Unfortunately, in these times of Corona, football is not allowed. Nevertheless, many teams are more and more to be found for one or more artificial turf fields. I don’t think we should list the advantages of an artificial turf pitch for your club anymore. No more muddy fields, no more grass that doesn’t want to come out or even better, no more molehills :-D, but just like these previous football fields you need adapted material it also means on artificial turf that you should look for adapted material.
There are special artificial turf soccer shoes that have smaller studs for better grip (turf shoes). You as a goalkeeper have not been thought of as much, because there is not a very wide range of goalkeeper gloves especially for use on an artificial turf pitch, but there is good news: there are different types of latex that ensure that your gloves can last less or longer. We’ll give you some tips on how to choose the best goalkeeper gloves for artificial turf.
How do I choose the best goalkeeper gloves for artificial turf?
In order to choose the best artificial grass goalkeeper gloves, there are a number of points to take into account. First of all, it’s good to realize that artificial grass is a completely different surface than natural grass. Because of the synthetic materials used to make an artificial turf pitch, goalkeeper gloves wear out much faster.
Try to imagine the following situation: you just got a huge shot from your opponent with a nice save, but the ball ends up right in front of another opponent’s feet. Of course you now want to get up as quickly as possible to get back into position. When you do want to get back on your feet quickly, we often use the palm of your hand to push ourselves up again. By turning off your palm, you bring the foam directly into contact with the artificial turf field. All of us can certainly imagine that goalkeeper gloves are not made for this purpose. On natural grass, this situation is not as bad as on an artificial turf pitch, because a natural pitch gives a lot more. Wear and tear is therefore much faster on an artificial turf pitch.
The second point to take into account is the grip of the goalkeeper’s gloves. Of course, you also want the best grip for your gloves on artificial turf. Grip and wear is a combination that’s not so obvious, if you want the perfect combination of both, you have to go into the more expensive segment of most brands and you’ll lose a whole bite out of your budget.
If you choose a mid-range model you often have to make a compromise between the grip you want and the durability. In these models is that the latex is softer and softer which allows for faster wear when you fall on hard surfaces. So make a choice in what you find most important!
Sustainability
We speak to many goalkeepers who indicate that their goalkeeper gloves on artificial turf wear out quickly. That’s not so strange. Artificial grass isn’t an ideal surface for goalkeeper gloves. The good news is that you can take it into account when buying a pair of goalkeeper gloves. There are gloves that are specially made for use on artificial grass. These goalkeeper gloves are characterized by a more durable foam layer, which makes them more resistant to wear and tear.
However, there are not only advantages to these special goalkeeper gloves. Often you’ll find the models with a higher durability in the cheap segment of the brands. The high degree of wear resistance ensures that the grip is less. You’ll notice this especially in wet weather, where you’ll have more trouble holding the ball. If you want a combination of good durability with good grip, you have to go back to the more expensive segment.
Grip
The grip of a glove is very important for a goalkeeper, if you ask us even the most important thing, because that’s not your job as a goalkeeper, is it? The better the grip of a goalkeeper’s glove, the easier it becomes for you to catch the balls. As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to combine the wear resistance of a glove with a good grip. It is therefore important to think about where your priority lies
Are you tired of buying new goalkeeper gloves after just a few months of playing football on artificial turf? Then you should look for goalkeeper gloves that are a bit cheaper, that have a special foam layer and are therefore more durable. Do you think it’s more important to have a good grip and do you care less how long a glove lasts? Then it’s better to choose a glove with a top grip. You already notice: we don’t have the answer. The choice of artificial grass goalkeeper gloves depends entirely on your own preferences and your budget.
But which goalkeeper gloves should I choose for on artificial grass?
As you’ve read there’s not really a fitting answer to this question and everything depends on what you want. However, at Prostar we do not have a collection of 15 pairs of different models, where we offer each model with a different latex. No we believe that everyone should be able to enjoy the best quality, both GRIP and SUSTAINABILITY. That’s why you will find the same professional latex on all models in our collection. From size 2 to size 11, we don’t make any difference between who you are or where you play.
I can hear you thinking, but you talked in the article about the more expensive segment with other brands. It’s true that other brands charge around 120 euros for the same quality as ProStar Goalkeeping. And that’s simply because we don’t have to take sponsoring into account. We give this sponsorship one of the people who are most important to us. YOU!
TIP
Do you want to keep the lifespan and grip of your goalkeeper gloves as long as possible? Then we advise you to clean your gloves regularly. They may still look clean, but we’re sure you’ll be shocked by the dirt that will come off your gloves after every training session or match. Let us explain. Every time you fall and glide over the ground with your gloves, dirt gets on your glove. Often this is sand or dirt that has settled between the artificial grass. If you don’t remove this by a thorough cleaning, a sandpaper effect will be created every time you slide over the ground again. So it is inevitable that your gloves will wear out more quickly as a result. If you want to limit this, we recommend that you thoroughly clean your gloves at least once a week. Don’t know how?
