American Football

Flag belts, receiver gloves and cleats for flag football:

most Panamanian players start in flag, and the Estadio Emilio Royo in the Ciudad Deportiva Irving Saladino is home ground for both versions of the game. The kit is small, which is why most of it is bought new. The belt holds the flags an opponent pulls instead of tackling: the pop-off kind clips on and releases cleanly, while cheap belts with Velcro flags work loose and drop off on their own. Receiver gloves catch with a tacky palm, and that grip fades with play, so a pair that has lost its tack is worth little however clean it looks. Football cleats carry a stud at the very tip of the toe that soccer boots leave off, and come in low cuts for receivers and higher cuts for linemen. Balls go by official, youth, junior and pee-wee sizes, so the one bought for a primary-school child is wrong for a teenager.

Helmets, shoulder pads and girdles for tackle:

tackle gear is chosen by position as much as by size. A helmet is fitted by head circumference, and the facemask shows who wore it: an open mask with few bars for a quarterback or receiver, a closed cage for a lineman. Shoulder pads split the same way, light low-profile pads for players who need to turn and catch, deeper ones for the line, and the label on them gives the chest and weight range they fit. Underneath go padded pants or an integrated girdle with hip, thigh and tailbone pads, plus a mouthguard, the one item nobody should take second-hand.

The date label inside a used helmet:

a helmet’s value is printed inside the shell, not on its paint. Every certified football helmet carries its date of manufacture, and the sport’s own guidance is to retire it ten years after that date however good it looks. One that has been reconditioned also carries a recertification label naming the firm and the year it was tested. A new adult helmet from Riddell, Schutt or Xenith runs from around $300 to well over $500, and a used one should be priced off that label: one with years left and a recent recertification holds a fair share of the new price, while one close to its tenth year is a display piece. That is the opposite of a baseball glove, which gains value as it is broken in. Beyond the label, look for cracks in the shell around the ear holes and the facemask screws, padding or air liners that have gone flat, and a mask that has been bent back into shape. On shoulder pads, check for split plastic, foam that stays pressed down after you squeeze it and laces or straps rotted by sweat. Fan jerseys are what gets copied most: a genuine NFL jersey has a cleanly stitched shield at the collar, and a stitched jersey offered at the price of a printed one is almost always a fake.

Listing a helmet, pads or a full tackle set:

photograph the date label and any recertification label close enough to read, since nobody who knows the game will put a price on a helmet without seeing them. Give the helmet size and model, the pad size with the chest and weight range printed on it, and the position the gear was built for, and say whether the facemask and chinstrap are included. A full set of helmet, pads, pants and girdle moves faster than single pieces, since a new tackle player needs all of it at once; flag belts sell best as a team set. And before a parent drives in from Colón to collect a set, put the age and weight it was bought for in the first line, since one growth spurt can put a player out of their pads within a season.