Youth Wrestling Shoes Sizes vs Adult Wrestling Shoe Sizes

The market for wrestling shoes is small for youth size shoes (under a mens 5.0). Therefore the color selection and options are fairly limited until you hit around a size 5.0. For example, adidas youth wrestlingoffers 2 colors and Asics Youth Wrestling offers 4 colors to choose from. Recently adidas and Asics have started some of their top wrestling shoes at a size 4.0.

Once your wrestler reaches a size 5.0, you now have access to shoes in all sorts of colors and designs with prices ranging from about $45 to $130. We often get comments from customers that we do not offer a wide variety of youth wrestling shoes, we currently offer every youth wrestling shoe from adidas, Asics, and Matman.

Wide Width Shoes

Do wrestling shoes come in wide widths? This is our most common question regarding wrestling shoes. Just as the size of the market, limits your selection in youth wrestling shoes, no one offers wide width wrestling shoes. This being said, we find adidas shoes are cut wider then other manufacturers. I have a wide foot with a high in step and find adidas works well for me now. We can make this recommendation based on feedback from our customers as well.

Even though we find adidas works well with wide feet, several wrestlers swear Asics feet their wide foot the best. Keep in mind every foot is different so it is best to shop with a company like WrestlingGear.Com that offers a sizing guarantee. We ship back and forth to you at our cost if you have a sizing issue.

Proper Sizing

Normally adding a half size to adidas and Asics shoes works pretty well. Each wrestler likes to have his or her shoes fit differently, but this is a good rule of thumb. Some wrestlers like their shoes so tight, that blood will have a hard time flowing to their feet. Generally, I like to see the width of a thumb at the toe to allow for both comfort and a little growth.

If you have a wide foot, we recommend adding at least a half size even a full size in some circumstances to your normal gym shoe size.

The common error we see in cases that we have a sizing issue is customers do not start with their wrestler's normal gym shoe size. They "think" it is a size 9.5 and it really is a 10.5. The key is to find your wrestlers most recent pair of gym shoes and use that to purchase your wrestling pair of shoes.

Another mistake is using a competitors wrestling shoe to purchase your shoes. For example, using a pair of Asics to size a Matman shoe. Each manufacturer's shoes fit differently, even within the same brand. WrestlingGear.Com makes sizing recommendations based on customer's feedback. For example, each shoe has information on its web page whether we recommend adding a half size or even a full size to the normal gym shoe size.

Setting a Budget - Youth and Adult Sizes

For youth sizes, your budget range will be much narrower then the range for an adult shoe. For example, a pair of youth wrestling shoes will run about $33 to $44 depending on which brand you choose. The adult price range is much wider, from $36 to $130.

What do you get for the more expensive shoes? I think you get a little more stylish shoe, better material usually more leather then nylon, lighter material, better sole, and a better lace guard mechanism.

Color Selection

Most often color is the second determinant after budget for what shoes a customer buys. Once you decide on your budget, you will be limited in your color options. For the most part, most entry level and intermediate level shoes come in the standard freestyle colors - red and royal blue and then of course black. Black most often is carried by most retail stores that are general sporting goods stores and often times you will have to shop with a catalog company to buy the red and the royal blue shoes. Sporting goods stores usually stop at the intermediate level shoe, so if you want an elite shoe you will almost certainly have to find a catalog or internet based store to shop with.

Split Sole or Uni-Sole

Many wrestlers have strong feelings about split sole or uni-sole for the bottom of their shoe. Usually whatever type of shoes you have when you start wrestling, is what type you tend to stay with. Asic's shoes are all uni-sole and adidas shoes are all split soles. At least this is the case with the current year models. So if you have to have either one of these types of soles, the brand you shop with is already decided.

Summary

We tried to discuss some of the different options you have when buying wrestling shoes. Often times the two most important factors in buying shoes are what is your budget and what color do you want. After you decide this your options will be significantly reduced and you can focus on the split sole vs. uni-sole decision, do you like the lace guard mechanism, and the size you are looking to purchase.

Drop us a note via our contact form on our website at http://www.wrestlinggear.com to let us know what you thought of the article. We tried to write something that would help a new wrestlers and parents figure out what wrestling shoes to purchase.