Youth goalie glove size chart

Sizes are approximate and vary between manufacturers — check the specific brand's chart. Hand size at a given age varies enormously, which is why the palm measurement is the number that matters and the age column is only a starting point.

How to measure

1. Measure across the palm at its widest point, just below the knuckles, in inches. Use the dominant hand if they differ.
2. Add about one inch to that measurement. The result is the glove size.
3. Check the gap: with the glove on, there should be roughly a fingertip's space beyond the end of the longest finger.
4. The fist test: have them make a fist. If they cannot close the hand comfortably, the glove is too small or too stiff — whatever the chart said.

The fist test is the one that actually matters. A keeper has to close their hand around a ball, and a glove that prevents it makes them worse at the one thing the position requires.

Why the extra inch

A keeper glove is meant to fit snugly but not tightly, with a small amount of space at the fingertips. The space matters for two reasons: it lets the finger flex without the latex bunching, and it gives a little room for the glove to compress on impact rather than transmitting the whole force to the fingertip.

Too tight and they cannot make a fist. Too loose and the glove moves independently of the hand, which means less grip and less control on a catch.

Junior sizing vs adult small

Worth knowing at U12 and above, where this catches people out.

Most junior keeper gloves are adult gloves scaled down, which means the proportions are off — the finger stalls end up the wrong length relative to the palm width. That is why a lot of twelve and thirteen-year-olds fit badly in both an adult small and a generic junior glove.

Reusch's Attrakt range is built on what the brand describes as a true youth sizing range, and for a thirteen-year-old it frequently fits better than an adult small does. Measure rather than assuming they have graduated out of youth sizing. See the finger protection picks.

Do not size up

The commonest sizing mistake here, and it is worse in keeper gloves than in almost any other piece of gear.

An oversized keeper glove means the hand cannot close inside it, the latex sits away from the fingers so grip is reduced, and the glove rotates on the hand during a dive. All three make a keeper worse, and the last one is how a finger gets caught.

Buy the size that fits now. Keeper gloves are a consumable anyway — the latex wears out within a season of regular use — so a pair that fits for one season has not been wasted.

Cut, briefly

You will see gloves described by cut — flat, roll finger, negative, hybrid. For youth keepers this is genuinely not worth agonizing over: the differences are about how much latex contacts the ball and how snug the fit feels, and at youth level the effect is small relative to getting the size right.

If you want a single guideline: a flat or hybrid cut is the most forgiving and the most widely available in youth sizing. Leave the rest until they are older and have an opinion.

When to re-check

At the start of each season, and whenever you replace the gloves — which for a regular keeper is roughly annually, since the latex wears out before the fit does.

Hands grow more slowly than feet, so a keeper glove usually outlasts a pair of cleats. The limiting factor is grip rather than size, which is a different replacement trigger from the rest of the kit. How to wash goalie gloves covers extending the grip life.

Buying without the child present

A palm measurement in inches is the number to ask for, and it survives brand differences better than a glove size does. A parent can send it in a text.

If you cannot get one, keeper gloves are a poor gift choice — like cleats, they are useless in the wrong size. A ball at the right size for their age fits anybody. See the gift ideas.