Your GA football equipment will all depend on what level you plan to be playing at. If you are going to head out to the park and meet up with some friends then a football is probably all you need. Unless you are concussion prone, then you will either need a helmet or smaller friends. If you plan on suiting up and playing on the high school or college level then you should purchase quality equipment to protect yourself.
- Cleats– Football players are finely trained athletes that have to be in constant motion. They must be able to run for long periods and turn on a dime when the play calls for it. Plus, they have to do it all without getting sore feet and nothing will take a player out of a game faster than a foot injury. Cleats will give you all of the traction that you need while protecting your foot as much as possible. They come in three different styles and each has its own specialty:
- High cut cleats do the most to protect your ankle but because of the protection they also limit your movement more than the others.
- Mid cut cleats are the middle ground between protection and mobility
- Low cut cleats are very lightweight for extra mobility but they do not offer much protection
- Helmet – Football is a game where very large people run into each other with great frequency so a concussion is a very real danger. In order to protect the player from a head injury the helmet, mouthpiece and chinstrap are all required to play. To protect the players head the helmet has to stay in the proper position and the chin strap makes sure that happens. Then the mouthpiece is fitted to give extra protection from concussion as well as helping to avoid mouth injuries.
- Shoulder pads – These pads are worn to absorb the shock of a tackle so that neither player suffers a neck or spinal injury. Quarterbacks tend to wear smaller and lighter ones because they need a full arm rotation and linebackers wear large bulky ones because they are on the front line of any play.
- Leg and Waist pads – Most players will insert knee, thigh, tailbone and hip pads into their football pants for further protection. Players get knocked around enough that without these pads they would carry the bruises for a long time after the games. Lastly, there is the cup, which is not required at some levels of play but it is definitely better to wear one and not need it than need it and not have it.