Kids' and youth gear: not just smaller adult gear
Junior gear exists because kids aren't small adults — proportions, grip strength and coordination differ, and gear that's just an adult item scaled down often fits and performs badly.
Why proper junior gear matters
A junior glove is built with a smaller hand and wrist in mind — narrower palm, shorter cuff, proportioned padding — not just a lighter ounce weight stapled onto an adult mould. The same logic applies to headgear, shin guards and mouthguards: fit drives protection, and a loose "small adult" item protects worse than a properly sized junior one, however light it feels.
What to buy, and when
- Hand wraps — junior-length wraps exist and are worth using; full adult length is usually too long and bulky for a child's hand. See hand wraps.
- Gloves — junior weights and shapes, fitted the same way as adult gloves — over wrapped hands, snug without jamming the fingertips. See glove sizing.
- Mouthguards — essential from the first contact drill, and worth remoulding more often than an adult's as baby and adult teeth come through. See mouthguards.
- Shin guards and headgear — junior sizing runs on age/height charts that differ from adult ones; don't assume a small adult size fits a child properly. See shin guards and headgear.
Growth and “sizing up”
Resist the instinct to buy a size up "for growing room" the way you might with a coat. Loose protective gear shifts and gapes exactly when it needs to be in place — a checked kick or a slipped mouthguard doesn't wait for a growth spurt. Buy for current fit and replace as the child grows, the same discipline as for adults in gear care, just on a faster cycle.
Supervision matters more than gear
No piece of gear substitutes for a qualified coach running age-appropriate contact levels and close supervision. Reputable junior programmes control contact intensity deliberately — that's the primary safety layer; gear is the second one, not the first.