Home Made Goalie Pads

Last week, I got 2 foam cushions made at the foam lady's down on Qi Yi Lu.  Do you have a foam lady in your town?  Too bad.  For the past few days I've spent a few moments here and there looking at them.  I didn't scratch my chin and say, "hmmmm..." out loud, but I said it in my heart.  How will I turn these lumps of comfort into goalie pads?

I've had success making passable sticks and a net, but this time I kicked it up a notch.  Here is the finished product:

I have to say that these are some handsome looking goalie pads.  Not only is the size nice, but the color takes me back to the days of Andy Moog and all of those cool dudes in the 80's.  Here's what I did:

1.  Get the pads made for 10 bucks.  She put zippers in them when I didn't ask for them, but they came in handy in the end.

2.  Buy 4 dog leashes for a dollar each.  They have the buckles and adjustable straps that  I was looking for.

3.  Open the zippers, slit some holes in the foam, and loop the leashes around the foam.  Then I used duct tape to renforce the foam and shape the pad a little here and there.

Yesterday, we tested them out.  The foam held well but the straps were a bit too loose even when I tightened them so I'll need to tweak that a bit.  I am pretty confident that the duct tape will hold up for a while.  I jumped around a lot and when down a few times and they felt pretty good.

The foam and covers were 60 RMB.  The duct tape my dad brought out last year.  The dog leashes were a dollar each.  So, we're talking 14 bucks and a nice pops for a home made set of pads.

Here's a shot in action.

In the next post I'll talk about how the students are doing so far after playing street hockey for only the 3rd time.