportinggoods.com/p/...eve-16pteaptxknslvclsspm/16pteaptxknslvclsspm to cut down on the damage
Regardless of the type of turf, it does get hot as hell. My kid has gotten some pretty nasty burns on the knees. I purchased some of these: https://m.dickssportinggoods.com/p/...eve-16pteaptxknslvclsspm/16pteaptxknslvclsspm to cut down on the damage
Sparky9
SILVER ELITE
I showed it to the admins at the ref tent. They shortened the games by 20 minutes and gave water breaks every 10 minutes. Pretty brutal even with that.
Even in that heat my GK will still wear long sleeves and pants!! She says she'd rather suffer in the heat than get a nasty turf burn at those temps. On a rare occasion she'll ditch the long sleeves and wear a short sleeve jersey only. But she'll still wear pants.
As far as cleats go..I only put her in the Adidas Ace AG/FG Cleats. As the above-mentioned posts regarding bladed cleats and injuries goes..while there's no guarantee with any cleat this helps solve those problems a little bit and gives me some peace of mind. She's worn turf shoes before but said she didn't see any significant difference. YMMV.
As far as cleats go..I only put her in the Adidas Ace AG/FG Cleats. As the above-mentioned posts regarding bladed cleats and injuries goes..while there's no guarantee with any cleat this helps solve those problems a little bit and gives me some peace of mind. She's worn turf shoes before but said she didn't see any significant difference. YMMV.