About Sideline Selects
Real gear. Real play. Happier sidelines.
We’re sports parents. Not professional athletes, equipment manufacturers, or people who spend their weekends in product testing laboratories.
We spend them on the sidelines.
Between soccer practices, lacrosse games, weekend tournaments, and the occasional frantic search for a missing piece of equipment, we’ve learned a thing or two about youth sports gear.
And we’ve spent plenty of money learning those lessons.
Why We Started Sideline Selects
Buying sports equipment for kids shouldn’t be so complicated.
But somehow, it is.
Which soccer cleats are actually worth the money? Does a beginner lacrosse player need an expensive stick? What’s the difference between a $25 practice ball and a $100 match ball? And why does every pair of soccer cleats eventually smell like something crawled inside and died?
We’ve asked those questions ourselves.
Over the years, we’ve tried different brands, compared equipment, dealt with gear that didn’t hold up, and discovered products that made a genuine difference for our young athletes.
We created Sideline Selects to share what we’ve learned with other sports families.
What You’ll Find Here
Our focus is primarily on youth soccer and girls’ lacrosse, two sports our family knows well.
We cover:
- Gear recommendations: Equipment we’ve used, researched, compared, or found worth considering.
- Practical guides: Answers to the questions parents actually ask, from choosing the right cleat size to caring for equipment.
- Firsthand experiences: What works for our players, what hasn’t worked, and what we’ve learned along the way.
- Tips for busy sports parents: The little things that make practices, games, and tournament weekends easier.
Some articles take a deep dive into a particular product. Others tackle everyday problems that don’t require buying anything at all.
How We Choose What to Recommend
We believe there’s a difference between the best product on paper and the best product for a young athlete.
The most expensive option isn’t always the right one. Neither is the cheapest.
When we recommend equipment, we consider things like comfort, fit, durability, performance, value, and how well it holds up to actual practices and games.
Whenever possible, we draw on our family’s firsthand experience. When we’re discussing products we haven’t personally used, we aim to make that distinction clear.
And when something doesn’t work as well as we’d hoped, we’ll tell you that, too.
Our goal isn’t to convince you to buy more gear. It’s to help you make better decisions about the gear you buy.
From Our Sidelines to Yours
We’re still learning.
Our kids are growing, their sports are evolving, and the equipment keeps changing. Something that worked perfectly last season might not be the right choice next year.
That’s part of what makes youth sports interesting—and occasionally expensive.
Sideline Selects is where we’ll share those experiences, discoveries, and lessons as we go.
Whether you’re preparing for your child’s first club lacrosse season, shopping for new soccer cleats, or trying to rescue a pair of soaking-wet shoes after a rainy tournament, we hope you’ll find something useful here.
See you on the sidelines.
— The Sideline Selects Family
