Foosball Table Advisor Dedicated to the Best Foosball Tables & Accessories
Wearing any of these 5 gloves when playing foosball will ensure your hands don’t get sweaty and slippery, and you maintain a solid grip.
You are playing a fantastic game of foosball and you think you are going to win. The heat in the room, the tension of the game: they make you sweaty. Your perspiring hands get slippery and you lose your grip, lose the game.
If this sounds like a nightmare, keep it from coming true by getting yourself a good pair of gloves you can put on when playing. The following are the 5 best gloves for foosball.
Comparison Table
The following table is a representation of the products we will review in the article:
| Product | Check on Amazon |
|---|---|
| Battle Ultra-Stick Receiver Glasses | check price here |
| Optima Max-Grip Racquet Gloves | check price here |
| Callaway Men’s Down Patrol Golf Gloves | check price here |
| MG Golf DynaGrip Glove | check price here |
| Intech Six-Pack Men’s Glove | check price here |
Best Gloves for Foosball Reviews
1. Battle Ultra-Stick Receiver Gloves – Breathable Material
While most people prefer to wear handle wraps when playing foosball, others prefer gloves made for particular sports that require the same type of protection as foosball. This is a pair of receiver gloves made for American football.
Since the gloves are built for the brutal conditions of American football, you can count on high durability and toughness. Let’s face it: compared to American football, foosball is a tame sport. It’s an indoor sport, and the only thing you handle with your hands are the handles.
All you have to worry about is the friction between the surface of the handles and the material of your gloves. These football gloves can handle that with ease.
Holding the handles for extended periods of time, especially during an intense game when you seem to be holding on for dear life, unwilling to let go, your hands may sweat profusely. You need gloves made of breathable material that won’t trap the sweat and increase your discomfort. The Battle Ultra-Stick gloves are made of PerfectFit, breathable material.
In addition, the gloves are comfortable and will ease the strain of grabbing hold of the handle bars for long periods.
They may turn out smaller than you expect when they are delivered, especially if your hands are big.
Pros
-Durable
-Breathable material
-Comfortable
Cons
-May be too snug
View price on Amazon
2. Optima Max Grip Cabretta Leather Racquetball Gloves – Highly Tacky for Good Grip
These gloves are highly tacky. In sports talk, this means that the gloves have a high level of stickiness which comes in handy when you want to hold on to something. In foosball, you are grabbing and holding on to the handles. The tackiness ensures a solid grip that does not slide but stays in place, giving you a high level of control and accuracy.
Materials include ultra-thin cabretta sheepskin and stay-soft leather. The ultra-thin Cabretta sheep skin has a comfortable feel to it. You feel good and comfortable, which enables you to play for longer periods.
Foosball can get intense, especially when you play competitively. Sweating heavily is natural. Breathable gloves ensure that the sweat can find a way through the material to evaporate off the surface. Breathable fabric helps keep you cool. The Optima Max gloves have a breathable mesh backing which helps keep your hands both dry and cool.
In addition, the gloves have a reinforced double-layer palm. This provides maximum comfort. Holding on to the handles for extended periods can cause strain and discomfort to your hands. The reinforced double layer ensures your hands are comfortable and well-cushioned.
These gloves are on the large side – you might consider purchasing a size down if you require a snug fit.
Pros
-Tacky with good grip
-Breathable fabric
-Comfortable
Cons
-A tad larger than should be
View price on Amazon
3. Callaway Men’s Dawn Patrol Golf Glove – Moisture Absorption and Breathability
Golf gloves are another popular type of glove that foosball players enjoy using. Unlike other types of gloves, golf gloves come separately, not in a pair. You buy a right-hand glove or left-hand glove, depending on your dominant golf hand. You can buy both gloves separately and use them as foosball gloves.
The Callaway golf glove features an all leather construction. As a result, you can count on long-term durability. Grabbing the handles forcibly and playing a vigorous game can cause friction that leads to wear and tear of most gloves, but the leather gloves can withstand it.
The glove has a cotton terry cuff that gives you a soft feel. It makes the glove feel comfortable. Furthermore, it helps with moisture absorption – given how hard most people sweat when a foosball game gets heated, this feature comes in handy.
Moreover, the glove features perforations on palm, fingers, and thumb. This further assists with moisture reduction and increases the breathability of the glove.
It may be too large for some people.
Pros
-Durable
-Moisture absorption
-Breathable
-Comfortable
-Light, secure fit
Cons
-May be larger than expected for some
View price on Amazon
4. MG Golf DynaGrip All-Cabretta Leather Golf Glove – Buttery Comfort Softness
As mentioned, golf gloves typically sell for one hand only, so make two orders: one for the right-hand version of this glove and the other for the left-hand version.
The glove comprises an all-cabretta leather construction. Cabretta is a type of leather made from sheepskins of sheep that grow hair not wool. Tougher than other sheepskins, cabretta makes excellent gloves, just what you need to play long, vigorous games of foosball.
The MG Golf DynaGrip glove features quality and traditional styling and has won a number of PGA Tour events, which speaks to its excellence.
The cabretta leather material has a buttery softness that feels comfortable. The glove has edge trim to prevent the leather’s edge from fraying, even after using for many rounds. It features detailed stitching for a tailored look and reinforcing at critical points.
However, it only comes in white
Pros
-Durable
-Comfortable
-Has ventilation holes
Cons
-Only comes in white
View price on Amazon
5. Intech Six-Pack Ti-Cabretta Men’s Glove – Lycra Inserts for Flexibility
This glove consists of two sides with different materials. On the palm side, it features cabretta leather, the sheepskin leather which will help give you a good grip on the handles and give your glove long-term durability.
The back of the glove features a soft synthetic material. This side does not require leather durability as it does not encounter as much friction as the palm side.
The glove contains Lycra inserts, which allow for flexibility. You won’t feel any strain on your hand as the glove will stretch out to suit your hand. For instance when you ball your hand into a fist, some gloves strain, but the Lycra inserts in the Intech make it stretch instead.
Furthermore, this makes the glove feel comfortable, so you can keep wearing it and playing foosball for extended periods.
In addition, the glove has good breathability, in case you tend to get sweaty when a game gets highly charged.
Pros
-Comfortable
-Breathable
-Flexible
Cons
-Not 100% cabretta
View price on Amazon
Why You Need Gloves/Wraps
Handle wraps are typically more popular than gloves for foosball. We use them in different ways (the glove is for your hand and the wrap for the handle), but the function remains the same. Wearing gloves and using handle wraps will have a significant impact on your game.
For instance: grip. Your grip on the handle improves, and you find it easier to make the sort of advanced shots that make a game exciting: like the pull shot and the snake shot. Wraps are better than gloves – for instance, making a snake shot is easier with handle wraps than when you are wearing gloves.
Your hands will most likely start to sweat when you are playing a vigorous game of foosball. This makes your grip on the handle slippery. As a result, you risk missing your shot or even opening yourself up to the opponent. With foosball gloves, you can prevent that.
Handle wraps and gloves also help improve your passing as well as defense. Wraps and gloves come in a range of thicknesses and tackiness. Test different ones to find the one which suits your unique playing style perfectly.
Some players prefer gloves and others handle wraps. Some even combine the two.
How to Put on a Handle Wrap
The handle wrap, unlike the glove, is not for your hand. You don’t wrap it around your hand, but rather the handle.
Begin by unraveling the wrap completely. After that, put one end of the wrap on the front of handle nearest to the table. Holding the wrap with your right hand, use the left to rotate the handle.
Ensure the handle does not roll on loose or with slight gaps. Otherwise, you will have to unravel the wrap and start again, applying more tension on the wrap as you roll.
The Importance of Grip in foosball
Think in the sense of baseball, cricket, or tennis. If a player in any of those sports fails to grip the bat or racket, they can’t make the ball go in the direction they want. The same applies for foosball, and that’s why foosball players take grip so seriously and take the necessary precautions to improve it, like wearing gloves or using handle wraps.
Now imagine playing the best game of your life, competitive or uncompetitive. Just when you think things are going well, your hands begin to sweat, fingers get slippery, and just like that you miss your grip mid-shot. Your entire game goes to pieces afterward and you never recover.
Without a good grip, you cannot make complex shots like pull shot and snake shot. Good grip enhances speed, performance, and accuracy.
How to Grip the Handle
Beginners tend to grip on the handle too tightly, huge mistake. This bad habit also happens in golf, baseball, and tennis. You should not put excessive strain on your hands and arms. Your grip should be just right, enough to help you move easily.
Keep the grip loose for maximum movement and speed. It also helps you minimize handle resistance so the rod can move with fluid freedom.
Types of Grips
The two primary grips styles used in foosball are:
- Traditional Shot Grip
You use this grip with all standard shots such as push shots, pull shots, tic-tac shots, and spray shots.
To grip the handle correctly, leave a small gap between the handle and the skin where your thumb and index finger meet. You are gripping the handle too tightly if this skin is pressed right against the handle. You won’t make good shots with such a grip.
Another thing you can check to confirm an excessively tight grip is white knuckles. If you have them, you are gripping too tightly.
You should keep in mind that unlike tennis rackets or baseball bats, you don’t swing the foosball handle. That means a tight grip is completely unnecessary.
Another great tip: when making your shot, rotate your wrist rapidly to make the rod spin about 180 degrees. It gives you shot power and speed. A quarter turn won’t give it as much speed.
- Open Handed Grip
You use this grip when making a rollover shot – the snake shot. To set up this shot, the foosball man should be tilted forward where the man’s toe pins the ball’s middle against the table. With the foosball in this position, you can switch from the traditional grip to the open-handed grip.
Have your hand in an open position, its bottom part and beginning of the wrist touching the handle. This grip enables you to slide your hand with an upward motion to make your man make almost a full rotation before making contact with the ball again.
Beginners often mistakenly regard this as an illegal spin when they first see the snake shot in action. However, note that the man makes contact with the ball before achieving a full 360-degree spin, and that makes the shot legal.
The snake shot works better with wraps than gloves because it requires your wrist to touch the handle. The glove impedes this.
Conclusion
We recommend the Optima Racquet Ball Gloves as the best of these gloves. The Callaway Golf Gloves also have great features and are nearly as good as the Optima.
The Callaway gloves feature a durable all-leather construction, cotton terry cuff that feels soft, and perforations on palms and fingers for breathability in case of perspiration.
The Optima gloves also feature a leather construction. They are highly tacky, which gives you a solid grip, and they are comfortable and have reinforced double-layer palms.
Which of these gloves strikes your fancy?
Comments
0 comments
