June 2009 – Page 2

Australia v England

The Kookaburras have concluded our nine game tour of Europe with two wins against England at Highfields in Nottingham. After playing them at the Hamburg Masters we knew to expect more tough opposition, and this certainly proved to be the case. Penalty corner scoring was the order of the day in our 5-4 win during game one, with Chris Ciriello flicking in a hat-trick and Luke Doerner adding another to his tally. Ashley Jackson netted three for England at the other end, with Australia’s Jason Wilson scoring the only field goal.

In game two we ran out 4-1 winners and gave England significantly less scoring opportunities, including only two corners for the game. They have proved that they will be difficult to beat at the Champions Trophy in Melbourne at the end of the year. Overall, the tour has been a successful one with the team establishing a 7-2 win-loss record. The two close losses to Germany in lead-up games prior to the Masters were followed up with a win during the tournament, so we return home pleased that we have managed to beat each side that we have played during the tour.

It has been great writing for OBO during the team’s travels and I look forward to contributing to the keepers resources site again in the near future.

Cheers,

Ross.

Review Your Kit Competition Winners

review-your-kit-competition

The Review your kit Competition has now closed, but we and other people around the world really value your reviews of kit; so keep sharing, contributing and enjoying. See this link to view all the competition reviews.

We requested creativity in how the content was displayed along with some straight talking on what you really think of OBO products.

After much discussion we would now like to announce the 5 winning articles;

Review: Robo Bodi Arma by CormacDC

OBO comment; Favorite quote – “It glistened like nose hair after a sneeze.”

Review of CLOUD Hotpants by Folmer

OBO comment; Good real review with good constructive criticism. Maybe we need to develop the Cloud hotpants.

Review of Robo Hi Control RHP by Kanuckkeeper

OBO comment; liked the use of video.

OBO Cloud Leg-guards Review In A Short Story by danni

OBO comment; good creative story.

OGO Kickers Review by Ozzie

OBO comment; pleased that someone thinks OGO is misunderstood.

If your review was selected as a winning review we will be in touch via e-mail.

Thanks,

The OBO Team

What glue?

qna
Question:

My son is a hockey goalkeeper and owns a Robo hockey helmet. We purchased this fantastic helmet about a year ago. The only, ongoing problem we have is that everytime he removes the sweatband from inside the helmet, the piece of velcro which holds the sweatband in the helmet comes loose.

We have tried so many different glues on the South African market and nobody can give us advise as to which glue to try. After every practise and every match (probably about 4x per week) we have to re-glue the velcro to the helmet.

We are afraid of trying acid based glues incase the eat the padding in the helmet.

I would be extremely grateful if you could advise me as to which glue I could use or any solution to the problem.

Thank you!

Cheryl

Answer:

Hi Cheryl,

I’ve had a lot of success with that very problem using a product available in the US called Gorilla Glue. Below is a link to their website which has a “Where to Buy” section.

http://www.gorillaglue.com/

Hope that helps,

Jon

Stripper shorts

With recent strides in technology and production, hockey kit producers have been able to design a pair of shorts that best suits the goalkeeper’s needs; using strips of strong foam around the leg (with thick padding at the hip and body area to cover when sliding or going down to block), providing a hybrid of quality protection with the flexibility needed for explosive movements in jumping or diving, as well as helping leg movements for kicking, given the active nature of the position.

The ‘stripper’ short design has pieces of foam that wrap around the keeper’s leg to fix to the individual’s leg width (for best fit), with a velcro strapping system to hold them in place, leaving gaps around the groin/thigh to allow for the groin guard to fit within the shape without interference (as shorts can often become tighter as they stretch to fit the jock; limiting your chance to move), which maximises the movement possible for forward and sideward drives. There is thinner and flexible padding inside to cover the inner thigh and groin as well.

Obo’s Hot Pants design is the pioneer of this unique design, matching the keeper’s playing needs for enhanced movement as well as strong protection. The TK GX 1 padded short, is actually a stripper short, with the leg padding attaching together separately. Gryphon have also produced something similar, as have Monarch, along with Mercian’s international shorts.

strip_short

Pros

High level of protection for the top levels of play
Work well with the keeper’s ‘box’ to help stop possible interference when moving
Great speed of movement provided, without the cost of shot stopping safety
Easier to take off and put on when padding up due to the strapping design of linking the parts together – you can ‘tie them’ on when standing, rather than having to pull on the shorts!

Cons

Only problem is the cost!

Padded shorts

Padded shorts are the basic type of lower body protection; hard foam padding or strong plastic are sewn into the shorts. Unlike girdles, the shorts do not cover the whole of the upper legs, but do give considerable protection to the lower area above the pad.

What with the game and technology constantly evolving, field hockey companies are now producing padded shorts, taking the model and design of ice hockey shorts (their equipment predating ours), and adapting it to suit the game. The shorts mainly have two large ‘blocks’ of strong plastic, with padding around the joins.

There is greater movement as the shorts are baggier and roomy for more active leg movements, such as when shuffling across, or launching off for an aerial save. There is thin and flexible padding to the inner leg, making movement considerably less restricted, making them very suitable to fast and active goalkeepers.

They also have padding to specific areas like the sides and upper leg areas, making use of square sheets of shatter proof, moulded plastics. The main manufacturers, TK, have a basic model graded for different levels of play, whilst Grays have their own make, with a more circular mould to the lower leg. The Cloud shorts are probably the closest thing to a specifically padded short that are made by Obo.

short

Pros

Pads cover the upper leg area well
Strong level of protection to go down against shots in a logging position
Suitable prices

Cons

Padding not layered strongly in outside areas (i.e. hips)
Restricted movement
Only padding to the legs – lack of protection to the inner areas (possible painful shots)

Australia wins Hamburg Masters

Australia won the 2009 Hamburg Masters tournament over the weekend with wins over England and Germany in consecutive days. After defeating England 5-2 on Saturday, the game against Germany was effectively turned into the tournament final when they beat the Netherlands 5-3 in their second match. With two close losses under our belts in practice matches against the Olympic champs earlier in the week, we were very keen to make amends on a bigger stage.

We started off very well against Germany, leading 3-0 at half time. The host nation managed to pull it back to 3-2 and suddenly the tournament could have gone either way, particularly when considering the fact that Germany only needed a draw to win the trophy as they had a superior goal difference. The Kookaburras once again pulled away however, and goals to Mark Paterson (2), Luke Doerner, Simon Orchard, Eddie Ockendon and Jamie Dwyer gave us a 6-2 victory. Jamie also won the player of the tournament award to cap off a very successful day for the team.

We now head to Nottingham for the final leg of our trip and two more games against England. I am really looking forward to this part of the tour as it will be the first time I have been back to England since I played a season for Sheffield University Bankers in 2001-02. I had a wonderful time playing there and credit a significant part of my development as a player to the experiences I had in the Northern Premier League. I am particularly looking forward to seeing some of the boys I played with in the team for the first time in seven years. No doubt they will be cheering on the opposition in this instance but it will be great to catch up all the same.

Camo overpants

Hi Obo, I thought of a great idea about a design for your overpants that cover the hotpants. I saw to the Camo gear pics and noticed that there weren’t any camo overpants. I noticed that perhaps wearing the camo smock could look a bit goofy sometimes, why not make a over pants with the Camo design? They’re less noticeable yet at the same time you get an awesome design to wear.

It’s just a thought…

KanuckKeeper

Australia v Holland

Australia recorded a 3-2 win over the Netherlands in our opening game of the Hamburg Masters today. We went to the break 2-1 up after goals to Luke Doerner and Eddie Ockendon, before Luke made it 3-1 early in the second half with another penalty corner conversion. Holland hit back with a drag flick of their own with less than ten minutes remaining, but we held on for the victory. Once again George Bazeley and I played 35 minutes each in the net. In the other game, host nation Germany ran away with a 6-0 victory over England, although the scoreline does not reflect the eveness of the match for long periods. We have a rest day tomorrow then come up against England on Saturday, so it will be imortant that we are at our best as I expect them to be very keen to bounce back.

ROBO Bodi Arma Review

Hi Amazing Guys and Girls

I’m going to keep this short and sweet, just like me 🙂

I’m the proud owner of Obo ROBO Bodi Arma, well let’s just say when the parcel arrived I was like a small child at Christmas, and was soon bouncing about in my new toy.

Why do I think it’s so great???

1) When I’m wearing it I don’t look like a midget sumo wrestler!!! ( that’s because it’s super slim lined).

2) Those occasional blows to the chest dont’t feel like bullets and take my breath away; rendering me useless and the goal open to those goal hungry forwards.

3) I can move and jump around without it getting stuck on my shorts, (making it hard to get up fast from a slide), riding up (not covering tender parts) and twisting, which my previous body armour did (not sure about the make and model it was one I lent off my club).

4) It looks good with or without a a smock, also lets me have more choice on the smock front (well we all know how us girls love clothes). No need for super baggy or boring, I can becomne an individual with awesome designs :).

What’s not so great???

I have a real problem with the shoulder pads, they seem to rub and dig into my skin, especially if I’m not wearing a long sleeved top. They seem to over lap the main body of the Arma. I’ve tried to bend and mould them to no joy :(.

I think the main reason for this is that I’m a girl, which means I have those things men don’t have but love lol. This seems to push the Arma up and out causing gapping around the area (see pictures) meaning that the shoulders don’t sit in the right place.

But hay I think I can get over this small niggle.

Maybe Obo could think about making a Bodi Arma just for us girls????

Enjoy 🙂

Side View of Bodi Arma View from shoulder Gap between chest and Bodi Arma Better view of the gap

12 Creative Funky Helmets

Here are a range of 12 cool helmet designs; Some good inspiration for some custom graphics…

I came across this article which i thought was pretty cool- most are motorcycle helmets but there could be some inspiration for your custom helmets in there…

The Skull

Lego Helmet

Spider Man

Transformers Helmet

Watermelon Helmet

Pac-Man Helmet

Iron Man

Storm Trooper

Daft Punk

Valentino Rossi Face

Via Toxel.com