Author: Abbo

Tight shirt review

OBO Short sleeve goalie shirt review.

So, here it is. The new Goalie shirt from OBO.

 

And here it is in action:

 

When it comes to keepers shirts there isn’t a lot on the market that takes my fancy, for the last 2 seasons I have been using a Nike Dri-Fit running shirt which has served me well. I’m always on the hunt for new products and equipment so after sending a few emails to Simon enquiring about testing future products, he came back to me with this.

I’ve been using this shirt for many weeks now and I can safely say it is one of the best shirts I’ve worn. It keeps my armour tight to my body yet still has enough stretch in the material for it not to be uncomfortable.

Firstly I’ll start with the style, every keeper wants to look good, right?

As you can see I have the Black and Silver top, It is very similar in design to my Nike top which is what I personally was looking for. I really like the 2-tone colour option and as it’s OBO I would expect to see numerous options available, like with the rest of their products.

How does it fit?

Me and Simon were in discussion about which size would be best for me. We were deciding between a large and an extra large and settled on the XL. If I was to re-order another one I would go for a large as the XL is just a bit too big for me.

I guess it’s all down to personal preference, I prefer my shirt to be as tight as possible, whereas others like it slightly baggy.

After a couple of weeks, I decided that I would mod my shirt to make it more tight fitting, around the chest and arms.

It could also depend on which body armour you use, Iam currently wearing the Mercian Xtreme with the bicep protection cut off. This armour is quite slim fitting with fairly small shoulder caps, some other armours are more bulky which would fill the shirt out more than my one, so take that into consideration when buying!

A fairly obvious point to make is that this shirt is definitely not an option for goalies in full body armour as your arm protection will be ruined from diving around.

Material & Breathability.

The materials OBO have used for this shirt seem to be of a very high standard, the Black material on the front is stretchy and feels very durable. The Silver material used on the back feels very strong, it almost looks similar to the material of my old long sleeve smock.

I really like the idea of having a vented back, but could see others disagreeing. Maybe there could be an option to have the shirt made entirely of the black material alongside the tops with the vented back?

Because the material of this shirt is of a very high quality, it hasn’t lost it’s shape, frayed or shrunk in the wash, other shirts I’ve had haven’t held us aswell.

Summary

In short, I think OBO are onto a winner with this top, it’s comfortable, looks good and is specifically designed for keepers. Good job guys!

 

OBO PE Helmet Review

I have chosen to write a review on my PE helmet.

To start off, before purchasing this helmet I used to play in a very mediocre lid, Not going to name names : )

I purchased this helmet at the start of this season and from the moment I took it out of the box I loved it. When I first picked it up I was surprised at the weight of it! sooo light compared to my other lid.

First things first, once opening the box I couldn’t wait to try it on, From box to head was almost a perfect fit without adjusting a thing! I tinkered with the straps a little to get it to the right tightness which took no time at all! This was the first time I’d had a helmet fit perfectly directly from the box without a lot of tinkerage.

Next thing to do was add the stickers, I may be 18 but stickers are always fun to play with whatever your age. OBO provide just the right amount of stickers for the lid and even give you a little template to follow if you don’t have an idea on where to stick them. I spent a while customizing until I was happy with the look, here are a few pictures of it : )

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Once all the tightening and stickering was done I tried the helmet on with my body armour, My previous helmet used to catch on my body armour when lowering my head a little… Not a problem at all with this helmet.. I was soo chuffed as it was soo damn annoying with the previous helmet!

Next thing to note is the vision! Referring to my old helmet first, the vision was unbelievably poor, the bars of the grill were in the totally wrong place and I had to wear the helmet in the un-correct way to be able to get a good line of sight! The new helmet tho.. what an improvement!  No wearing the helmet in a way it isn’t supposed to be worn, no adjusting of the grill.. just a perfect line of vision.. the first time for a few seasons.

Next The comfort of the helmet. The thickness of the foam could be improved (made a little thicker) But apart from that it was the most comfortable helmet I’d tried on. The velcro tabs that hold the sweat band on are a good idea but after a few uses (and a lot of sweat) the velcro lost its stickiness and fell off. Not really an issue to me as I was considering changing it from two squares of velcro to one long strip anyway. Previous helmets have given me really bad headaches as they were too tight in certain places, such as the temple. This is not an issue with the PE helmet, its really comfortable.

Protection.

I have taken many hits to this helmet, a few to the temple and a few to the front of the grill and not felt a thing.. the only thing I would say is be prepared for the ringing in your ears when you get hit as it makes a really loud noise, I think this is due to the materials used. In the previous helmet I was scared to chase down shots where I knew an undercut could be possible as the helmet didn’t fit properly, when I ran out because of the way I had to wear it, it used to slide down and my vision was severely impaired, I used to close my eyes and turn my head when a ball was coming towards me at head height as I was afraid I would get injured. Since I bought this helmet, the eye closing and head turning problem has ceased and I now try an actively charge down shots without worry.

On the protection issue, 6 games before the end of the season at a training session a ball was undercut from 6-8 foot away from me and hit me square on the left side of my face ( where the grill attaches to the helmet ) I did fall to the ground as the shot took me by surprise and I did feel the shot thru the helmet. Saying this if I hadn’t of been wearing the helmet I would have a very mashed face, the helmet did a brilliant job of protecting me and where the ball made contact with my cheek/grill it left a nasty dent but I am going to say that’s what the helmet is designed to do? it kind of reminded me of crumple zones in a car.

All in all OBO have done a great job in designing this helmet and I would totally recommend it to any player (whatever your level) and personally would buy another one tommorow!