I remember back when my girls first started playing soccer it was so much fun to buy little pink and black cleats and colored socks for their U6 AYSO teams “The Pink Princesses” and “The Blue Butterflies.” Now that they are practicing and playing 4-5 times per week, the equipment is much more important…and expensive. Here’s some of the things my girls use regularly… (click the photos for purchasing information…there are affiliate links in this post)
CLEATS (or Boots if you’re English)
A good pair of cleats
SOCKS
My girls are “totally over” wearing any of the AYSO style colored socks. Our club game socks are Nike Dry Fit
SHINGUARDS
Shinguards are pretty much the only required equipment for a soccer player. My girls use the small slip-in kind because they like the feeling of having their ankles free. These also cut WAY down on the nasty smell factor because nothing is going around their foot. For games they sometimes use shinguard straps to hold them in place, but for practice their socks hold them up just fine.
SLIDERS
Sliders are tight compression shorts that some players wear under their game shorts. They are great for protection while sliding, but also great for modesty reasons. Big Soccer Girl likes to wear these while Little Soccer Girl couldn’t care less. She likes the Under armor sliders
UNDER ARMOUR
I’m using a brand name to describe a broad category of “things you wear under a soccer uniform to keep warm when it’s freezing during your game.” Some refs can be very picky about the color of the Under Armour Shirt
SPORTS BRA
Yep, even the littlest girls need something to wear under their jersey because they often need to change right on the field into a different color jersey. I used to have a lot of trouble finding ones small enough for my girls, but we’ve had good luck with the Nike Girls’ Sports Bra 
REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLES
I try to save the planet and use the reusable water bottles. My favorite are the Contigo Stainless Steel Water Bottles 
SOCCER BALL
You may want to talk to your coach about what type of ball to get, but U9-U12 use a size 4 ball. U13 and above use a size 5. I always try to find the most obnoxiously colored ball so that I have a small prayer of the girls finding it after playing. You can spend a fortune on a ball, but we usually stick to a $20-$30 budget and find balls on sale. It’s less painful that way when it’s lost/borrowed/eaten by the dog.
PRE WRAP
For soccer girls of all ages, Pre-Wrap
Where can you buy all this stuff?? Although chain stores like Sports Chalet and Sports Authority are usually conveniently located, they usually only have a limited selection of soccer gear. However, they are great places to look for Under Armor gear for keeping warm and water bottles. You can also find most things on Amazon! Here are some other recommendations…
Soccer Central– They have several locations and obviously specialize only in soccer! Their salespeople are knowledgeable and eager to help. Stores have specialty jerseys, gloves, balls, socks, shorts, tape, and of course shoes. They stock many of the high end cleats and although they may not have the exact size or style that you are looking for, at the very least they’ll have something that your child can try for size. You can then order from…
Eurosport– When you strike out at your local brick and mortars, it’s time to head to the internet. As I mentioned above, even if a store doesn’t have the exact shoe/glove/cleat/shinguard/ball that your child desires, you can have them try on a similar style in the same brand and then place an order on-line.
I especially like Eurosport because of their customer service. Our club has an on-line store at Eurosport where you can purchase extra jerseys etc… Last summer I thought my Big Soccer Girl had lost her dark jersey after a tournament. (Of course she was with Soccer Dad…lol) After using an old one for a while and looking for the missing one, I finally decided that it wasn’t going to turn up. I went ahead and ordered the custom $50 jersey and well, you can probably guess what happened. Yep, I found the jersey stuffed in an outside pocket of her backpack two days later. I thought for sure that they wouldn’t cancel my order as it had already processed, but when I contacted them and explained what happened, they were very kind and cancelled my order and refunded all the charges. That was amazing! They have a loyal customer for life. I order all of our coach’s equipment from them as well. You can join their “Goal Club” which gives you many great discounts- especially when you order often.
Any other essentials for your soccer girl or boy?
**this post contains affiliate links**