Keeper Gloves??

After a few years of being a keepers dad I found that the cheap gloves are not the way to go for a dedicated keeper. Finger protectors have saved many black and blue knuckles. Should have changed to finger protectors long ago.

Our last pair (Joma’s) have been by far the best for performance and protection but the foam padding started deteriorating almost immediately.

What keeper gloves have everyone found that perform well and are durable?

What is a reasonable life expectancy of $100 plus dollar goalie gloves?

Both of my kids are keepers. They use a pair of cheaper gloves for general practice and drills, and save the finger safe gloves for games and more aggressive practices. That has really helped with wear and tear on the good gloves.

Longevity of gloves is all in the latex grade and how you care for them. My DD has tried Sells, Puma and Reusch and swears by the Reusch. That being said, the SG [soft grip latex] that she uses in practice and can get for around $45-60 lasts about a season [spring or fall - 6 months basically] even with best care under a typical three practice a week schedule. The X1 latex - which is used mainly during games - have lasted about a year. We spent about $130 on those. They are great for wet weather and can be used on dry pitches if moistened before games and during halftime. Reusch has some newer latex models out - like the D1 Durasoft foam, designed for hard ground or artificial turf. However, to get durability you give up on grip. The new G2 Ultrasoft foam supposedly outranks its forerunner in terms of grip in dry and wet conditions. It's a good hybrid between the X1 and the SG. You don't have to wet them down to get great grip and they're supposedly more durable than the SG. She has liked them in the last few games from a performance perspective. We'll see how they hold up. Check soccergarage.com for gloves. They always have some on sale, especially older models; along with a good selection. If you know your size, they can't be beat. The only other concern is what kind of finger style you like or whether it's rolled or flat fingers. You have to try them on to know how they feel and whether you like a rolled finger or not. My DD loves the Ergonomic Support System which pre-splays the fingers for best catching position. She likes a flat palm / finger with the exception of the rolled thumb for control [see REUSCH TORUK G2 ORTHO TEC].

And yes, we highly recommend finger protection. Reusch seems to have the more durable stays. We had issues with Fingersaves breaking. The Orthotecs are also not as stiff as the Puma or Sells, so they break in faster, in MHO. Hope that helps.

justamomof2 wrote:Both of my kids are keepers. They use a pair of cheaper gloves for general practice and drills, and save the finger safe gloves for games and more aggressive practices. That has really helped with wear and tear on the good gloves.

I agree.

The flat-palm gloves should be used as game gloves. The flat palms are designed to take on wear almost immediately but many go beyond "reasonable wear and tear" too quickly. You shouldn’t be seeing fabric after 3 or 4 games but a lot of gloves now do that. Use dimpled-palm gloves for training as they are generally more durable.

New game gloves should be broken in during a practice or two before their first game but that's the extent of it.

The nice thing about having a set of practice gloves... I always preferred my dimple-palm gloves in wet weather anyway. They are better for managing that thin fill of water that coats the ball on rainy days.

I recommend the brand Reusch and having a practice in game pair. Might use old game pair for practice and rotate them that way. Best way to get better durability out of them.

I've always wondered why they can't wrap the latex material that they use on football(american) gloves. Abviously those gloves don't have the padding needed for GK gloves, but I would love to see the super grip latex material they use put on GK gloves. Is there a reason they don't use that type of super grip latex?

11 yr. old DD has been using Reusch exclusively for the past 2 years. Primary reason is that Reusch is one of the few that actually have a "thumb saver" as well as finger savers. We've been going with the mid-level models in the $50-70 range. We've been averaging about 4 months of "game" play per pair. Once we get a new pair, they become her "game" gloves, the previous game pair becomes her practice pair, and the previous practice pair gets tossed.

DD used Reusch for 3 years but this past season switched to HO gloves (with finger safes). She won't use anything else and I'm pretty sure she tried them all .

I have found it is less expensive to order from the UK than to find gloves in local stores.

check out http://www.just-keepers.com/

The selection is larger and you can get the gloves personalized and shipped here for less than purchasing direct from most stores/web sites.

I do agree with Gopher of the Reusch gloves with the thumb safes, but my DD always took it out.

nukem wrote:DD used Reusch for 3 years but this past season switched to HO gloves (with finger safes). She won't use anything else and I'm pretty sure she tried them all .

I have found it is less expensive to order from the UK than to find gloves in local stores.

check out http://www.just-keepers.com/

The selection is larger and you can get the gloves personalized and shipped here for less than purchasing direct from most stores/web sites.

I do agree with Gopher of the Reusch gloves with the thumb safes, but my DD always took it out.

Agree with nukem. DD has been playing keeper for 7 years. Has used several Reusch, most recently the Keon G2, which were not a durable as the G1 latex. She recently started not using finger saves, with no issues (used to take the thumb spine out as well). She has also switch to HO, the Ghotta Hybrid Roll Finger (no finger saves), which is an aqua latex so just keep it wet during use. It has just as much grip as the Reusch G2, and much better durability. One other thing to consider is the cut of the glove is narrower through the palm which fits the female hand better. Also has two wrist straps so the glove is very secure. the middle finger is a little long but not an issue. She does the game -> practice rotation as mentioned above, and the current practice pair which still have plenty of life left have been used for 4 months.

http://www.prodirectsoccer.com/Products/HO-Goalkeeper-Gloves-HO-GHOTTA-Roll-Goalie-Gloves-Goalkeeping-WhiteCherryBlack-50651.aspx

We also order from the UK, www.prodirectsoccer.com. With the mulit-buy discount our last order of two pair delivered from England was $160.00.

One last thing that we see a lot of keepers not doing. Wash your gloves, after every use if you can. (also prewash when they are new once or twice before use) We use the Reusch Glove Wash. That will make your gloves last longer and have better grip. Tiny particles of dust will get in the latex and act as an abrasive from the inside.

Here is another resource for tips, reviews, etc.

http://www.goalkeepertalk.com/

Besides the aforementioned Sells, Adidas and Puma; my DD has tried Umbro, Warby, Kaliaaer, and Selsport gloves. We know someone who from time to time would come back with samples. I've heard a lot of great comments about gloves by Uhlsport, Ho Soccer, and a newer one called GK Union. Have yet to try any of those gloves.

She does use the Uhlsport Vyper Comfort Adanced Pro Shinguards and they rock! They wrap around and form to leg and they don't move / slide around. So we've been thinking about trying their gloves maybe.

As one Reusch customer to another, please let us know in a month or two how the HO's are holding up. Reusch does tend to be one of the more expensive pairs but they also can be caught on sale often enough to make it worth our while.

Yes, you are right just-keepers.com ROCKS! And many times they are cheaper, even with the shipping, then even soccer.com, etc. Soccergarage.com is good sometimes with sales but just-keeper is usually our go to. Especially if you buy multiple pairs or they are running their buy 2 get one specials. Another great site is great-save.com! Their reviews are awesome if you search for the model you're after. We order long sleeve jerseys via acasports.co.uk because many times the ones in the states are padded. Nike and Puma even sell different colors in the UK than the same jersey in the U.S. Another great information site is thesixyardbox.com. Yeah, we spend a lot of time out there on the virtual ptich. LOL

h_seldon wrote:

nukem wrote:DD used Reusch for 3 years but this past season switched to HO gloves (with finger safes). She won't use anything else and I'm pretty sure she tried them all .

I have found it is less expensive to order from the UK than to find gloves in local stores.

check out http://www.just-keepers.com/

The selection is larger and you can get the gloves personalized and shipped here for less than purchasing direct from most stores/web sites.

I do agree with Gopher of the Reusch gloves with the thumb safes, but my DD always took it out.

Agree with nukem. DD has been playing keeper for 7 years. Has used several Reusch, most recently the Keon G2, which were not a durable as the G1 latex. She recently started not using finger saves, with no issues (used to take the thumb spine out as well). She has also switch to HO, the Ghotta Hybrid Roll Finger (no finger saves), which is an aqua latex so just keep it wet during use. It has just as much grip as the Reusch G2, and much better durability. One other thing to consider is the cut of the glove is narrower through the palm which fits the female hand better. Also has two wrist straps so the glove is very secure. the middle finger is a little long but not an issue. She does the game -> practice rotation as mentioned above, and the current practice pair which still have plenty of life left have been used for 4 months.

http://www.prodirectsoccer.com/Products/HO-Goalkeeper-Gloves-HO-GHOTTA-Roll-Goalie-Gloves-Goalkeeping-WhiteCherryBlack-50651.aspx

We also order from the UK, www.prodirectsoccer.com. With the mulit-buy discount our last order of two pair delivered from England was $160.00.

One last thing that we see a lot of keepers not doing. Wash your gloves, after every use if you can. (also prewash when they are new once or twice before use) We use the Reusch Glove Wash. That will make your gloves last longer and have better grip. Tiny particles of dust will get in the latex and act as an abrasive from the inside.

Here is another resource for tips, reviews, etc.

http://www.goalkeepertalk.com/

+1 on the Reusch Glove Wash

Lost of good replies!

I was already going to make her current pair her practice gloves and the new ones for game day. The rotation of the gloves and the glove wash are definately in our future.

Thanks everyone!

I have been a keeper for 27 years and now have two daughters whom are both keepers. I used to pay $120 plus for gloves for my oldest and cheaper ones for my youngest. They are the same. $120 vs $40 no difference. They both wore at the same rate. Now my oldest has changed her opinion and doesn't care about the cost she now wears $40 gloves and they last about a season just like the $120 ones did. More expensive does NOT mean better.

I agree - more $ is not always best. Depends on what fits and gives GK confidence. My daughter training with $50 practice gloves but plays with ones closer to $100 [on sale]. There is a newer GK glove company that people in EUR are raving about: Precision Goalkeeping and they are pretty cheap. The most expensive glove they sell is only about $70 US and we might look into those if Reusch gets any more expensive. [http://www.just-keepers.com/20_brand_Precision-GK/]. Here is a link to YouTube video for top 10 gloves 2011-12 with good technical reviews by Martin Sanders: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlQCU41E7aI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlQCU41E7aI

Just want to add to what Knight said about the reviews by Martin. They are very, very good.

Another "small brand" that we have tried are Warby, www.warbygk.com . Based in England run by Bob Warby a former keeper, and keeper trainer. They have some with finger saves. They are a pretty decent glove, and the customer service is excellent. We only tried the roll finger with fingersaves and Mega Grip latex (similar to Reusch M1).