Dawgs By Nature
25 questions with the inventor of new cleats, which are designed to reduce non-contact injuries
Every sport has its own equipment.
Players can substitute a Buick for first base, but there is still a bat that is needed to whack the ball with. A couple of chairs or a pair of two-liter bottles work well for a makeshift goal, but while playing hockey, the athlete requires a stick to maneuver the puck.
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And every outdoor sport that participants compete on grass or dirt needs their shoes to be able to grip the turf for cutting, stops-and-starts, and planting their feet.
That’s why God invented cleats. Or, maybe the Roman Empire invented these.
With the advent of artificial surfaces in outdoor sports, there is a huge rise in non-contact injuries that occur when the foot gets planted as the athlete begins to turn his or her body and go in a different direction. The foot doesn’t release its position, something on the body doesn’t give, and then an injury occurs. This can be a knee sprain, tendons that pop inside the knee, or various hip issues.
A company called “Caddix” has invented cleats that contain studs that actually give depending on the movement of the athlete and help get rid of non-contact injuries.
A cleat that flexes? Really?
The Caddix Company refers to their athletic shoes as “cleats for your knees” because the cleat studs have a degree of rotation installed into their technology that gives a bit instead of becoming stationary.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco wears Caddix cleats.
Cleats have been around since the early days of “Association Football,” or as the game is called in North America: soccer.
It is said that the Romans invented soccer as a means to keep their soldiers in shape. But the rules were different from town to borough to village to different soldier camps as ideas were passed along.
Some permanent rules were needed so that no matter where your team’s travels happen to be, the game would be played in the same manner and would be organized. The English came up with a set of rules in 1886 entitled “Laws of the Game” that every country still follows today.
The game is called “football” internationally because it has always been called this since the rules of the game are listed under “Association Football.” Every sport that came after it has also named itself “football”: Gaelic Football, Rugby Football, American Football, Australian Rules Football, Arena Football, and Canadian Football.
They all sprang from soccer. The word “soccer” became a shortened version of “Association,” which converted to “assoccer” and then condensed again to “soccer.”
The origins of cleats, or football boots as the English call them, were again a Roman invention out of the necessity of war.
Roman soldiers wore thick-soled sandals called “caligae,” which had rough bottoms ideal for various terrains, grass, and dirt surfaces. Sometimes, when a lot more traction was needed,...
