Basketball Padding

Posted on March 22, 2010  Comments (3)

Basketball used to be considered a non-contact sport. Now more and more college and pro players are wearing padding. March Madness, this year with more padding

Plumlee and dozens of other college basketball players wear compression shirts and shorts dotted with foam and plastic shock-absorbing pads under their uniforms. There are also padded sleeves for the elbows and knees. In the past few years players have started to wear this layer of protective gear meant to feel like a second-skin in a sport that has bigger, faster and stronger athletes than ever.

“Some of the things you’ll see like these products, a lot of them tend to be more fads that come and go,” he said. “But anything that comes down over the edge of a bony prominence, or on the knee, makes sense. For the ribs — there’s cartilage that is a natural shock absorber so I don’t know how truly affective that piece might be.”

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3 Responses to “Basketball Padding”

  1. Frank Zweegers
    March 25th, 2010 @ 5:27 am

    I’ve never known that basketball players have so much padding. However it is understandable, it prevents injuries and these players are already worth that much.
    Still interesting to see.

  2. Dave Bridgend
    May 30th, 2010 @ 1:21 pm

    Padding is a sign of the times in all sports though probably reflects a growth in the claim culture expecially in the US – luckily that’s not so bad in the UK yet.

    While it does protect I suspect that it’s also marketing driven – basketball is not alone – even in my experience

    Cricket – more pads than people
    Cycling – Gone are the old hairnets (useless anyway) now almost everyone wears a helment even on country roads – 20 years ago I never new anyone who even owned a helmet.
    Rock climbing – so much gear lots of new climbers struggle to walk up to mountain crags never mind start the climbs :o)
    Funnily enough I’ve noticed on my local skate park it’s gone the other way – gone are the knee pa/elbow pads and helmets and in are cool wooling hats and trousers riding so low their butts are showing

    Not sure which is progress – but at least these people are out and not eating their way to type 2 in front of reality TV.

    Maybe I’m just getting grumpy – like all men the older I get the better I was.

    Dave.

  3. SteveH
    February 4th, 2013 @ 7:22 pm

    Basketball has become a lot more physical over recent years so it is understandable that padding is being introduced.

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