Athletic Equipment: 3 Tips For Getting The Best Bang For Your Buck

As an athletic trainer or team coach, you only have so much in your budget to use on athletic equipment for your players. But those costs add up quickly.

$120 for a pair of cleats. $50 on a sweat-wicking shirt. $250 for a new, lighter lacrosse stick. The numbers just keep piling up until they become astronomical. And that’s just for one player! You need to outfit an entire squad.

How much do you spend on equipment and gear? What about the individual players and their parents? The cost of athletic equipment may be daunting, so it’s very important to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

While that new expensive stick may help your players score slightly more, is it the best use of your money? Here are three tricks to help you plan your equipment budget wisely for the upcoming season:

1. Think With Your Head, Not Your Eyes

Of course you want your players to look good — after all, when they look good, they feel good, and that means they play better — but sometimes style only goes so far. While those new uniforms look great and help give your team an identity, it’s what’s underneath them that truly matters.

When it comes to athletic equipment, the equipment that’s providing your players with the proper protection is the gear that’s worth investing in. Sure, pads and mouthguards aren’t as visible as jerseys and helmets, making them less treasured pieces of equipment, but they are what keep your players on the field, court or ice.

Skimping on protective gear may allow your team to enjoy a new look, but it also puts your players in a compromised position. And besides, what’s the point of new uniforms if your players aren’t healthy enough to wear them?

2. Don’t Be Fooled By Fancy Claims

Are those shoes going to make you run faster and jump higher? Is that new hockey stick going to help your players score more goals? Probably not, but that won’t stop equipment companies from making great claims about their products. So, how do you know what athletic equipment to trust?

Here are three ways to know if a product is worth the cost:

Is there hard evidence being presented? It’s a fact that composites are lighter than wood and metal, allowing for harder shots with a lightweight composite stick. There is no evidence suggesting short-sleeves improve your three-point shot.

Testimonials are always a great reference. If a teammate or friend uses a certain product and attests to it being better than another, wouldn’t you be more inclined to try the product they endorse?

When all else fails, simply use common sense. Can a pair of shoes help you play basketball like LeBron James? No. Can a custom, comfortable mouthguard help you communicate more clearly on the court like LeBron James? Absolutely!

3. Look At The Long Term

When pricing athletic equipment for your team, how long do you spend debating generic pieces of gear versus pricier high-quality equipment?

Probably not long, especially for those aforementioned less visible items, like pads and mouthguards. After all, each athlete requires nearly a dozen pieces of sports equipment and you need to purchase them for every member of your squad. But think about it a little more and it starts to make sense…

Sure, high-quality gear like helmets are expensive, but you know you’re getting bang for your buck because helmets remain effective and reusable for years. Settling for generic equipment may help your budget in the short term, but you may be missing out on savings in the long run.

Take mouthguards for example: there’s a reason generic boil-and-bite mouthguards are so inexpensive: they’re chunks of rubber that are chewed through and turned unrecognizable almost instantly. Players leave them on the field, in their lockers or simply choose to not use them at all because they look disgusting and make it hard to breathe and speak. Meanwhile, high-quality custom mouthguards, which are designed to perfectly fit each athlete’s individual mouth structure, outlast boil-and-bite mouthguards 5-to-1.

At the end of the season, are you really saving money by purchasing generic gear or are you finding that each athlete needs to replace at least one piece of equipment as the year progresses? High-quality gear doesn’t just give your players a performance boost; it’s the smart long-term investment that lasts year after year.

Get the best bang for your buck out of your athletic equipment with Gladiator Custom Mouthguards, the industry-leader in custom mouthguards.

Invest In Your Players

Author Bio

Travis Armideo, marketing manager at Gladiator Custom Mouthguards, is a lifelong ice hockey player. He began playing for various clubs at a young age and continued onto junior teams, while also playing lacrosse at the collegiate level. Travis is still heavily involved in athletics, coaching high school and youth ice hockey athletes, as well as playing men’s league ice hockey on a regular basis.