When looking for wrestling shoes I think there are three things that you should consider (at the very least). As a parent of two wrestlers, a wrestling coach, and an owner of a store that sells wrestling shoes online, I can offer you a unique look into what you should consider when buying shoes. I will walk you through the process we take our customers that walk into our store.
Budget For Wrestling Shoes:
If you don’t have the cash to spend on wrestling shoes, why waste your time looking at the high end wrestling shoes. First thing you should do as a wrestler or as a parent is to figure out what your budget is. If it’s $50 you can buy a new pair of wrestling shoes, if it’s $20 then you better start looking in the off season to buy a pair of close out shoes. Also, ebay or Craigslist is an option. Particularly if you are in the smaller sizes, usually kids will grow out of their shoes before they wear them out.
Of course if your budget is whatever it needs to be, you can look to spend between $50 and $150 (or more for rare wrestling shoes). Normally I say spend some where around $40 plus maybe $7 to $10 for every year they have been wrestling. So if they are new to wrestling just get them an intro level shoe. As they say get into the 3 to 4 years of wrestling, look to upgrade your shoes to about $75 price point. Once your wrestler has been wrestling for 8 to 10 years, chances are he will know what he likes (and sometimes it’s the cheaper shoes).
Size of Wrestling Shoes
Next you have to figure out what your size is or your wrestler’s shoe size. If you bought a pair of gym shoes or sneakers or running shoes recently, just start with that size. Now don’t worry if you have several different sizes of shoes, just take the most recent one. Chances are your older shoes have been stretched out and likely are not the same size the label says (even though they still fit).
Shopping at WrestlingGear.Com is easy once you determine the correct size. The key step is to try on your most recent shoes and make sure they fit. Make sure the foot is not bulging out of the sides of them. If they are several months old or a hand me down from an older brother or sister, then you are going to have to find out what gym shoe size you would have to buy if you were buying new shoes. Don’t guess, this is a crucial step. The next step is easy, just read the tab called fit guidelines and follow the instructions on how to determine your shoe size.
One upside of shopping at WrestlingGear.Com is they have a sizing guarantee for most shoes. Each shoe is clearly labeled if there is a sizing guarantee available for that shoe. You can return a pair of shoes one time for a sizing issue and WrestlingGear.Com will cover the costs of shipping back and forth.
Another thing to consider with size is how much bigger do you want them? Normally, with kids starting out I recommend getting a shoe no bigger than about a thumbs width in the toe. This way they have some room to grow and a little room for comfort. As kids get more experienced, they will know how they like them to fit. Some customers want their shoes so tight, I find it hard to believe that blood can flow to their feet.
Color
One thing to understand is WrestlingGear.Com carries every wrestling shoe that is in Asics, adidas, Nike, Matman or DoubleSport’s catalog. This means you have the widest selection of shoes anywhere. No one carries all five of those brands. If your school colors are Red, Royal Blue or Black, you are in luck. Just about every price range has those color combinations. Royal blue and Red are the colors of Olympic wrestling singlets so that is why they are offered in those colors.
Colors like marroon, purple, hunter green, kelly green, columbia blue are hard to find. Every now and then, there will be a color combination that has one of these colors in them. So if you find a pair in these colors, better to buy a few pair of these shoes. At least since 1998, most shoes are in the line for 2 years and then they are gone. Of course, there are some exceptions, but this is a good rule of thumb.
