Football Pro, David Hunt, mentioned that he’d discovered a way to hold his shin-pads and socks up in complete comfort – people wanted to know his secret!
So, after some light persuasion, Hunty’s decided to share this secret with us mere mortals!
Since my last column I’ve had many people asking how and why I wear ankle socks instead of normal match socks. So, I’m going to tell -'Â and also show you – how I do it.
Here you’ll find football boots, shin pads, Nike socks, cut off match socks and underwrap.
My routine is the same every match, first on is my Nike ankle socks.
Then I get my shin pads on and start to put the underwrap around it.
Once I˘€žË˜ve finished wrapping my shin pad it should look like this:
Then I get my cut off match sock and start to put it on.
I then make sure the sock is even at the bottom and that you can’t see the underwrap hanging.
And this is how it should look – Personally, I find it extremely comfortable and like how it looks!
Everyone’s different, try experimenting with methods and see which suits you. I hope this has helped those people that wanted to know how I did it!
Until next time!
Hunty
Thanks to Hunty for giving us that pro-tip! What do you think of Hunty’s method – will you be giving it a try?
If you d0 – let us know how it goes!
More from David Hunt
You can also catch Hunty on his own blog “Life of Another League” or at Twitter.
i have adidas shinpads* that come with their own sleeve thing to hold them in place and it does so very effectively. On top of those i wear my ordinary match socks and on top of those i have another pair of white socks (around the same length as hunty’s!) so i end up with two layers of socks around my feet. I find this to be more comfortable as it helps cushion my feet more and also provide a more snug fit between my foot and my boot.
it’s an amazingly cool style – I love it!
i used to literally wear double socks too for my weekend matches to protect my toenails but I realized its just abit too constricting for me and it doesnt allow for a more natural feel for the ball. too much padding i guess. so i stopped doing that.
however i do wonder why most players now a days would wear a shinguard that barely protects half of your shin, leaving the bottom half exposed.. i used the nike shinpad that comes with an ankle guard and it goes down all the way to the bottom. personally, i dont feel any restriction in movement and i run as fast with or without them 🙂
Why do you wear sutch small shinguards? They look more for a young boy than a pro footballer. Surely they can’t offer mutch protection if a big centrehalf bifs you
I have those thin Umbro match socks and wear super thin polyester running socks. I just have some cheap $12 puma shin pads with the ankle protectors which I wear over my running socks. It lets your first sock slide around inside the match sock so you’ll never get blisters even in the wet. Cotton socks are the worst for blisters. It works for doing rucksack marches in the army, it works for soccer!
Shinguards that small are a sure liability. If that’s how big Aaron Ramsey’s shinguards were then it’s no wonder his leg got broken. I thought shinguards are meant to protect, but they can only do that if they are the right size. (shrug). Hunty’s the pro. Please tell me Hunty.
I wear my nike mercurial shinguards which fit me well, but don’t have an ankle guard. They go for most of my shin. I put them in a sleeve (which came with the guards) then put my match socks above them. After this I put medical tape over the shinguards at the top and bottom (not under and above like most people do, I find that uncomfortable). I also have a pair of similar adidas shinguards but they are too wide and short for me so they do not work as well. I can’t wear two socks, because I have no feel for the ball and have a lot of miss touches (my shot is fine though)
shinguards wont always save you from a broken leg. eduardos leg broke beneath his shinguards. its the pressure and force that would cause a break, a shunguard is there to protect from cuts and being kicked rather than a broken leg, because a broken leg isnt an everyday part of football, its a freak accident.
i dont use ankle guards and my shinpads are small. Im pacy and i do get clipped a fair bit which hurts but id rather put up with it than not have the freedom.
like hunty says, its personal preference!
who is your favorite player and why? who do you think is the best out there?
Great post, thanks for the tips.
what do you do pre-match? I always end up with a pulled groin or ham string during the season and want to know how intense you take the warm-ups.
and finally, what do you eat before a game?
who is your favourite player and why?
what do you do pre-match? I always end up with a pulled groin or ham string during the season and want to know how intense you take the warm-ups.
and finally, what do you eat before a game?
great tips, thanks!
Hey Hunty! You earlier mentioned Tiempo’s being too heavy, do you think you will give the new elite Tiempo’s a go?
zc – Please answer question
never found that shinguards (thats what we call pads across the pond) did anything very useful save take the sting out of a nick from someones studs. only found one pair of uhlsports that i honestly enjoyed wearing and like a fool i didnt get them cuz they were $40. but honestly if you seriously get hit, thin layers of plastic and foam dont do much. so im with hunty: small and out of the way.
out of curiosity who wears two pairs of socks here? i often do to prevent blisters or if my feet feel beaten up. im a sucker for good moisture wicking socks and then just a pair of ankle socks on top for some cush. anyone got a secret combination for underneath the boots?
Decided to give ot a try at my training nd it worke amazingly stayed.up nd super comfortable.
One question though do you find It hard to pull the sock up with all the pre wrap cuse when I did it it took a little any advice?
I just take a nike bauer hockey sock (the ones hockey players wear under their skates) then i cut out the bottom of these really nice umbro socks, pull them up to just about under the bulge in my calf, stick my gaurd in them secure it w/ electrical tape. my shinguards are just the standard umbro crap ones w/ the ankle guard but if u cut that out they r really nice.
I’m a tall centre back but i play like a winger so i use two pairs of socks but my boots dont fit me now so im going to try what david does and i will see how that goes
and can someone tell me were to get those umbro running socks mike was talking about (the fourth one down)
hi blad
I don’t really understand the point of this, if you’re just gonna wear a normal pair of ankle socks why not just wear the football socks as is rather than cutting up a perfectly good pair? This particular fad of cutting the bottom of your sock off and wearing a separate white pair on your feet started for a good reason – the likes of Ronaldo and Torres wear a blister sock on the bottom, not just a pair of ankle socks. Unfortunately then amateurs started thinking it was cool to have a bit of white at the bottom of your sock and so now every man and his dog wears a pair of white ankle socks over the top of their normal football sock on a Sunday. There are few things in football that irritate me more.
well from my understanding typically nike insert shinguards are this style, however, they aren’t socks that have the bottoms cut off they are like a neoprene sleeve that holds guard in place, still is wise to tape on pad prior to slipping the sleeve over the top though just so it doesn’t end up shifting around….end result in any case is going to be you’re going to look like you’re wearing 2 different sets of socks.
Why do you where your shin guard so high?
what kind of type do u use? and where did u get those puma socks