Choosing the correct sport shoes for kids should follow some well-known guidelines, along with a few insider tips, depending upon the sport. For example, in fitting almost any kid’s shoe, the time-honored technique in sizing is to make sure there is a thumb’s width from the tip of the child’s toe to the end of the shoe. The toes, therefore, should have room to wiggle around freely, plus it insures that some growth will not render the shoe obsolete before a couple of mere months have passed for this fast-growing clientele. The heel of the shoe should not slip off the foot as the child walks or runs either. Most shoes which fit properly are universally sized. A fitting at home for a specific size should give the expected result with shipped shoes.
Along the lines of somewhat less-than-well-understood guidelines, soccer shoes also have some inbuilt caveats. When there is a small number of cleats in the heel of the shoe, it can cause increased and excessive pressure on the growth plate of the youngster’s heel. Many soccer players between the ages of 9 and 13 complain of heel pain that gets worse with side-to-side pressure. Shoes with more cleats at the heel can help to alleviate this problem. Also, it should be smart to note that shorter cleats on football and soccer shoes can help reduce knee and ankle injuries. For young football and soccer players, cleats should be no more than one-half inch in length as a general rule.
By design many sport-specific shoes have essential reasons for their style and their design. Tennis shoes, for example, are designed for side-to-side motion, while running shoes are made for forward momentum and have added cushioning for impacts below the sole. Every sport these days makes totally and sometimes even drastic difference between these emphases. Sport-specific shoes mean that there are very few universal shoes which can go from one sport to another without some seriously compromising in the feet of the little participants.
And then there are the issues involving children with flat feet or suspect arches. Fortunately, shoe technology has discovered wonderful ways of mitigating the worst of these problems by supplying arch supports. Other children might “pronate” poorly – have their feet hit the ground with an overly or insufficient “roll” of 15% to support the body while running – which can also be rectified with a countervailing arch support/insert.
In short, there are many things to bear in mind when choosing the correct shoes for a child. Naturally, most times, inexpensive, off-the-shelf purchases are just fine. But with modern technology’s incredibly active researching of sports medicine and foot technology, ignoring what might the the ultimate in options is really worth a look.
