Playertek
PRICE from £180
Ever wonder how elite football players reach and maintain ultimate physical condition? They use stats to analyse everything they do. And now, for the first time, you can harness the power of personal performance statistics. PLAYERTEK is a GPS tracking system that records every detail of your games and training sessions, from physical performance through to positional movement, and converts it into usable info that gives you real understanding of your game. The system shows your distance, speed, acceleration, heatmaps, staying power and more – so you can boost your game, just like the pros. All that data is available via an app or website, and you can share and compare it with friends, or measure your performance against elite players.
Storelli
PRICE £40
Football can be brutal, especially at the amateur level. When you’re playing on mucky, uneven pitches against random, hot-headed tackle-happy opponents, you need protection. The Storelli range is personal body armour to keep you safe on the pitch. The range includes the BodyShield Sliders, which protect your mid-section from abrasive pitches and over-eager opponents. BodyShield Sliders are made with a breathable, moisture-wicking compression fabric, and fitted with 3mm of high-performance polyurethane foam for loads of impact protection. Your rival’s knee will now bounce off your thigh, and you can slide on an artificial pitch without fear of turf burns or rashes. The skin-tight fit means you’ll forget you’re wearing them – but you’ll be glad you did when you end the game free of aches and pains.
Crazycatch
PRICE from £50
Rebound nets are pretty simple: kick a ball into one and it bounces back to you. Effective, but not really all that cutting edge. Until now. The Crazy Catch rebound nets feature a unique insane rebound, ensuring you can never predict the direction of the ball off the net, which is vital for truly developing your skills. Having to react to unpredictable bounces means you’ll improve your reaction skills, first touch and passing accuracy, and it’s perfect for goalkeeper training. That’s why Crazy Catch is used by many top Premier League clubs. Choose from three different sizes in the Double Trouble range for football, or go for the handheld Freestyle, which is great for coaching. It’s designed to give your game a big bounce.
iOn The Game
PRICE £199.99
Video replay analysis is a big thing in professional football: teams employ staff whose sole job is to break down every game like it’s the Zapruder film. At amateur level, it’s more difficult: you can’t study shaky camera-phone footage in the same way top clubs analyse HD TV pictures. iON The Game is designed to close the gap. It’s a waterproof, wireless HD sports video camera with a two-inch LCD colour screen. Use it to record your game or training session in full 1080p video, then watch it back within seconds. You also get access to PowerChalk, a cloud-based platform that allows you to upload, mark-up and voice-over videos. Scored a top goal? Use the built-in Wi-Fi and iOS and Android apps to upload the footage straight to Facebook and YouTube.
iON The Game is available at Currys Megastores.
m-station Talent
PRICE £445 (app is free to download)
The m-station Talent is established as one of the best rebound nets on the market. It can rebound the ball back to you at 95 per cent of the original speed. The Munin Sports rebound net features patented string that you can easily re-tension, ensuring that your net is always in top condition and ready for training. And the nets won’t rust if you leave them outside, which is perfect for training in cold, wet weather. They’re also scientifically proven: a study by the Swedish Football Association found that players using the m-station Talent for four weeks improved their skills by more than 40 per cent. Munin Sports are also going further with the MuninPlay phone app. It’s like having a personal football coach in your pocket: the app builds up a detailed profile of you and your on-pitch skills, and features more than 100 training exercise videos to boost your skills.
Emfit
PRICE £197
Improving your fitness isn’t all about charging round the pitch or doing reps: you can actually boost your game by lying in bed. It’s basic science: sleep is good for you. It aids your physical recovery and reduces stress. But to ensure that you’re making the most of your time in bed (no, not like that…), you need to understand exactly how well you’re resting. The Emfit QS is a contact-free Wi-Fi-enabled sleep sensor. Stick it under your mattress and it provides detailed reports about your sleep quality, recovery and stress levels. Check out the results on an app or website, and you’ll be able to better understand your performances. The Emfit QS will ensure that you’re better rested when you take to the pitch. Even better, the next time you fancy a lie-in, you can use the Emfit QS to prove that it
really is doing you good...
