3 Ways Protective Equipment Elevates Your Game To Another Level

Protective equipment is meant to keep you protected, right? Of course!

But what you may not realize is that the right protective gear is actually able to help you elevate your game.

How are pads, helmets or mouthguards supposed to help you take your game to the next level? Let’s take a look at three ways that proper protection helps to improve your performance on the field, pitch, court or ice:

1. Stay Confident

Confidence is a must when it comes to being a successful athlete. When you’re confident, you have the ability to accomplish anything you put your mind to, and that means playing to your fullest.

Of course, it’s hard to be confident when you don’t feel properly protected. When you know you have the right gear for you and your specific sport, you have the confidence to stick your nose into the action and grind hard without the fear of injury.

You should never shy away from the play. But the only way to jump into the fray is to be fully confident that you are protected.

2. Stay In The Game

Another reason why proper protection is important: it’s really hard to elevate your game when you’re not involved in the action.

In order to take your game to the next level, you must actually be in the game. So that means staying injury free. Yet, while staying healthy and capable is vital to helping you and your team succeed, injuries are a harsh reality of sports.

Consider this stat: more than five million teeth are knocked out annually during sports and recreational activities, and as an athlete, you have a 33-56% chance of receiving an orofacial injury — an injury to the mouth or face — during your playing career.

That makes having the proper protection that much more important.

3. Stay Proper

The key word here is “proper” protection, as having too much protection is an easy way to actually hurt your game.

You don’t want to overdo it; having the right protection for your sports does not mean getting the biggest and bulkiest protection possible. You need the protective equipment that puts you in the best position to play the game to the fullest and be safe. That’s why you don’t see field hockey athletes playing in the same amount of equipment as football players.

Take mouthguards for example: proper protection starts with a minimum of 4 mm of material in the important impact zones — the areas in front of your teeth and under your molars — and that means there isn’t bulky material where protection isn’t needed.

When a mouthguard has too much material in areas where comfort is more important, it becomes difficult to wear and doesn’t actually provide the right protection.

Protective equipment is more than just pads and mouthguards. When you’re confident, healthy and properly protected, you’re able to take your game to the next level. How else does protective gear help you? Let us know in the comments.

Elevate Your Game To Another Level

Author Bio

Bobbie Quinn, co-founder of Gladiator Custom Mouthguards, played both lacrosse and field hockey as a youth and went on to play Division 1 women’s lacrosse in college. Bobbie continues to play women’s league field hockey and enjoys watching her son play various sports.