Dilemma with White Basketball Shoes

            White. It’s sleek, simple, and flashy. But it is also a color that it hard to keep up. As seen in this first picture my new white basketball shoes were every adjective I previously described.

But, as the season wore on, the wear and tear became more evident as the pure white has transformed into an off-white tan color, as seen in the next two pictures of my shoes following the end of the season. This color change can be attributed to sweating throughout 20+ games.

 

But since we live in the 21^st century, the upside is that it is an easy fix to get my shoes back to their original bright white color, by just throwing them in the washer. White shoes look sweet, and they are my go to color for basketball shoes, they just require more up keep then say black ones as white tends to show every little mark.

Uniform Rules... Are the really worth it?

            Rules, rules, oh and more rules. They never fail to make everything more complicated than it needs to be and some are necessary, but some of the rules that have come out lately for our state high school soccer association seem almost pointless. Let’s go over a few of them that I would like to explain further, homes uniforms must be entirely white, undergarments, like compression shorts and long sleeve thermals must match uniform color, and the big one: tape must be the same color as your socks.
            My only complaint on the first rule with home uniforms having to be entirely white would about the shorts.  As a player the main thing I look and when I’m looking for a teammate to pass to is a glimpse of a white top. At that moment in time, I only have a few seconds to scan the field to find that flash of white of my teammate to pass to, I don’t sit there and analyze forever about, ‘oh can I see my teammates entire body with her white top, shorts and socks?’ because it’s probably highly unlikely that she’s even that wide open. Also other reason I question that the shorts have to be the same color is the cost perspective. Why not save $20 per person- which adds up quickly when you have to account for an entire team- and just buy one pair of shorts that can go with both your home white tops and away dark tops. I think that would be especially beneficial for small town schools because they don’t have as big of a budget to buy what I see as unnecessary uniform pieces.
          The next rule that I find challenging to follow is that the undergarments must match your uniform, except if you are wearing your away uniform, white or black works as well. My bigger issue with this is more about the compression shorts rather than the thermal long sleeved tops because you only wear them maybe 1 or 2 games out of the entire season, so not many issues come up with them. So, for my high school team, we chose to have white as our undergarment color and right now I only have one pair of white compression shorts, the rest I have are either black or grey. I personally just don’t think that the color of your compression shorts really make a difference in the game; yes they may stick out a little under your shorts but it not like they are your shorts. I see compression shorts to be like long underwear, so it seems like the rule is saying you have to match you underwear.

Some rules help refs make more accurate calls.

            Finally comes the rule that all the girls on my team can’t stand: you must match your tape to the color of your game socks. When most girls tape their socks, they wrap below and above their shin guards just to hold them in place. They keep it simple and sweet, nothing too extensive. The reason for the rule is to make it easier to see who kicked the ball out last, and if you have a girl with her socks taped with a color that matches the other team it may get confusing, so I understand the reason for the rule. But where the issue comes, is having to find the color of tape that matches your socks perfectly. Our away socks are a dark hunter green color, but most of the green tape that we can find is either lime green or a lighter Kelly green, so it stands out too much. So I think that it would be easier if the rule said you had to wear dark tape, like black which is more common, on your away socks and then obviously white for your home socks. Some refs end up being very strict about this rule and in the end I feel like it is a hassle for everybody.

           Rules are made for a purpose, some more necessary than other. But, in the end rules are rules and they have to be followed no matter how pointless they may seem to you as a player, because they could have some hidden meaning that is more useful when having to ref a game.   

 

Images Courtesy of www.usatoday.com

 

Team Unity through Matching Gear

             Have you ever walked into a tournament, and seen that one team were everybody is perfectly matching? I’m not just talking about wearing the same uniforms, but they all have the same headbands, every player is wearing the knee pad leggings, and they all are wearing matching socks and shoes. Yes, I am talking about that type of unity. Well when you do spot that team, which I have played against many times, what begins to run through your mind? I know for me it’s something like “Oh my god, we are about to get blown outta the gym!” And, yes even though that could easily be true, as the saying goes, looks aren’t everything.
             Flashback three years ago when my AAU basketball team was invited to play in a premier league outside of Chicago. We knew that every game we would be playing elite competition, but that didn’t stop us from judging how good we thought the other team was before we played. I remember that one of the teams we played, showed up 10 minutes before the game started, with mismatch jerseys, and their shoes untied. Sounds like they are a disaster waiting to happen, and that’s exactly what we thought, but boy were we wrong as we ended up getting beat.


Oregon never fails to have everything matching all the way
down to the same socks.

            Anyways, the idea that if you look professional and have that attitude about you, whether it is sports or the workforce, you will have an edge on your competitors which can have its pros and cons. Some pros I see is that yes you look more professional so you will give off that sense that you are more put together and have everything organized and prepared. But a downside to looking more professional than the rest, is that when your competitor sees you, they will realize that they need to step their game up, so you might end up playing a tougher game than expected. Also another downside I see to having team unity with everybody wearing matching clothes, is the cost. Some AAU clubs may put only the cost of just the jerseys and shorts into the fee that players have to pay to play and once you begin adding more miscellaneous items that are “required” like shoes and knee pads, it can begin to turn prospective players away because the cost gets too high. I think the best way to approach a situation like that is for the players to decide before the season begins to come together and decide as a group if they want to all buy the same shoes. Sometimes it can be hard to get every little detail all the way down to headbands to be all matching on a team, but I will say from personal experience, you look pretty sweet when you walk into the gym together.
           Team unity through clothing can bring the players together as they all feel like one and don’t feel like one player is any better or worse because they don’t have the “right” brand of shoes. But also on the flipside it can be expensive for different families of different backgrounds to pay the cost that is needed for that to happen. In the end having team unity with matching gear does look really nice, but it doesn’t determine how good the team is, they have to go out and prove it on the court.

Images courtesy of http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2014/03/14530246-standard.jpg