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It’s gotta be the shoes
by FFI Soccer Magazine, Subscribe Today

Lisa Handschumacher is a former collegiate soccer player from Louisiana. As a youth, she competed for the Louisiana State ODP team and was a member of the Regional ODP Pool. When she’s not writing for FFI and fighting to rid the soccer world of pink, she’s pursuing her doctorate at USC.

There’s no denying that female athletes have certainly come a long way. No longer do we receive the strange looks cast by society when we declare that we have foregone the pom-pom/tap shoes route for cleats and shinguards. Surprisingly it hasn’t been all that long since there were very different norms defining the average after-school activity for girls. I still remember visiting my aunt and uncle several years ago who had two young children, a girl and a boy. My aunt got so excited when vividly describing my cousins’ futures as a little football player and a little cheerleader. Of course I bit my lip.

I almost started down that path myself. At four I started gymnastics, at five dance classes, at seven cheerleading. But in the end the “ballet” shoe just didn’t quite fit.

Everything fell into place when my parents finally signed me up for softball and soccer. While I could only endure one hour of softball and the corresponding standing-still-in-the-overgrown-grass-getting-eaten-alive-by-mosquitoes (softball was the most boring sport EVER as far as I was concerned), soccer and I were a match made in heaven. Thank God I didn’t have tap and cheer my way into college.

Women’s soccer certainly came into its own around the turn of the 21st century with the U.S. collecting its share of World Cup wins and Olympic gold medals, as well as the media attention it deserved. It is safe to say that female soccer players today have finally earned a fair share of respect from the general public and have become coveted members of the sport community.

Having said this, there are a few little things that still surprise the hell out of me. I recently was in desperate need of a new pair of cleats. While I only play recreationally now, I still wanted a decent pair of boots that might last me a year or so. I decided against my standard Copas to try something new. Casually flipping through the latest Eurosport catalogue, I began to skim the women’s section for potential cleats.

Hmmm. What did I find? Pink cleats. Seriously?

Although I’m all for female touches here and there, pink cleats might be stretching it a bit. Is it too much to design a woman’s shoe without making it pink? Some of us still play soccer past the age of 11, so polk-a-dots on cleats might be over the top as well. I may be the minority, but I lean to women’s shoes because of the different size scale and the thought that perhaps they are built specifically for a woman’s foot. I mean, aren’t there highly paid design teams that use the latest technology and innovative ideas in marketing for the female athlete? I would like to think that this involves a bit more than just adding hearts and flowers to whatever they created for the boys.

“Make it pink, turquoise, or lavender, and slap a ‘woman’s’ label on it, and you’re good to go.” Bob, Dan, and Jim in Marketing must be saying.

Apparently classic black is a color deemed too masculine for the ladies. Honestly, all I want is a pair of the best male cleats resized to fit my size 7 foot with a higher arch. I even thought to try kid’s (boy’s) cleats, but of course I couldn’t get them in real leather, or even the best synthetic material. All of a sudden, being a female athlete really limits your options once again.

In writing this article, I checked out the catalogues once again for final inspiration and among the shirts, shorts, and hair-ties I saw something else that astounded me: purses. Are they really advertising purses on the same pages as cleats? Maybe they think that we can fit our matching pink boots inside our matching pink purses. Thanks Mr Soccer Marketing Man, but I’ll stick to Adidas soccer bags on the pitch and Dolce and Gabbana on my arm. I still have taste after all.