We love a good debate about kit; with so much to choose from and so many different variables how can you ever know what’s the best? How would you even begin to define what the best kit is? We can talk about it until blue in the face … and so we did. Here’s our kit review, that’s not really a kit review!

Mouth Guards

Quite possibly one of the most over looked piece of kit that is actually really vital, if you don’t want your teeth knocking out.

Tricerapops recommends the Sisu mouth guard, she says; “Sisu mouth guard all the way. Brilliant protection without feeling like Duane Dibbley.” But Greek Frightening disagrees, “The 2.4 version, as the 1.2, is too flimsy and I have bitten through several!” Given that Tormaydo was able to run over her 1.2 with her car and it survived Greek Frightening must bite as hard as she blocks!

Walker Texas Danger say; “The best decision I ever made was to have a mouth guard fitted by the dentist. It meant paying it a bit more but now I’ve got a really strong, snug fit without my gums getting rubbed uncomfortably.”

Knee Pads

Hands up if you’ve ever fallen over? Yeah us too, knees usually take the brunt of most falls so what should we protect them with? Scabs knee pads seem to be a favourite among NRG’ers; Greek Frightening says, “I enjoy Scabs gaskets and knee-pads combo. Fit well,adjustable, reliable and hard wearing. Also the Velcro on the gaskets helps them stay put.” Natasrophe and Stop! Hannah Time both agree; “Scabs knee pads are a dream… they are like landing on pillows.”

Some members find they crack easily, Hell for Leather says she went through two pairs before switching. Rox N Role found the Velcro straps got hole where they attached to the body of the pad.

Helmets

It’s really important to protect your noggin’ so you need take buying your helmet seriously. Singletron gives some good advice “Hockey Helmets offer a true multi impact use, but more importantly they offer extra protection to the side and back of the head and are shaped to absorb and distribute hits around the skull as a whole. Furthermore as they come low down the back of the head they offer more whiplash protection than an open sided skate helmet which further decreases the risk of concussion. Finally the testing “reputable” hockey brands go through is more rigorous that skate helmets leading to a safer product. Downside to this is they are super warm and look a bit ridiculous but safety is sexy right?”

Blake agrees; “To put it simply, hockey helmets are designed to protect from the type of impacts you see in ice hockey. Skate helmets are designed to protect from single hard impacts you’d take while stunt skating/skateboarding. I.e. Hitting your head off of a kerb or ramp. Although S1 tend to be doing a bit of crossover.”

Coco prefers the S1 helmet, “ …‘cause I’m clumsy as! They’re good for multi impact. I have a tendency to fall on my ass, and therefore my head often hits off the floor. Not enough for a concussion but I like being safer in the knowledge that those little knocks aren’t going to damage the integrity. Also they fit real well.”

Gem Aargh goes for a bike helmet. She recommends Bell. “I like my new(ish) snazzy gold helmet; because Bell have a great safety testing record and it’s great value for money. http://www.evanscycles.com/…/segment-helmet-ec057036… “

Things you never thought of…

Whistles

Cupid Stunt recommends the Fox 40 Whistle “Because unlike a Fox pearl, it doesn’t sound like absolutely terrible*. Also, because it is the standard used across the board, and it comes in a range of styles and colours, allowing you the freedom to find one that really suits you and your whistling needs.” *We used creative licence and edited the quote here. What Cupid Stunt really thought a Fox pearl sounded like really couldn’t be repeated.

Spare Shirt

Blake “I always pack a spare shirt on game day incase I get blood on mine. I’ve never actually needed it, but I remember once my pal got high blocked and his nose bled on his shirt, the ref told him that unless he had a clean one in the correct colour with the correct number to change into (he didn’t), he couldn’t continue the game even though it wasn’t his fault. I hate the idea of not being able to finish the game because of that.”

From Glass Cleaner to Tape

Cupid Stunt “Windolene or other similar glass cleaning spray as it is remarkably good at giving you a lovely clean inside whiteboard, even when someone hasn’t cleaned it down previously, thus saving a lot of time and indeed effort when setting up for a game.

Mechanical Pencils with eraser tops, because they allow you to clearly mark the paperwork during a game, whilst also allowing you to correct mistakes. This should mean that everything matches up nicely at the end, and therefore makes the stats so much easier to type up.

A stop watch with a countdown function. It makes the jam timers job far easier and removes the need to do mental arithmetic when checking the period clock on the scoreboard during a game. This means you don’t need to use official timeouts as much to correct timing errors and makes for a smoother flowing game.

That tape that Lemme Atom uses on top of the hazard tape for home games. It sticks far better than pretty much anything anyone else uses and means that you waste far less time having to deal with track repair, and also that when you do have to, you know it’s because someone has really made an effort to mess it up.”

We’d love to hear what you think. What’s your favourite piece of kit? What would you recommend to someone buying their first kit or upgrading?

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