Soccer Cleats for a 5 year old

[Chicken Chaperone]

Hi Everybody,
I'm hoping that out here in our big BYC world there will be someone who has experience buying soccer cleats for their
little boy. My DS is 5, almost 6, and has started his first season of soccer. He has shin guards but we need cleats. Their
coach is brand new to coaching and didn't offer much help when I asked him 'what kind of cleats' 'where can we find them'
'what should we look for' kinds of questions so I hope someone here will be able to guide me and maybe offer their
opinions on what to look for, what they liked or didn't like, what worked, where to find them and price range. They practice
outside on grass usually but their practices are being moved to a proper outdoor soccer field and I'm not sure if that would make
a difference in what sort of cleat we should be shopping for. Also, if I can get away with spending
less than $40 I'll be happy and spending $25 or less would make my day!

Thank you so much in advance y'all!!

 

[Soccer Mom]

Hey, I'm not far from you at all. I'll bet I have some old cleats that will fit him so you can try them out. I'm in Johnson Co., but I often work in Mansfield and drive thru Ellis Co. Plus my sis lives in Ellis Co.

ETA: What size shoe does he wear?

 

[Boyd]

Hiya!!! My son's been playing for 6 years now so you can take my advice or leave it as he's 9 going on 50.........

I found most of the cleats he was more comfortable in at wal-mart..... play it again sports and dunhams......... not so much... the fancy stuff ended up making his feet hurt. being younger I figured that he needed the more flexible sole rather than the expensive professional grade offered....

One way to ensure he doesn't get bad blisters is make him wear in his soccer cleats before he has to run in them a couple of hours a week..... Everytime he's outside not at school, wear them. break them in before practice starts... That way his feet won't hurt and he won't be discouraged

Oh yeah, once he learns to bop the soccar ball with his head, it becomes a great stress relief to toss the ball at him

It's practice after all, and he's having a blast.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Cheap cleats are totally the way to go. Go to Academy and look in the section marked "soccer cleats." Buy him a $20 pair and he'll be fine. The important thing is that they can't have a toe cleat. But I meant what I said about having a bunch of pairs of gently worn cleats. If you want free ones, feel free to PM me.

 

[Chicken Chaperone]

Soccer Mom- you rock!!!!! OMGosh!! You rock so much!!

He wears a little guy's size 11 right now but at the rate he's
growing he'll soon be in an 11.5. If you have an extra pair I'd be happy to drive where ever you are to pick them up and would be
tickled pink to meet a fellow BYCer!!!!!!

and big thanks to you and to Boyd for the smart tips!! What can I say?!? You guys rock!!

Excellent point about aiming for his head once he learns that skill, Boyd! He gets to burn off all that extra energy and I
get to work out my frustrations without fear of child abuse allegations- what could be better?!?!

 

[Southernbelle]

Our soccer league was adamant about this: NO baseball cleats! There is a difference between baseball cleats and soccer cleats - apparantly the baseball cleats have an extra "cleat" right at the tip of the toe and soccer cleats do not. Since the kids get close to each other chasing the ball in soccer, they outlawed baseball cleats because they were worried about the kids hurting each other. Check and see if your league is fussy about that.

Have him try on the cleats with his shin guards and thick, fuzzy socks on because they give those kids those thick knee-high socks and I forgot to take those into account when I bought my son's cleats and his first pair were a bit too tight that first season.

 

[Chicken Chaperone]

Quote:
Ooo- thanks Belle- that's good to know about the regular cleats vs. the baseball cleats! And we'll definitely take along his socks and gear for our try-ons! A million thanks for the info!!