Most Canadian men tie their court shoes too tight. In doing so, they cut off some of the circulation to the veins and arteries running across the tops of their feet. This leads to premature foot fatigue.
In order to reduce foot fatigue, most Canadian men need to learn a couple of new things about tying their shoes. First, court shoes are not hockey skates. They should not be tied like skates because tying court shoes as tight as skates hampers blood flow which leads to foot fatigue. Court shoes should be tied so that they stay on your feet, no tighter.
The second thing most men need to learn is that oval laces are better for blood circulation than flat laces and elastic laces are even better than oval laces. Why? Because flat laces flex the least. Oval laces flex more and elastic laces flex the most. So when a shoe is laced with elastic laces, stopping and changing direction rapidly does not momentarily strangle the blood vessels across the tops of the feet.
These two small but important details explain why we have fallen in love with EZ Laces at Racquet Network. First, installing EZ Laces on court shoes virtually assures that they will never be tied so tight as to be unhealthy. Second, even under the highest levels of athletic stess, the laces across the top of the feet will always flex with the athlete’s movement.
Once they are correctly installed, EZ Laces immediately turn tie-on shoes into slip on shoes. They also make it virtually impossible to step on a lace and pull it loose in the middle of a point. As an added bonus for parents and coaches, installing EZ Laces onto children’s shoes means that nobody will have to stop practice so that somebody can tie their shoes.
The only downside to EZ Laces is that, until you have done it a few times, they can be difficult to install. While the company that manufacturers them offers step-by-step instructions supported by video tutorials, it rarely goes as smoothly in person as it does in the video tutorial.
No worries. When you buy EZ Laces in our southwest Calgary store, our technicians will install them for you at no extra charge. All you have to do is choose from 15 lace colours and eight lock colours. We will do the rest. It takes about 15 minutes and you are good to go.
Are one or more of your toenails turning black? Yes. Then your shoes are too small. Specifically, your shoes are too short for court sports.
Here at Racquet Network, our expert staff are constantly astonished at the number of stubborn people who come into our store to buy new shoes because the shoes they are wearing are damaging their feet and who end up buying exactly the same size, expecting a different result.
Here is how a typical conversation with one of these customer’s goes …
Staff: “Hi there. How can I help you?”
Customer: “I need some new shoes. The shoes I have are too small. They are making my toenails turn black.”
Staff: “Oh no. That’s not good. What size are they?”
Customer: “They are size 9.”
Staff: “OK. So would you like to try on something in a size 10?”
Customer: “No. Size 10 is too big. I wear a size 9.”
Staff: “I’m sorry. I must have misunderstood. I thought you said your size 9 shoes were causing your toenails to turn black.”
Customer: “Well these ones are. But I just need a different size 9. I am always a size 9.”
It is never good when a fitting starts this way, but this is exactly the way many fittings start. The customer has a number in their head and no amount of expert advice or actual evidence will sway them. So, they end up leaving with the wrong size in spite of our best efforts to convince them otherwise.
Fathers of teen-aged daughters can be especially frustrating for our shoe experts. Some of them seem to think that their daughters are less attractive if they wear shoes that actually fit, so they buy shoes that are too small and that end up causing injuries.
This not a joke. It’s not just a story we tell. This actually happens. We have seen teenaged girls leave our store in tears because they know that the shoes their fathers are buying for them are too small and will make their toenails fall off. We have had angry fathers storm out of the store because we demonstrated to them that their daughter’s feet are a size and half bigger than they used to be.
We’re not sure why but men in general rarely seem to know their shoe size. “What size are you?” we will often ask. “Size 10,” guys will say. “What size are those?” we ask, pointing at the shoes on their feet. When we check, we usually find out they are not even close to what they thought they were wearing.
Racquet Network staff are trained to fit people for court shoes. Our staff know that court shoes have to be longer than walking-around-shoes because players have to stop suddenly and change direction. When shoes are too short for this, toes bang against the end of the shoe causing toenails to blacken and fall off.
Our staff also understand that width is important. When a player’s feet are wider than the platform of the shoes they are wearing, they are prone to specific types of injuries that can lead to arthritis later in life.
Our experts want to see all customers leave our store with shoes that fit. They don’t have any preconceived ideas about that size the customer should wear or what size the customer (or their father) might want to wear. They only thing they are concerned about is what actually fits. For that to happen, the shoe must be long enough and it must be wide enough.
At the end of the day, though, they can’t force anybody to buy the right size. So they will always have to deal with the disappointment of customers who stubbornly resist their best advice and insist on buying shoes that are too short or too narrow just because that is the size they always buy.
If you do a quick internet search, you will see that there are a lot of brands offering “wide” court shoes. However, if you have wide feet and if you have ever ordered any of these “wide” shoes, you will already know that very few of these “wide” shoes are actually wide.
So what should you do if you either know or suspect that you have wide feet?
The very best thing you can do is to come into our store and allow our experts to fit you properly. In our experience, most players — especially guys — are wearing the wrong shoe size. They think that court shoes should fit either like their walking-around-shoes or, worse yet, like their hockey skates.
Court shoes are neither. If you are a normal person, you don’t suddenly stop and change direction at high speed in your walking-around-shoes. You also don’t turn your feet sideways to stop in your court shoes like you do when you are stopping on skates.
Many of the customers we fit on a daily basis suffer from blackened toe nails. This is a sure sign their court shoes are too short. Many more deal with chronic foot pain, which is often a sign of shoes that are too narrow or long past worn out.
How can you tell which of these two is causing your pain? Start with some simple math.
Competition grade shoes today are designed to last about 500 kilometers. On average, racquet sports players cover approximately four kilometers per hour. So a competition grade court shoe will last a maximum of 125 hours of court time — less for recreational grade shoes and much less for budget grade shoes.
If you play once a week for two hours, competition grade shoes may last a year. If you play twice a week, they will last about half a year. But if you are buying recreation grade or budget grade shoes and playing frequently, you are looking at replacing your shoes every two to four months.
The grade of the shoe makes a difference, too, of course. Competition grade shoes are designed to take maximum abuse. Recreational grade shoes don’t last as long as competition grade shoes, but are generally more comfortable. Budget shoes are neither. They are not designed for comfort or durability. Budget shoes are intended for teenagers who will outgrown their shoes before they wear them out.
So in determining what might be causing your foot pain, you must consider both the grade of shoes you are wearing and the amount of game time you have been wearing them. But if you have good shoes that are reasonably new and you are still experiencing foot pain (without blackened toenails), there is a good chance that your shoes are too narrow for your feet.
How wide is wide and what is actually available?
Athletic shoes for men come in a variety of standard widths. B is for narrow feet. D is a standard fit. 2E is wide. 4E is extra wide. Not all athletic shoes are suitable for court sports, though. So while it is possible to find running shoes in all four of these widths, options in court shoes are severely limited and none of the major sporting goods stores even offer them.
Forget about B in men’s court shoes. There is no such animal. If you are genuinely a B width male, you will have to look into women’s court shoes. We have never seen a men’s court shoe available in a B width.
Unlike B width, 2E is not impossible to find. Some brands, like Victor, offer unisex shoes in 2E width. In women’s shoes, 2E is extra wide while for men 2E is just wide. However, in our experience there just aren’t very men who fit comfortably into 2E shoes. More than 90% of the men we help with wide feet are actually 4E.
The good news? Of all the non-standard width court shoes, 4E are the most widely available. That being said, nobody should imagine that 4E shoes are commonly available. They are not. In fact, they are very far from common and you will almost certainly have to go to a specialty store to find some.
Yonex Canada typically offers one model in 4E per season. Other court shoe brands are less committed but may offer a 4E every once in awhile. Asics, for example, offers running shoes and a couple of lines of cross trainers in that width but nothing specifically 4E in a court shoe. Victor offers some unisex shoes in 2E, but rarely stocks an actual 4E. Everybody else offers either standard D width or D in a relaxed fit, which can be forced onto a 2E foot, if nothing else is available.
Here in Calgary, every racquet sports player knows that Racquet Network is the best place to go for court shoes. We carry the most models in the most sizes. We carry more colours and more wide shoes than anybody else. So if we don’t have it, you can assume that it probably isn’t available. For players with genuinely wide feet, this statement is even truer than for people with standard feet.
The best pickleball shoe must not only fit, it must be suitable for the surface you are playing on.Here at Racquet Network, we sell a lot of shoes. In fact, new employees often ask why we are not called SHOE NETWORK because — truth be told — we probably sell more shoes than racquets.
Tennis players, squash players and badminton players in this part of the world know that our store is THE place to come for court shoes. They know that we carry a large selection in-store, that we offer more than 200 additional models online and that we have expert staff who can help them find the right shoe for the job.
Pickleball players are beginning to figure this out too. Although, we have to admit that pickleball players are often more difficult to please than other racquet sports players when it comes to court shoes.
Part of this is due to the fact that many pickleball players are relatively new athletes. While most of our tennis, squash and badminton clients are familiar with the ins and outs of the court shoe category, many pickleball players are relative newcomers. So there are a lot of things they don’t understand.
For example, most experienced racquet sports players understand that brands like Asics ™ and Yonex ™ make court shoes at three different price points: expensive, moderate and cheap. Their most expensive shoes have the most technology, are the most comfortable, last the longest and come in the most attractive colours and styles. Meanwhile their cheapest shoes have the least technology, are the least comfortable, are the least durable and tend to come in the least attractive colours: typically black or white.
While tennis, squash and badminton players seem to understand this and accept it as a fact of life, pickleball players are often annoyed. Many seem to expect that low-priced shoes will be just as good as expensive shoes and will come in equally attractive styles and colours.
Have you ever been fitted by a court shoe expert? Stop by the store. We are open 7 days a week.
Our advice generally — to all players, not just pickleball players — is to focus on the quality of the shoe rather than its price or its aesthetics. Our philosophy is simple; athletic shoes are about function. They are not about fashion.
So which shoes are best for pickleball players? If you are playing in a gym on hardwood floors, you want a sole with lots of natural, organic rubber. If you are playing outdoors on a hard court, you may want synthetic rubber — unless you have tender feet, in which case organic rubber is still the best bet.
If you are playing both indoors on hardwood floors and outdoors on hard courts (now pay attention pickleball players because this is important), you most definitely want two completely separate pairs of shoes. The pair you use on the hardwood needs to be saved for hardwood only. Wearing them outside will ruin them for use on hardwood. Meanwhile, the pair you use outside should never, ever, ever, ever be used indoors on hardwood A) because they will ruin the hardwood and B) because they will not offer sufficient traction on hardwood.
Believe me. We’re not telling you this because we want to sell you two pairs of shoes, we are simply giving you the most important facts. Do whatever you like. Our advice remains the same. Pickleball is an excellent sport. Everybody here at Racquet Network plays it. We all enjoy the game and we love to share our enthusiasm for it. The last thing we want to do is give pickleball players bad advice.
Court shoes at the low end of the price spectrum are designed to look like good court shoes in the same way that a child’s toy is designed to look like a real racing car. While it might look like the real thing, nobody expects to win a race with a toy car.
Court shoes at the high end of the price range, on the other hand, are designed for athletes who want the best combination of performance, comfort, safety and style. Does this mean that high end court shoes are exclusively for elite level athletes? No it doesn’t.
Athletic performance may not be as important for an average pickleball player, but any player who wants to minimize discomfort both during and after playing should be considering investing in high end shoes. So should any player who wants to minimize the risk of injury. This is especially important for older athletes who are more easily injured and who take longer to recover from injuries than younger athletes.
Style may be the least important reason for shelling out top dollar for a good pair of court shoes, but that is really beside the point. Once you get up into the higher price ranges, the more attractive styles and colours are just a bonus. It’s just the cherry on top of a sundae made out of performance, comfort and safety. Since you are paying for the sundae, you may as well enjoy the cherry.
Our Pro Shop has moved to Canyon Meadows Shopping Center. It is on the 2ND FLOOR of the NORTH WING. The unmarked glass doors leading to the second floor are immediately to the right of the Rexall Drug Store. Please note the new address: 2ND FLOOR - NORTH WING, UNIT 201, 11625 ELBOW DR SW. Dismiss
Most Canadian men tie their court shoes too tight. In doing so, they cut off some of the circulation to the veins and arteries running across the tops of their feet. This leads to premature foot fatigue.
