Sports equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear, which varies in shapes, size, and usage in a particular sport. It includes balls, nets, rackets, protective gears like helmets, goggles, etc. Since the performer must use a sport equipment, [1] it can also be serve for protection. [2] [lower-alpha 1]
Historically, many sports players have developed their own sporting equipment over time. For instance, the use of a football dates back to ancient China, between the Warring States period (476–221 BC) and the Han Dynasty (220 AD). [4] [5] As football remains the most popular sport in the 21st century, the material of the ball has completely changed over the centuries; from being made out of animal skin, to being lined with multiple layers of polyester or cotton. [6] [ citation needed ]
As the sporting equipment industry improves, so do the athletes' performance. This is due to the fact that the equipment is more efficient, lighter and stronger, thus forming a biomechanical system that is interacting with the athlete. [7]
Since the massive adoption of wearable, new sport equipment tend to be electronics and connected to deliver data performances.
Standards and monitoring processes apply in certain industries aimed at the elimination of child labour in the manufacturing of sports goods. One example would be the Atlanta Agreement of 1997 in relation to child labour in the football-making industry in Pakistan. [8]
In ball sports, balls are a key element—usually as part of the scoring mechanism. Sports balls are usually in the shape of a sphere, though they may also be spheroid or ellipsoid. Spherical balls include the baseball, basketball, Gaelic ball, cricket ball, golf ball, lacrosse ball, tennis ball, and the ball used in association football. Spheroid and ellipsoid balls include the gridiron football and rugby ball.
In flying disc sports, frisbees are used for various games such as freestyle, disc golf and ultimate. [9] [10]
In ice hockey and floor hockey, a puck is used.
In many games, goal posts are at each end of the playing field. In some games, such as association football, hockey and water polo, the object is to pass the ball or puck between the posts below the crossbar. In basketball, the object is to pass the ball through the basket. In these sports, the goal usually has a net. In other sports, such as those based on rugby, the ball must pass over the crossbar.
In tennis, badminton, and volleyball, players launch the projectile over a net which is supported by two posts.
Racquets are used for racquet sports such as tennis, squash and badminton, and are used to hit a ball between opposing players or teams. [11]
Fishing rods and fishing tackle are primarily used for fishing and sport fishing.
Sticks are used for sports such as hockey and lacrosse. Bats are used for sports such as baseball, cricket, and rounders. Clubs are used mainly for golf.
Wickets, creases and balls are used in cricket, and bases are used in baseball. [12]
In many sports, athletes wear cleats. These include cricket spikes, football boots, golf shoes, and track spikes.
Cyclists wear cycling shoes, which may be designed for special interaction with pedals.
Wheeled shoes include roller skates and inline skates.
Skiers wear ski boots, which attach to skis via bindings. Similarly, snowboarders have snowboard boots and bindings.
Athletes wear ice skates in most ice-based sports, although there are exceptions such as broomball and curling.
Athletes with limb differences (such as those in the Paralympics) may use extremity prostheses, such as the Flex-Foot Cheetah running blade.
Protective equipment is often worn for sports including motor sport and contact sports, where there is a danger of injury through collision of players or other objects.
In many sports, athletes wear helmets. These include:
Padding is used to protect various body parts, most often as elbow pads, shin pads, and shoulder pads. Specialized equipment, such as the jockstrap and mouthguard, is used to protect certain body parts. Ice hockey players may wear neck guards. Some athletes wear sports gloves to protect their hands.
Many sports have a common set of clothing, usually called a uniform or kit, including the association football kit, baseball uniform, basketball uniform, cricket whites, and cycling kit. As part of the uniform, athletes may wear jerseys; they may also be called shirts, sweaters in ice hockey or guernseys in Australian rules football. These jerseys may change color when the team is on the road.
Examples of training equipment include swiss balls, resistance bands, tennis balls, balance discs, cones, weights, chin-up bars, weight machines, and gym equipment. Also, protective equipment such as weight lifting belts and bench shirts are used for weight training and powerlifting.[ citation needed ]
Special sports equipment, is the equipment usually worn by the athletes according to their needs or desires.
Vehicles (sometimes specialized) are used as equipment for some sports, including motor sport, cycling, aeronautics, sailing and hot air ballooning.
Small vehicles with flatbeds are often used to carry injured athletes off the field, most commonly in American football.
In many team sports that involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting opposing shots on goal. Such positions exist in bandy, rink bandy, camogie, association football, Gaelic football, international rules football, floorball, handball, hurling, field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey, lacrosse, ringette, rinkball, water polo, and shinty, as well as in other sports.
Cricket clothing and equipment is regulated by the laws of cricket. Cricket whites, sometimes called flannels, are loose-fitting clothes that are worn while playing cricket so as not to restrict the player's movement. Use of protective equipment, such as cricket helmets, gloves and pads, is also regulated.
Street hockey is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The object of every game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting the ball or puck into the opposing team's net. All games are derivatives of either the sport of ice hockey, floor hockey, bandy, and/or field hockey.
The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. Wilson makes equipment for many sports, among them baseball, badminton, American football, basketball, fastpitch softball, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis, pickleball and volleyball.
A contact sport is any sport where physical contact between competitors, or their environment, is an integral part of the game. For example, gridiron football. Contact may come about as the result of intentional or incidental actions by the players in the course of play. This is in contrast to noncontact sports where players often have no opportunity to make contact with each other and the laws of the game may expressly forbid contact. In contact sports some forms of contact are encouraged as a critical aspect of the game such as tackling, while others are incidental such as when shielding the ball or contesting an aerial challenge. As the types of contact between players is not equal between all sports they define the types of contact that is deemed acceptable and fall within the laws of the game, while outlawing other types of physical contact that might be considered expressly dangerous or risky such as a high tackle or spear tackle, or against the spirit of the game such as striking below the belt or other unsportsmanlike conduct. Where there is a limit as to how much contact is acceptable most sports have a mechanism to call a foul by the referee, umpire or similar official when an offence is deemed to have occurred.
Rawlings Sporting Goods is an American sports equipment manufacturing company based in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Founded in 1887, Rawlings currently specializes in baseball and softball clothing and equipment, producing gloves, bats, balls, protective gear, batting helmets, uniforms, bags. Footwear includes sneakers, and sandals. The company also sells other accessories such as belts, wallets, and sunglasses. Former products manufactured by Rawlings included American football, basketball, soccer, and volleyball balls.
In ice hockey, the goaltender wears specialized goaltending equipment to protect themselves from the impact of the puck, and to assist in making saves. Ringette and rinkball goaltenders use the same equipment with some exceptions. This article deals chiefly with the sport of ice hockey.
Kookaburra Sport Pty Ltd is an Australian sports equipment and apparel company based in Melbourne, Australia. The company was founded in 1890 and specializes in manufacturing various equipment used for Australian rules football, cricket, and field hockey. The company is named after the Australian bird Kookaburra. The company manufactures the white ball used in all One-day international matches and the red ball used in Test cricket in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe.
A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term pitch is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field.
Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons.
A shin guard or shin pad is a piece of equipment worn on the front of an athlete's shin to protect it from injury. These are commonly used in sports including association football, baseball, ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, cricket and mountain bike trials. They are also used in combat sports and martial arts competitions including kickboxing, mixed martial arts, taekwondo, karate and professional wrestling. This is due to either being required by the rules/laws of the sport or worn voluntarily by the participants for protective measures.
Ball hockey is a team sport and an off-ice variant of the sport of ice hockey. The sport is also a variant of one of several floor hockey game codes but more specifically a variant of street hockey.
In ice hockey, players use specialized equipment both to facilitate the play of the game and for protection as this is a sport where injuries are common, therefore, all players are encouraged to protect their bodies from bruises and severe fractures.
Protective equipment in gridiron football consists of equipment worn by football players for the protection of the body during the course of a football game. Basic equipment worn by most football players include helmet, shoulder pads, gloves, shoes, and thigh and knee pads, a mouthguard, and a jockstrap or compression shorts with or without a protective cup. Neck rolls, elbow pads, hip pads, tailbone pads, rib pads, and other equipment may be worn in addition to the aforementioned basics. Football protective equipment is made of synthetic materials: foam rubbers, elastics, and durable, shock-resistant, molded plastic. Football protective equipment has remained consistent in use for decades with some slight modifications made over the years in design and materials. The assignment and maintenance of football gear belongs to the team equipment manager.
Pads are a type of protective equipment used in a number of sports and serve to protect the legs from the impact of a hard ball, puck, or other object of play travelling at high speed which could otherwise cause injuries to the lower legs. These are used by batters in the sport of cricket, catchers in the sports of baseball and fastpitch softball, and by goaltenders in sports such as ice hockey, ringette, bandy, rinkball, field hockey, rink hockey and box lacrosse.
Personal protective equipment serves an integral role in maintaining the safety of an athlete participating in a sport. The usage and development of protective gear in sports has evolved through time, and continues to advance over time. Many sports league or professional sports mandate the provision and usage of protective gear for athletes in the sport. Usage of protective gear is also mandated in college athletics and occasionally in amateur sports.
Nivia Sports is an Indian sports equipment manufacturing industry founded in 1934 at Sialkot. It was named Freewill Sports Pvt Ltd. Later the company shifted to Mumbai and finally headquartered in Jalandhar, Punjab, India which designs and manufactures sports equipment, accessories, and sportswear including athletic clothes, and footwear. It has been the official ball partner for many national and international leagues and tournaments including Indian Super League, The Basketball Federation of India, All India Football Federation, Volleyball Federation of India, Sri Lanka Super League, and Premier Handball League (PHL). Nivia's basketball has received certification from FIBA, the International Basketball Federation. Nivia Sports has also entered into a strategic partnership with the Women's Handball League (WHL).