Head Gear / Face Gear for Kids

Anywilds

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I am looking for recomendations for head gear that will be used by my son (7 years old). He currently uses a standard dipped foam head gear but I need to get something with a face sheild or something with more facial protection.

1. If you use one what is your preference and why?
2. Do you have a student or kids that wear them and what do they prefer? Please include brand and model.
3. If you wear one how is the load distributed when taking a punch or kick?
4. Can anyone recomend a head gear that extends to the cheekbones but doesn't cover the chin? Not as hot and face contact still not allowed.

The reason for this need is my son was kicked in the face as he was falling. Harder than usual and an accident exagerated by him falling into / towards the kick. It was a hard hit by a slightly bigger kid. He ended up damaging a tooth, it abscesed and needed to be pulled. Not a permanent tooth so we were lucky there. He did have his mouthguard in

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

IcemanSK

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I am looking for recomendations for head gear that will be used by my son (7 years old). He currently uses a standard dipped foam head gear but I need to get something with a face sheild or something with more facial protection.

1. If you use one what is your preference and why?
2. Do you have a student or kids that wear them and what do they prefer? Please include brand and model.
3. If you wear one how is the load distributed when taking a punch or kick?
4. Can anyone recomend a head gear that extends to the cheekbones but doesn't cover the chin? Not as hot and face contact still not allowed.

The reason for this need is my son was kicked in the face as he was falling. Harder than usual and an accident exagerated by him falling into / towards the kick. It was a hard hit by a slightly bigger kid. He ended up damaging a tooth, it abscesed and needed to be pulled. Not a permanent tooth so we were lucky there. He did have his mouthguard in

Thanks in advance for your help.

Macho makes a plastic face shield for their dipped foam head gear: http://www.macho.com/category.aspx?catalog=MACHO&id=10000116

They also have cages as well. Their "universal" shield might be the best bet. Apart from the dipped foam helmets, there are few options & none have the protection you want for a 7 year old. For example: a child of 7 would not be comfortable in a boxing head gear while training in TKD.
That's my suggestion.
 

Kacey

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We don't allow face shields at any age; it teaches people to not guard their face. I do think, however, that Shock Doctor makes the best mouthguards.
 

MJS

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I am looking for recomendations for head gear that will be used by my son (7 years old). He currently uses a standard dipped foam head gear but I need to get something with a face sheild or something with more facial protection.

1. If you use one what is your preference and why?
2. Do you have a student or kids that wear them and what do they prefer? Please include brand and model.
3. If you wear one how is the load distributed when taking a punch or kick?
4. Can anyone recomend a head gear that extends to the cheekbones but doesn't cover the chin? Not as hot and face contact still not allowed.

The reason for this need is my son was kicked in the face as he was falling. Harder than usual and an accident exagerated by him falling into / towards the kick. It was a hard hit by a slightly bigger kid. He ended up damaging a tooth, it abscesed and needed to be pulled. Not a permanent tooth so we were lucky there. He did have his mouthguard in

Thanks in advance for your help.

Here are a few links to check out.
http://physicalsuccess.com/Shop-read-96.html

My instructor has bought items from this company. He has the headgear shown and is happy with it. Not really a bad price.

Here is another one.
http://store.titleboxing.com/face-protector-head-gear.html

The facesaver headgear is pretty good as well, although you can see that its more expensive. I have one similar to whats shown.

Both of the links are worth checking out IMO. I wanted something that would allow some hard shots to the head/face while at the same time, offering some good protection. To date, neither my instructor or I have suffered any injuries from the gear I listed.

Mike
 
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Anywilds

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We don't allow face shields at any age; it teaches people to not guard their face. I do think, however, that Shock Doctor makes the best mouthguards.

Kacey - I am surprised you made this comment about a young student. While I agree it could lead to "bad habits" keeping your hands up is an everyday part of class, regardless of the drills. Not just in sparring. Sparring is the application of techniques that are learned.

As a student myself, I know and accept what happens when sparring. So far nothing serious to me but it could happen. If it does I am ok with it.

I have a different interest with my son and offer a different perspective. He is 7 and enjoys TKD. Getting injured is not a positive expereince either. It could change his interest in the sport. Getting kicked so hard you are seriously injured can change the way he thinks about it. Only a tooth but it also could have been more serious than that. To him it was serious, hurt like hell and still does almost a week after it happened (mainly becasue of the tooth infection and extraction). That is the need for the additional protection.

Being a coach for other sports I tell the parents my goal is to get the kids to come back next year. Teach them some new skills and they get better over time. At 7 kids are not going to be the next pro baseball, football, soccer all-star. The best kids on the team often get passed up by the kids with more passion for the game. The learn over time and apply that knowledge. Quiting the sport never allows you to compund the basic skills.

Thanks everyone for the input - If you have additional info on gear please post. I would like to hear more about what has worked and what is preferred.
 

MJS

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Granted when wearing these types of face protection, we can realistically get hit hard in the face and not get a tooth knocked out, a black eye or a broken nose. Now, I still feel that even though we're wearing this gear, that we still need to be very aware of protecting ourselves.

This just allows harder contact without the worry of, if you do make a mistake, getting a serious injury. Does it take away from the actual feel of getting hit? Yes and no. I've been hit hard wearing these headgear and its still a wake-up as far as the contact goes. I think that people should train without it, making some contact, but again, you need to accept the fact that the injury risk increased.

Mike
 

Kacey

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Kacey - I am surprised you made this comment about a young student. While I agree it could lead to "bad habits" keeping your hands up is an everyday part of class, regardless of the drills. Not just in sparring. Sparring is the application of techniques that are learned.
Students are supervised closely when sparring; young students are supervised even more closely. While I understand your point of view, nonetheless, we do not allow face masks in our tournaments; therefore, we do not allow them in our classes, either. Students that young are generally paired with older/more senior partners, who have the control to not hurt the younger/more junior student, and to not let that student hurt them. It's all in how you look at it. Your training and perspective is different from mine - that does not make either of us wrong - just differently trained.

Most often in class, we spar without any gear - pads are for tournaments. That's the way I was trained, and it's how I train my students for self-defense; after all, on the street you won't have pads - so you need to know how to strike and block without them, which you won't learn while wearing them, no matter what your age. Technique and precision is the key to not injuring your partner - not padding; that's my training, my experience, and my perspective. As I said, yours is different - that doesn't make either of us right or wrong, it just points out our differing experiences.

In addition, as has been pointed out in many threads - headgear is not intended to protect the head from strikes; it is intended to protect the head from the floor, if the person wearing is swept or falls for other reasons. Hand and foot pads are intended to soften the blows from hands and feet - not headgear.
 

granfire

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We have a few people who spar with their eyewear and we do Short Stick for wich we use the Macho faceshield. I left it on from Stick class, laziness, nothing else....my vision is limited in the faceshield and I feel like I am suffocating.

There are several models of helmets out, and you have to make sure the shield fits it. I bet the brand head gear you have offers a face shield to retro fit.

As far as I know our students are free to use the shield if they feel comfortable with it, no matter what age and I would defenitely have my kid use one should the hit result in confidence issues. But to me the draw backs are greater then the benefits.
 

foot2face

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In addition, as has been pointed out in many threads - headgear is not intended to protect the head from strikes; it is intended to protect the head from the floor, if the person wearing is swept or falls for other reasons. Hand and foot pads are intended to soften the blows from hands and feet - not headgear.

This may be the case for no/light-contact sparring but in full-contact sparring head gear definitely helps...trust me. Also, a lot of schools don't use hand and foot pads, just hogu and head gear.
 

Kacey

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This may be the case for no/light-contact sparring but in full-contact sparring head gear definitely helps...trust me. Also, a lot of schools don't use hand and foot pads, just hogu and head gear.

As I said, it depends on your experience and training - for what I do, we don't allow face shields, and head gear is to protect your head from the floor. For other people in other circumstances, different criteria apply.
 

terryl965

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As I said, it depends on your experience and training - for what I do, we don't allow face shields, and head gear is to protect your head from the floor. For other people in other circumstances, different criteria apply.

This is so true, at anyrate face shields I have seen then get cracked and broke by strong kicks so I'am not for them at all. Someone 7 is not going to get there teeth kicked in by another 7 year old. My sons have been sparring since they where four and have never had a tooth knock out. Great Instructors will teach proper techs and take the proper approach to make sure everything is safe for one to sparr.
 

IcemanSK

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This is so true, at anyrate face shields I have seen then get cracked and broke by strong kicks so I'am not for them at all. Someone 7 is not going to get there teeth kicked in by another 7 year old. My sons have been sparring since they where four and have never had a tooth knock out. Great Instructors will teach proper techs and take the proper approach to make sure everything is safe for one to sparr.

I've never used one or had my students use one in 25 years. I agree that instructors need to be on top of younger students when they spar. Control & respect for your partner are key for the younger kids to learn in sparring. (Heck, at every stage!)

Head gear & mouth pieces are for the accidental contact for young kids. A face shield can give a false sense of security to students.IMO
 
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Anywilds

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Kacey - Thanks for the 2nd post. Helps clear up the perspective. I see and understand your points. This was my exact perspective until my son was injured.

As far as teaching proper techniques, control etc... Some may have missed the very 1st post that said it was accidental. It was not about poor supervision or improper technique.

Thanks all for the info about the gear it has been helpful. If you can add something specific about headgear that pertains to my 1st question please do so. I have not purchased anything yet but I will and value your input.
 

rabbit

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Kacey - Thanks for the 2nd post. Helps clear up the perspective. I see and understand your points. This was my exact perspective until my son was injured.

As far as teaching proper techniques, control etc... Some may have missed the very 1st post that said it was accidental. It was not about poor supervision or improper technique.

Thanks all for the info about the gear it has been helpful. If you can add something specific about headgear that pertains to my 1st question please do so. I have not purchased anything yet but I will and value your input.

Can't you go to your instructor and ask him? Maybe he know of some good headgear/faceshields. In my organization face shields and head gear are required. You are not allowed to wear any gear that is not approved by them. The gear we got seems to protect the face,head and teeth pretty good.
 

TX_BB

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Anywilds,

My thoughts on your questions:

1) Check with your son’s instructor on the use of a face shield. Your Son’s instructor has the final authority of what’s used on his floor. Problems with insurance, affiliations or personal preference can influence his decision. Remember your choice is to have your child there or not.

2) Face guards get hit more often since they extend the target area, this will lead to more shakes of the brain.

3) My preference is the wired cage type face mask. It provides great protection with minimal extension of the face. I have used this in sparring when we’ve used bag gloves and foot protectors (covering toes) Macho Warrior with Cage mask is what I have used. I have heard that the Macho Red Man helmet is excellent also.
 

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