With the new football season on the horizon and pre-season training underway there’s no better time to update your footy gear for the coming season.
Shin pads are a necessary part of the footballers kitbag and in preparation for the new term we’ve revisited one of our favourite products, the S1 Shin Pad.
The first thing you need to look for when considering shin pads is protection, but all to often we see players wearing the smallest pads they can buy. The thought process is a tiny shinpad means less weight and less restriction, but you don’t need to compromise. We’ve been on the look out for a pair of ‘shinnies’ that we feel do the job rather well, a pair that protect without being restrictive; in short – a pair that just plain work!
Which is how we came across S1 Sport, who feel that they have come up with the ultimate ‘gimmick-free’ shinpad, or rather shinpad, ankle and achilles protection pad.
We kitted Scott out with a pair of S1 Pads as he hadn’t used them before, here’s his report:
Design
The S1 Pads come in a small material bag, inside of which are the pads and the strapping. If you’ve also got the ankle protectors, they come in their own little bag too.
Being honest, the design certainly isn’t eye catching. The pads are red and white with the S1 logo on the front, the ankle protectors carry the logo on the ankle cup and the mesh strapping is plain black.
How they look isn’t too important though, after all the armour will be hidden under my football socks.
In terms of design function, here is where the S1 is very different. The black strapping is wrapped around your leg and fastened with two straps using possibly the strongest velcro on the planet! Once on, the shin pad then sticks to the front of the strapping, again using the ultra strong velcro.
Protection
I’ll start out with what the shin and ankle guards are made for, protecting my legs from opponents.
Shin Guard
The hardened shin guard is pretty straightforward; it’s a piece of lightweight, slightly-flexible plastic over a high density foam. Under tests we found the pad did its job of stifling the force of direct impact well. It’s hard to compare how well it absorbs a random kick, but it certainly didn’t let us down.
Ankle Guard
The ankle protection come from the two ‘cups’ that you’d normally find on any ankle guard, however on the S1 ankle guard there are two layers of Neoprene that house an ergonomically shaped disk that protects the most delicate part of the ankle and prevents the guard from moving around whilst on the player’s foot and it does this well.
Another feature of the ankle guard that’s something of a rarity on the ankle protection are two ‘bars’ of foam that run down each side of the Achilles’ tendon, adding a surprisingly thick, spongy layer of protection to one of the most notoriously vulnerable places for injury.
Comfort
Shin and ankle guards are not the sort of thing you ‘want’ to wear. For me it’s definitely a case of having to wear them.
I’ve been in the ‘cut my sock camp‘ for some time as comfort and lack of restriction is important to me. So, being honest, I was apprehensive about strapping on shin pads.
Here’s the thing with the S1, and where I feel they really stand out as a leader in the shin pad market, I hardly noticed I was wearing them. After a couple of games I realised that as they’re light and hardly move in my sock I managed to forget I had them on almost instantly.
Even better, I didn’t have to use any sock tape as these pads stay in place thanks to the mesh strapping.
Hygiene/Maintenance
Thanks to the mesh strapping system, it is easy to clean the S1.
It’s really convenient to be able to pop the mesh that’s in contact with your legs into the wash with your socks, and have them come out clean and smelling fresh before your next game. This goes for the ankle pads too, which have been washed several times.
One piece of advice, place the strapping and pads into the material bag they came packaged in before you wash them, otherwise that velcro attaches to everything you’ve got in the washing machine.
In terms of hygiene, S1 really push home the prevention of problems such as shin pad eczema, rashes and abrasion, caused by traditional shin pads. As the S1 shin pad has no direct contact with the leg, only the strapping, sweat passes straight through and does not get trapped between the shin pad and the skin, leaving the skin free to sweat and breathe naturally.
Overall
I thought it would be hard to appreciate a pair of shin pads and ankle guards, but I really like the S1’s.
They are light, don’t move even without tape and are easy to wash. It doesn’t sound like much but these factors push the S1 pads to the top of my ‘must haves’ list.
Price: Shin Pads £14.99 Ankle Guards £7.99
Order: Direct >>
“…going to save you from any opponents who fancy themselves as a bit of a â€De Jong’…”
FB, don’t I need a chest pad just incase? 🙂
Sounds awesome, and for ÂŁ20 I’m actually considering these. Like the separation.
Thing is, I’m turned off by the uncomfortable ankle protectors. Do these stay still? Do you forget you even got them on? Doesn’t affect touch that much?
I got these recently after my $150 Diadora carbon fibre pads fell apart (don’t waste your $ on the Diadora, absolute Italian rubbish). The S1’s are great and the ankle guards is really non obtrusive. You can’t feel it’s there. I would definitely recommend the S1 guards.
I had these about a year ago and i thought the idea was neat, but I had some problems with the guard. For one, there was a piece of velcro on my shin harness that always scratched my leg, eventually it started bleeding after games and practice. Also, the guards are pretty bulky, thin guards are my personal preference. and finally my ankle guards were extremely hard to get on and off. They fit pretty well once they were on but it was a chore before and after practice. However, I must agree that they provide excellent protection. The achilles guard is great for those defenders that like to run their studs down your heels whenever they get the chance.
My shinpads broke last week, had some of the Nike ones that you heat up and mould to you leg and they were annoying as hell as they guard kept sliding up out of the pouch when i was playing. Think i might give these a go, not a bad price and look like they’ll stay in place well enough.
E@zy, in the tests we’ve made we have experienced zero problems with the ankle protectors. They don’t move as the material is like a diving suit, tight to the skin – therefore no room for manoeuvre. We were impressed with the whole system particularly the fact that we forgot about the pads being on.
@Duncan – I agree that the ankle pad could be hard to get on and off if it were too tight. Fortunately I went for the large size and it slips on and off quite comfortably.
i thought it was “$1 shinpad” the first time i read the title LOL
I just went to try and buy some of these but i cant find where you enter the footyboots promotional code, can anyone help me?
@ E@zy ankle guards need some getting use to wearing them, to feel that that you’re not wearing them. however honestly, they are worth wearing when somebody crashes into you with a late challenge, high stud and tries to chop off your ankle =)
also newer guards will feel the most uncomfortable initially but after a few games, you will do just fine
These look pretty cool, but G-form shinguards are the best in my book!! They are expensive compared to the S1, but they are sooo comfortable, offer great protection, and you’ll never feel them once they are on!
They have revolutionized my soccer, thanks G-form!
Had these for two seasons and couldn’t agree more with the comments on the shin pads. Putting them on requires precision so it has become a pre game ritual of mine to put the shinnies on without feeling the Velcro on the skin.
I forget that they are on everytime I wear them and do not need any annoying sock tape. I haven’t tried the ankle guards as the previous ones (Nike) were bulky and I felt my ankle was too restricted or the elastic stretched too far to protect my ankle at all. May have to try them out at some point especially with some Achilles protection.