Everyone wants their football to last as long as possible, the last thing you want is a ball deteriorating faster through actions that can be avoided, and this is why we have made this page for our customers! This page will tell you all the Do's and Don'ts we recommend to give your footie the best chance of lasting for as long as it should! Lets begin with the DO's shall we?
1) DO inflate the ball properly upon use ⛽️
A lot of people do not realise this, but when you first receive a football, the first time you pump it up can actually affect the shape of the ball forever. If the ball is over pumped up on the first inflate, or even not unfolded correctly before pumping, you may create long term issues such as material creasing and bladder disconfigurement, both which can affect the performance of your football. To pump up your football correctly, first the ball should be correctly unfolded out of the box to free up the bladder as much as possible. You can do this by stretching out the ball and making the surface area more even, in any areas that look particularly creased or 'folded in'. By doing this, it prevents the ball from being inflated in a shape which is not spherical. Moreover, when inserting the valve to pump the ball up, the valve should be lubricated before insertion. This can be done using a small amount of vaseline, or if you don't have that, by using your tongue to wet the valve before entry. A dry valve can puncture the internal bladder of the ball and even rip the bladder away from the internal material If enough friction is created! So this needs to be avoided at all costs. Finally, the ball should be initially inflated to around 10-20%, then left for a few minutes to gain a better shape. After these minutes pass, the ball should then be fully pumped up to the desired PSI/BAR stated on the valve panel. This desired PSI/BAR varies depending on the ball so please check before inflation. If the ball is pumped up to 100% fully straight away, again as aforementioned, this can create the ball to be shaped incorrectly, so please follow these steps to mitigate this from happening!
2) DO Inflate your balls regularly before every session ⚽️
We get it, inflating your footballs to the correct PSI every time you want to use it is a faff on, but if you want the best out of your ball, please make sure to check the PSI and make sure it stays between the desired range as stated on the valve panel. Kicking a flat football creates uneven pressure distribution across the outer and inner materials, which speeds up the decoration of the ball. On top of this, using a deflated football creates more unpredictable movement of the ball, which in turn makes your performance on the pitch worse, and no one wants that! So please make sure between sessions and matches to pump up the ball to the desired PSI/BAR reading! You might ask why certain balls lose air faster than others? Well it's actually quite interesting! If you want to learn about that, check out our other blog posts for more information.
3) DO use the right ball for you ⚽️🏀🏐
This one is Important and one which a lot of people get wrong. For many many reasons, certain balls are specifically made for certain scenarios. Let's take our premium match ball for example. This is made for the elite level games, the games which the touch and feel of the ball matters the most, and because of this, we use softer materials on not only the outer of the ball, but also within the bladder itself to facilitate this feel. What this means however, is because this material is soft, it is very easily damaged on surfaces like concrete and even some harsh astro pitches, which is why we always recommend using the ball for its specific use. A training or street ball for example, will be made out of much harder materials so they can last longer on tougher surfaces, but what does this tougher material come with as a consequence? Less feel, less grip and so on, which you need in a higher level game scenario. So before picking the ball for you, please assess what your use of it will be and then decided which ball to buy, as many companies, including ourselves, will not hold liability for incorrect use of the product.
4) DO store the ball correctly when not being used 📦
Due to the modern materials used to create footballs these days for maximum performance, where the ball is stored when not being used is critical. Leaving your football out in the wet and cold for prolonged periods of time can cause these materials to wear away very fast. Also, and this is something a lot of footballers do not consider, is that in cold wet conditions, the bladder within the ball can actually contract, causing the ball to lose air pressure. Alternatively to leaving the ball in the wet and cold, also do not leave the ball in direct sunlight for too long, as this will cause the ink graphic on the ball to fade faster, leaving you with a less aesthetically pleasing football to show your friends! So to prevent all this, please make sure that when not being used, the balls are stored in a dry and covered environment, as this will majorly increase the longevity of the ball.
5) DO regularly clean your footballs 🧼
There are ENDLESS benefits of regularly cleaning your footballs. Leaving your footballs dirty and wet can greatly increase the speed in which the football deteriorates. It can also make the ball heavier as the dirt and grime will attach itself to the material of the ball permanently, making the ball harder to perform well with. To prevent this, make sure to regularly clean your balls. This should be done with a damp cloth or rag for more general areas of the ball, and for more integrated areas, such as the stitching seams, a toothbrush can be used to gentle clean away at the mud that has built up within these seams. The ball however, should never be fully submerged in water as this water may seep through the seems of the ball if it is hand or machine stitched, damaging the overall use of the ball entirely. By keeping your footballs clean, it will not only make the ball last longer, but will also make the balls outer texture stay gripper for longer, benefitting not only your touch of the ball, but your control to make the ball do and go where you want it to as a player.
These are not ALL the DO's to keep your football's longevity, however it is a good initial base to work from. If you want to know all the DO's and DON'Ts of ball care, we urge you to do your own research. There is plenty articles out there to help. Right, let's move onto the DON'TS now. To begin, the most well known of them all:
1) DON'T sit on your football 🪑
I am pretty confident every football has heard this at least once before in their career. DON'T SIT ON THE BALL! By sitting on your footies, you are putting unnecessary strain on the balls materials for prolonged periods of time. This leads to the balls shape to alter in order to relieve itself of this strain, changing the shape of the ball forever, and an egg shaped ball is much harder to play with than a spherical one, trust me. Just make sure the only strain the ball feels is when you smash it into the back of the net, then it'll be just fine.
2) DON'T consistently kick the ball against a wall or fence 🧱
This may be tricky for some ballers, but try and hit the net and not the fence behind it please! By kicking a ball against a fence or brick wall over and over again, it can warp the balls shape. It can also, if very unlucky, cause the ball to catch on a slightly weaker area, such as the stitching seam, causing the ball to split and burst, which is more common than you think, especially now many teams play on astro pitches with cages around them every time they play. If you apply what you learnt in physics class, you can imagine that firing a moving ball at a stationary object is going to send significant amount of force through the ball which can naturally create a lot of strain. So try and avoid this as much as possible!
3) DON'T leave your football pumped up and unused in one place 😴
Try and avoid leaving a ball fully pumped up and in one place for long durations of time. Leaving your ball in one environment for extended periods of time can stiffen the ball up and make it perform worse. For example, leaving a football in a car which goes through several heat cycles in a day, leads to material to stiffen in specific spots and soft in others, creating an unpleasant experience when it is used again. Instead, try to use the ball regularly!
4) DON'T abuse your football ❌
Our final point is more of a holistic one to summarise this whole article. Don't abuse the balls use. Don't unnecessarily smash the ball against walls, use it on harsh surfaces and not take care of it. Also, understand your footballs limits, don't buy a cheap training ball and expect it to perform well in a cup final, equally, don't buy an expensive match ball and use it every day on tough surfaces and expect it to last forever! If you look after your football, it will look after you on the pitch.
We hope this article will help you increase the longevity of your footies and as with everything here at Spirit Sports Equipment, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time. We are always happy to help out. info@spiritsportsequipment.com