Mid-Season Gear Check, What Coaches Should Inspect

Most kit problems are visible in October and urgent in December. The gap between those two months is the entire reason to do this.

A squad six or seven weeks into a season has accumulated a specific set of problems: guards that no longer fit, numbers starting to lift, three players who have been training on turf in firm ground cleats since August. None of it is a crisis yet. All of it becomes one at the worst possible moment if nobody looks. Fifteen minutes at the end of a session catches the lot, and this is the checklist the team sales desk at The Soccer Factory works through when a club brings team kit and equipment in for a look.

Run it at the end of a session while everyone is in one place. Trying to do this by group message takes three weeks and gets half the answers.

Look at the jerseys first, because kit problems are the ones with the longest fix time.

Numbers lifting at the corners is the most common finding and it is almost always a washing problem rather than a manufacturing one. Heat applied vinyl degrades in hot water and machine dryers. If two or three shirts are going the same way, send the wash instructions around the parent group before you replace anything, because the replacements will do exactly the same thing otherwise.

Colour drift shows up when a jersey is held next to the shorts. A Texas season does this faster than most, and it is worth noting rather than acting on immediately. Shoulder seam failure is different: that usually means the shirt was too small to begin with, and the player has probably grown since. The jersey construction guide covers what fails and why.

Socks are the item that quietly disappears. Count them rather than assuming, because a squad that started with two pairs each is rarely still at two pairs each by October.

This is the most valuable part of the audit and the part most likely to be skipped, because it feels like a pre-season job.

Players between roughly eleven and fourteen grow fast enough that August measurements are already out of date. Shin guards are the priority here, since they are sized by height rather than age and an outgrown guard leaves the lower shin exposed exactly where a mistimed tackle lands. The shin guard sizing guide has the height ranges and takes a couple of minutes against each player.

Check kit fit at the same time. A jersey that pulls across the back or a waistband that no longer sits right is a sign that a player has grown, and it is better to know in October than to find out when the spring half of the season starts.

You are not fitting boots here, you are looking for two specific things.

First, wear. Studs rounding off, cracks appearing in the soleplate, uppers separating at the toe. Any of those means the boot is close to done, and a player in a failing boot is a player who will complain about their feet without connecting the two.

Second, and more useful, is surface mismatch. Ask how many players are training on turf in firm ground cleats, because in most squads the answer is several, and none of them know it is a problem. It destroys soleplates and loads the foot badly, and it is the single most common equipment error in youth soccer. The cleat care routine also covers the maintenance side, which is worth passing on to parents at the same time.

You do not need to solve this at the session. Just identify who it applies to and tell those families.

Keepers get audited last and need it most, because glove wear is gradual and a keeper adapts to declining grip without noticing.

Look at the palms for smooth patches and thinning at the fingertips. Check that padding still sits over the hips rather than having rotated round the leg, which happens when GK pants are too big. Goalkeeper gear beyond gloves covers what should be in the bag by this point in the season.

If your club rotates keepers, check both players. The second keeper is usually the one whose kit nobody has looked at.

The unglamorous half of the audit, and the half that costs sessions.

• Check ball pressure against the printed range near the valve, not by feel. Most squad balls drift underinflated over a season and it changes how they play.
• Count the balls. Sessions run badly when there are not enough and nobody notices until the drill stalls.
• Count bibs and cones. Both vanish steadily and neither gets replaced until a session needs them.
• Check the pump has a working needle, and carry spares. Needles snap and a pump without one is useless.
• Check the first aid kit has been used and not restocked, which is the usual state by October.

Sort what you find into three groups rather than one long list.

Safety first. Outgrown shin guards and failing footwear get dealt with this week, individually, by the families concerned. These are not team order items and they should not wait for one.

Squad items next. Missing socks, damaged shirts, a keeper who needs new gloves. Group these together, because handling them as one conversation is far more efficient than five separate ones, and reordering mid-season has its own considerations worth understanding before you commit.

Note and monitor last. Colour drift, early pilling, a ball that is starting to look tired. Write it down, look again in a month, and let it inform next season’s order rather than acting now.

Keep an inventory sheet

One sheet per season, updated at each audit. Player name, kit sizes as currently worn, guard size, whether they flagged anything, plus a squad-level count of balls, bibs and cones.

It takes ten minutes to set up and it makes next season’s order dramatically easier, because you start from what people are actually wearing rather than from what you ordered fourteen months ago. It also means a coach handing over a team hands over something useful.

Three reasons, and they are all about having options. Growth is the first. A player measured in August has changed by October, and catching it now means the spring half of the season starts with kit that fits.

Tournament season is the second. Multi-match weekends are where thin socks, worn boots and a short supply of match balls all show up at once, and where fixing anything on the day is impossible.

The third is simply that October leaves room to decide. A problem found in October can be solved in whatever way makes sense. The same problem found the week before a fixture can only be solved one way, usually the expensive one.

If the audit turns up more than you expected, you do not have to work out what to do with it alone. The Soccer Factory team sales desk deals with mid-season squad problems every week and can tell you what is worth fixing now and what should wait for the next order.

Coaches and club directors, book a meeting with The Soccer Factory team sales desk or call 800-987-6223. You can also bring the squad into any of our five Texas stores in San Antonio, San Marcos, Tomball, and Katy, running the growth check with us takes one session and covers the whole roster.

How often should a coach check team gear?

Twice a season is enough for most youth squads: once around six to eight weeks in, and once before the second half of the season starts. Growing age groups benefit from a third check.

Why are our jersey numbers peeling?

Almost always hot washing and machine drying rather than a fault. Heat breaks down the adhesive under heat applied vinyl. Send wash instructions to parents before replacing shirts, or the new ones will go the same way.

How do I know if a player has outgrown their shin guards?

Check against height rather than age. The guard should sit about two inches below the kneecap and end just above the ankle bone, and it should cover the width of the shin rather than a centre strip.

What should be in a coach’s equipment bag by mid-season?

Enough balls for the squad at correct pressure, bibs in two colours, cones, a pump with spare needles, a restocked first aid kit, and spare socks. The last one saves more sessions than it should.

Should I reorder kit mid-season or wait?

Depends what it is. Safety items should never wait. Squad kit items are worth grouping and handling together, since a single mid-season order has different considerations to a pre-season one.