CLOUD – OBO

OBO CLOUD Kit Sizing

Just a few small tips I’d like to share for buying new OBO kit.

I recently upgraded my body armour and thigh pads to the OBO Cloud Range, (very good by the way). The first time i brought kit i got it straight from the internet, the sizing worked pretty well so it was alright. This time because of the cost i wanted to be absolutely sure the kit fit before anything was payed for. Luckily my chemistry tutor, (Who plays cricket) told me about a company that had competitive prices and a show room in London. They were very helpful and ordered it all in for me to try.

Now heres the tips.

CLOUD Body armour – don’t rely solely on the OBO sizing of arm length, every one is unique so work out what size you are by them then order the sizes around it as well to try on, i measured as a small and ended up in a medium.

CLOUD Hot Pants – wide waist = Tall is unfortunately the principle most companies work on, my waist size was for a hight of 5’10 -6’2, I’m 5’6 at the most. Try the different sizes, the waist stretches and it has a belt, and I’ve been told by other keepers that it’s better they be too small around the waist than having them catch on the leg pads

ROBO Overpants – A bit of a grey area, medium hotpants doesn’t always mean medium over shorts, because of how they wrap the size varies, if you’re at the larger end of medium like me you might want the large over shorts, it just allows for more flexibility.

Just try before you buy, if you can’t get it ordered to try, ask other keepers in your club or even on other teams you play (We do tend to be nice people us keepers), if they have what you’re after ask them if you can quickly try then to get a size idea, hopefully they’ll let you, (just remember to do it after the match when you have time). If all that fails, post an article and hopefully other people maybe able to help you estimate, last thing you want to do is pay out on expensive kit that doesn’t fit.

OBO Size Guide Link

OBO Cloud Leg-guards Review In A Short Story

Hey Everybody,

When I read through the other reviews for the kit competition, which were all very good, I noticed that nobody had really been that creative and that I might be able to fill this gap. Either way, I hope you enjoy:

I waited anxiously on Monday morning, staring out the window till about 2 o’clock, when, suddenly, I saw a flash of light come down the road. As it came nearer and nearer, I got more and more excited, wondering what was going to happen and whether my life would change after this momentous event. Then the man walked towards me, dressed completely in red, and said “Please sign”. I could barely write as my hand was shaking so much due to the exhilaration. I managed to do so after 5 minutes, giving the red man his lovely pen back, soaking in sweat. He passed the package over to me and walked off. I did not know what to do; I was just so thrilled that it was finally here. I stayed, standing, at the front door for another 5 minutes, motionless, not knowing what to do. I then decided to rush into my bedroom alone to open the package. When I arrived in my room, I threw down the package, searching for a pair of scissors of anything sharp. There was nothing anywhere. I ended having to use my bare hands and teeth to get in. But it was worth it. When I opened the package, a huge light stared at me, almost blinding me. What was it? It was my new set of obo cloud leg-guards.

As soon as I saw them, I was in love. I knew these were my dream leg-guards. The colours, weight, durability, protection and rebound were everything I wanted. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life. I felt like going round my street and kissing anyone I saw, I was that happy. What was there not to like? Nothing. In my eyes, nothing could beat these. The yellow made me look like a bird…

I had my GCSE English Oral in 2 hours, which I had to attend. But I could not leave them. How could I bring them with me when I was going to talk about how John Steinbeck creates a feeling of sympathy for Lennie in “Of Mice and Men”? I just could not put them through it; I didn’t want to see them in pain. So, I took a bold move for the sake of my precious jewels, and chose to do my English Oral on the OBO Cloud Leg-guards. My teacher was amazed, saying she had never seen anybody so enthusiastic about a subject before. I got an A*, for which I took my leg-guards out to the local public house to celebrate.

The next day, I had my first match with them. I was in heaven. This was my paradise, forget about rehab, treat ecstasy addiction with obo leg-guards. They were so light, weighing nothing like any other pads I had ever worn. When I put them on for the first time, I was amazed by the comfort. I did not expect it from such a hard outer foam. Fortunately, OBO put a different inner foam in, and this made them unbelievably comfortable. I loved the way they hugged my legs, as if they were actually moulded on my legs. When taking shots to them, I felt no pain, even when playing against the ex-international, who had injured his goalie before the game. This was amazing, I was playing the game of my life, I was on cloud nine. When I had a one-on-one just before half time, I slid out, and my leg-guards did not twist slightly. This was due to the right leg-guard being slightly narrower than the left and also the wing hinging system, obo have in place on all leg-guards. Then after the break, I went down to log at a short corner, which the top of my left leg-guard saved, showing how useful the extra width on the left leg-guard is.

After the match, I noticed how for the first time in ages, none of my straps had come undone, unlike the opposing keeper, who was not wearing OBO, who had managed to become undone 5 times and lose one of his straps. I also realised that I had had no fear during the game of getting hit on the ankle or the knee, due to the design of these leg-guards.

A month later, it was time to wash my darlings. I made sure the water was warm for them, the way they like it, before adding a cup of borax. I then decided to do the same with fabric freshener, just to make sure that their skin was not irritated. It also made them smell great, ready to play their part in the club day the next day. Everybody commented on how good they looked, and although they did not say so, they were really chuffed.

A few years later, it was our anniversary and I was offered robo hi-control leg-guard’s. I said “Pah! No, how dare you even insinuate that! I will never leave them”. My pads had held up well over the years and there was no way I was leaving them now. Even though the inners had started to split and the outers and inners had started to come apart, these could easily be fixed with glue. And, either way, I had become attached to them, we had gone through a lot together, and I would only let them go when the time was right.

In the future, I would buy these again, and would be perfectly happy to play senior international matches with them in the future. Everything is great about them, I cannot fault anything. They are even easy to repair, even though they are very durable. I would recommend these to anyone, who wants a good set of leg-guards at a reasonable price. Although they may be more expensive than some other brands, in the end they last longer and are better.

Having told you this story, I would like to say that I would expect this from OBO, after all, “Goalkeepers are Amazing People”. You said be creative, I was creative. I hope that this included everything that is supposed to be in a review. Any questions, please ask? If I could put pictures in, I would, although maybe I should not, after all, the point of stories is to enlighten your imagination…

CLOUD Legguards Review

Well I chose to review my OBO cloud legguards

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Before I got my Cloud I was using my clubs leg guards. But I found that even on a nice slippery water base pitch you COULDN’T slide!

When I first ordered them I was regretting not getting the ROBO, as I heard rumours that cloud was useless!!

On the day they arrived I was surprised at how light they were!

I noticed that they looked the same as the ROBO hi-control but presuming with slightly softer foam and a few less perks. But still have a lot of good ideas that you won’t find on many other brands

-The left leg is wider than the right for some reason (probably for extra height when logging or something)

-The wings at the side are lower to the ground which really helps to stop balls just sliding past your foot.

-The straps are hiding so there is wear-n-tear when sliding.

-The oddly shaped buckles help to stop the straps loosening during a game or training.

-The great idea of the tongue that helps stop the leg guards from twisting!

(yes I know these are not cloud but it’s the same idea)

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The only flaw I can see with the leg guards is that the area around the knee (highlighted)is quite more built up more than the rest of the pads so when I log there is naturally a gap between them making a lovely target for a good striker. Maybe that is only me as I have short-ish legs but, I have no idea that could help stop this without reducing protection. (yes lets laugh at the very badly drawn picture)

My funky drawing

To finish it all I would like to say that I would recommend cloud leg guards to any keeper as they have absolutely excellent protection, are light and easy to move in and have never caused me a single problem during a match.

By the way if anybody else has had the problem with the built up knee please leave me a comment! and if you dont, leave a comment anyway!!

Thanks!!

Hillmonger!

Review of CLOUD Hotpants

When looking for a decent pair of goalkeeping shorts the options are limited. Luckily OBO has a couple and I decided to try out the Cloud ones.

From the box (or bag, which they come in) they looked pretty good. Not bulky, padding in the parts that matter the most and they are very light. The Velcro wrap around design and the belt make for good adjustability and ensure a perfect fit. Also the way you wrap the legs of the pants around your legs make for a good fit as soon as you have done up the Velcro. Unlike some other brands where they close the other way around and you need to fiddle to get them in the right place.

A small area of concern was the mesh cloth on the inside of the pants. As I know that this can easily tear I was wondering whether if it would stand up to “normal abuse”. (I will come back to this point later on) Also the padding on the front seemed a bit on the thin side, but I would just have to see how it would face up to shots. (Again, will get back to that)

After I put them on for the first time, they immediately felt good. Hardly any restriction of movement (if any) and the open crotch design makes for a good interaction with the abdo-guard and enough ventilation. It felt very natural and needed no breaking-in time.

During the first training session I intentionally used the pants to take a few shots, where I would normally use my gloves, just to see how they held up. I don’t play at top level (that’s why I gave the Cloud a chance instead of the much more expensive Robo) but still, there a few hard-hitters in my team (senior men’s league). When the first hard hit headed for the pants I braced for impact and I’m glad I did, because although the real sting was taken out of the shot I really felt it. (“So that’s why they’re much cheaper than the Robo…”)

As said before, I intentionally let the some shots hit the pants just to try them out, which is not what you would normally do. In a normal game situation you will just get hit by the occasional deflection or short distance flick or low power hit and in those situations the Cloud stands up to the job really well. And in ladies games (no offence intended) they will probably be good enough for nearly all shots.

There isn’t a lot of padding on the side/hip area, just one pad on the hip bone, so when diving the landing can be quite hard. Also during sliding this can be somewhat of a miss. The pads did stay in the right place during the sliding and diving, so that’s a good thing.

Some years have past since I bought the Cloud hotpants and they look like a patchwork due to all the repairs that I had to make.

After about half a year the seams around the hip pad pockets started coming loose and the mesh cloth on the inside of the pants started to tear in places. The stitching was fixed easily enough and the mesh can be replaced without too much trouble. (If you save the bag the pants came in, you can use this as a replacement for the mesh.)

After about a year the corners of the leg padding pockets started to show holes on the outside due to the edge of the padding rubbing against it. Also the outside of the pants around the slide area was showing some wear even though I wear the Robo overpants over them. I do tend to slide a lot, probably more than average, so that’s probably why.

Luckily all the padding comes out really easy and the design of the pants is very simple. This means repairs can be made without a lot of hassle and if you do this in time you can extend the lifetime of the pants significantly.

Would I buy them again? To be honest: No. There are a lot of positive things: the weight, fit, movability and that they are easy to repair. But for me the negative points weigh much heavier. They wear quite fast and the padding is mediocre. But above that: for the price of the Cloud you can nowadays buy shorts that are a lot better. When I bought the pants there weren’t that many “clones” around, so I had less options to choose from. Now that almost all other brands have “stolen” the hotpant design there is choice is much more extensive.

In all fairness, my Cloud hotpants are about 3-4 years old and I don’t know if any improvements have been made to the design since then. If there are then the Cloud might give better competition to the other hotpants than the one I have.

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!

Review of OBO ROBO elbow protectors and OBO Senior Knee protectors

Review of OBO ROBO elbow protectors and OBO Senior Knee protectors

by Niclas Franzén Swedish national goalkeeper and goalkeeper for Partille Sport Club

Please excuse my grammatical and spelling errors
This review consist of three parts “First impression”, “Review after testing” and “Pictures”

First impression

Elbow pads
At first look I was a bit confused with its “weird” design and at first try I thought they were the bulkiest pads I had ever tried BUT then I started to take a closer look at the elbow pads and noticed what I would like to call GENIOUS design! First I started by just adjusting the straps a bit and this made it fit nicer then I removed the “elbowpit”/forearm/bicep protection and I was in love basically all the bulk was gone and they fitted better with my SP gloves especially the right one and when I tried to remove the ground/inner protection the pad became even better!

I’m wearing them around the house for the moment to get used to the feeling (I have not used elbow protection for a long time so it’s a bit odd for me at first) without having a go with them in goal yet I really think OBO have designed a product that able to catch a really really wide audience. When using all protection it’s like a full arm guard and when removing the first pad it becomes a protective elbow protector and when taking the last part away it becomes a super flexible elbow protector (of course I understand that protection will not be as good but for me who is used to not having anything at all its still much better than nothing. I feel that the elbow bone is well protected and so is the forearm I think it will be great for PCs when going down because the most brittle parts of the arm is protected it’s just like I want it

The only slight downside with the pad is that I don’t think some of the elastics is tight enough when removing all the extra protection but it’s a easy fix with the good old sewing machine and maybe it says more about the size of my biceps than the product itself 😉

Kneepads
as for the kneepads they don’t hinder the movement to bad actually and after wearing them for a while they started to get the shape of my leg however I can’t get used to the straps at the back of my knee because of the straps but it might not be a issue when wearing long socks also I have yet to see how they fit with my girdle.

Review after testing

Elbowpads
First of all I want to say FINALLY a elbow protector that’s designed for fieldhockey instead of a ice hockey elbow protector sold as a fieldhockey one.
After testing the elbow pads for one and a half month I feel I can give the pads a fair review after breaking them in properly. I like these elbow pads a lot and I they are certainly the best I have ever tried I like the idea that it’s possible to remove/add protection to make them fit the needs of the user. One might like to have full protection for training but just wants to wear the “shell” for games, personally I’m extremely sensitive when it comes to bulk and for over two years I have played “dutch” and I can honestly say that these elbow pads are the only reason I have even considered moving back to joint protection. With all protection they act like a small version of the full arm guards (a pair of full arms that fits the sp RHP much better than the actual full arms) with just the inner protection added you get added protection against the ground and also against balls that hits the elbow bone. Lastly with just the “shell” you get a good hard shell with some soft damping on the inside which is the way I use them I feel it gives me the best mix of protection and flexibility the full lower arm is protection and the elbow bone which are the pars of the arm I feel the need to protect. I lent the elbow protectors to another goalkeeper in my club who normally are using full arm protection and he was impressed by the flexibility and he still felt just as confident as when he use his full arm protection so I really do believe they fit all goalkeepers from the ones who loves playing “dutch” to the ones who swears by their full arm protection it might also be a good way if you want to go down from full arm protection to more flexible protection as you can remove the extra protection when you feel confident to do so.
I would say no matter how you use them the protection is still great both against the ground and against balls the hard plastic panels combined with the soft inner makes a perfect combination.

Kneepads
When I was testing these knee protectors I never got hit so I can’t comment on the protection but I was actually surprised how flexible the kneepads were after breaking them in, I would say that they don’t hinder my movement a bit and they fitted well both with my old OBO girdle as well as the newer model so that was not really a problem. They also managed to stay in place fairly well but could move a little after making several saves in a row but it was an easy fix as soon as the ball left the circle. Personally I have had a hard time adjusting to the feel of having something around my joint and even if it does not hinder me it’s a mental block to me so personally I’m not a huge fan of these. However I would have loved these as a junior when I got hit more on my knees and I could see why goalies who slide a lot would like these but these are really for everyone because we all get forced to do some more or less “ugly saves” from time to time (I have even heard a rumor the these kneepads were the reason Ali McGregor could play on after getting hit on the knee during the Olympics). I also lent the knee pads to the same keeper in my club who got to try the elbow pads and as I write he still have not given them back to me he just loves them (mental note I have to buy a pair for him when he has his birthday so I can keep mine for myself).
I think some goalkeepers will absolutely love them and some would hate them me myself is somewhere between these two camps I can’t say I love them but I can’t say I hate them either because after all it’s a good product who are going to give many keepers out there a little more confidence to know that even if they give the little extra during the match they will know for sure that they will be able to go to work Monday morning because let’s face it most of us got work on the side of hockey.

Pictures and explanation

Picture these are the parts of the elbow protector
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Elbow protector with all parts

Elbow protector on arm with SP right hand protector

Elbow protector with just the “shell” no added protection

Elbow protector without any extra protection on arm with SP right hand protector

I hope people will find this review helpful and that it has given you a better idea of these great new OBO products.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

//NicfromSweden

Knees Up Review By Alistair McGregor

Alistair McGregor is the current Loughborough Students and Great Britain goalkeeper. As an OBO sponsored player has requested to test out the Knees Up knee protector…here is his review:

“I have been using the knee pads for the past few months now and have been very impressed by them. I got a direct hit off them during a shooting session, obviously at the time the initial impact still hurt, however i was able to continue with the session. Having been hit on the knee before with other knee pads i have suffered a bit of stiffness from the impact. I feel that with the OBO knee pads that the stiffness from the injury was far less and only received a very small mark were the ball hit me. The foam in the knee pads seemed to dispel a lot of the impact of the shot. I fully appreciate that the thickness of the foam is difficult to get right, i feel that this is very close to being an excellent knee pad. The knee pads sit well with the shorts and the open knee area helps to keep them in place. A possible addition could be a plastic/harder thin material inside the knee pad to provide even greater protection.”

Knees Up

” The knee pads do hold the water quite a lot when wet, however overall I have been very impressed with the knee pads and will be using them in the Olympics. I feel that the knee pads give me that little bit of extra confidence when facing some of the hardest hitters of the ball in the world.”

Thanks for all your support,

Ali

Threading Your Robo/Cloud/Yahoo/OGO Legguards

The first thing you should do is nothing! Don’t even remove the old straps, because you can use them as a threader instead of having to make one yourself.

If you’ve already removed the old straps then you’ll need to follow the steps outlined below.

The first thing you should do is nothing! Don’t even remove the old straps, because you can use them as a threader instead of having to make one yourself.

If you’ve already removed the old straps then you’ll need to follow the steps outlined below.

Otherwise, remove the male component of the clip from one end of the strap and cut the buckle off the other, without removing the straps from the legguards. Then all you need to do is staple your new straps onto the old ones and pull them through. Have a look at steps 6-8 below. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

legguard01

Here’s what you need: a legguard of course, your new set of straps and a device to help you get those straps through those channels. Note that both male and female components of the clip are at one end of the strap.

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This is what we use at the OBO factory…. a threader! It’s a piece of flexible plastic, flexible enough to easily pass through the curved shape of the channel, but not so flexible that it snaps on you when you are half way through the process. We’ve sewn a piece of black nylon webbing onto the plastic. We’ve then sewn a piece of terracotta fabric to the black webbing. The legguard strap is then placed between the two ends of the terracotta fabric as shown by the red arrow. This helps the strap travel relatively easily through the channel.

The reason we use a plastic threader is because we need to thread hundreds of legguards. To thread a single legguard Jon O’Haire reckons a piece of 1″ cardboard with a pointy end will do the trick.

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Thread the plastic into the channel on the ‘wing’ side of the legguard. (This is a left legguard. The top of the legguard is to the left of the picture)

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Thread the plastic all the way through the channel until the tip of the threader appears at the channel exit as shown by the red arrow. You may need to assist the threader through the exit with a finger.

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Pull the threader almost all the way through the channel. Leave enough of the black webbing and terracotta fabric showing outside the channel so that you can attach the legguard strap to the threader.

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Staple the legguard strap between the two ends of the terracotta fabric of the threader (check out image 2 above to refresh your memory of what we mean if you need to). Use two staples if you’re not convinced it will hold but you should only need one. The insert in the image above shows how the legguard strap is folded over on itself and sewn at one end. We staple the legguard strap into the threader with the folded end down so that the OBO logo on the clip faces outwards. (Okay…. a fairly
minor point I know, but it’s a little detail we always remember.)

legguard07

Pull the rest of the threader, with legguard strap attached, gently through the channel. If you go too fast the strap will probably come off the threader part way through the channel. You can just see the end of the strap exiting the channel in the image above.

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All that remains is to attach the male component of the clip to the other end of the strap. That’s it, real easy, especially after you’ve done several hundred like we have at the OBO factory!