Wrestling shoe is one of the essential wrestling gears and a good one can literally help you show better training performance, provide flexibility and more stability on mats.
According to my thorough research on wrestling forums, wrestling trainers in wrestling clubs and used wrestling shoes in high school wrestling tournaments, I came up with 3 best wrestling shoes for youth. Some of these shoes are also great for beginners as well.
Quick Navigation
- Adidas Men’s Boy’s (Top Pick for Youth)
- Asics Kids JB Elite
- Asics Matflex 5 (Good Price!)
- Why are These Best Wrestling Shoes for Youth?
1. Adidas Men’s Boy’s HVC2 Wrestling
Durability: 9.0 / 10.0
Comfort: 8.8 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 9.1 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Flexible
- Great ankle support
- Quite light
- Single sole
- Very good traction
- Good breathability
- Small sizes
- Suitable for wide feet
Adidas Men’s Boy’s single sole provides really good traction. It is common that single sole provides more traction than split soles.
As you can see, it has a big mesh which is made of suede. It allows air in and out. Considering the comfort as expected Adidas did a good job for this pair of wrestling shoes.
And it is flexible enough so while you are doing movements, takedowns or in a difficult position, you don’t hurt the construction much.
It is made of suede and synthetic leather. The mesh can also stretch a lot while wrestling. However, it does not get loose much over time. Basically, the materials are quite solid and you can use this shoe for 2 years. When I look at the price, it has good cost efficiency.
This shoe has an elastic strap which helps laces keep in place and if your opponent steps on it, it will not be loose easily. The elastic strap also improves the wrist support as well.
Many children said that they are comfortable with these wrestling shoes on wrestling forums and it is something to note, if you have bulkier, wider feet
As a side note, this shoe is also great for weightlifting as well. Thanks to the light construction and flexibility, you can deadlift or do any kind of strength training in the gym quite comfortably with this shoe.
Also, Adidas Wrestling shoes don’t seem to have a break in period! Yeah, that is actually quite awesome as you will feel comfortable with this pair of shoes as soon as you wear them and the same can’t be said for the majority of wrestling shoes on the market. For example, the shoes below have break-in periods.
This shoe has multiple small sizes and has little kid, big kid options for better fitting. And apparently they succeeded in this area as the fitting of Adidas Men’s Boy’s HVC2 is really good and it fits like a glove according to users’ feedback.
Considering all of these, Adidas Men’s Boy’s HVC2 deserves the top spot. If you are interested, you can check out the most recent price on Amazon.
2. ASICS Kids JB Elite
Durability: 8.8 / 10.0
Comfort: 8.1 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 8.7 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Quite durable
- Synthetic
- Really flexible
- Lace garage
- Split sole
- The adult model is used by professional athletes!
Cons
- Break in period
- There are better options for daily training sessions like the shoe above
This shoe is quite flexible and provides you enough freedom for implementing fast movements without an issue. It has a split sole and it has seven line areas to provide good traction. The sole is flexible enough. With that being said, the former quality makes the shoe lighter, however, the latter one makes it heavier. This shoe has a standard weight which is around 8.6 ounces.
This shoe has a lace garage which is quite small and while your opponent steps on it or it contacts with the mats it will not get loose so easily and you can go on wrestling without any issue. The ankle part covers a bit above your ankle and it is a bit bulkier than the regular shoes. Because the ankle support is a bit bulkier it can give you a bit discomfort. But keep in mind that it offers great ankle support. You basically give and take.
Shortly you can have safer workouts but your ankles will not be as comfortable as the shoe above.
Comfort: It has holes for extra breathability. And the inner part of the shoe feels tight at first, however after you wrestle with them a couple of times, it will become softer, normal. However, the mesh is small than usual and lets less air than normal.
So if you think of using this shoe for daily training sessions, you need to clean it and leave it outside (to get rid of odor) more frequently. So getting this shoe for daily training may not be a good idea for people who don’t want to clean shoes more frequently.
The awesome thing is that this shoe has an adult model which Asics Men’s JB Elite and it is used by Professional athletes. So Asics Kids’ JB Elite is basically tested beforehand.
3. ASICS Matflex 5 GS Wrestling Shoe (Little Kid / Big Kid)
Durability: 8.0 / 10.0
Comfort: 9.3 / 10.0
Cost Efficiency: 10.0 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Really good traction
- Synthetic
- Great comfort
- Single sole
- High-cost efficiency!
- Really popular!
Cons
- The durability is not really long (less than 2 years)
- Materials could be better
Single sole provides more traction. And it covers the entire sole. This shoe does best to keep you standing.
With that being said, the synthetic leather and mesh are not made of high-tech materials and in fact, these are just decent. So the durability is not super long but when you look at the price tag, you can see that it gives your money’s worth.
It has an added support for heels.
Thanks to the material, traction is still decent even if there is sweat all over the mats. It is something to consider as many wrestling shoes fail in this particular department. The reason is probably that the shoe has a single sole and it is covered with gum. Even if a small area can hold on to mats it can provide decent traction.
The side grip is excellent and when you are in a difficult position, it helps you stay on your feet as the lines are deeper than usual.
In addition to these, even though Asics Matflex 5 GS Wrestling Shoes have a break-in period and can be tight at first, this period does not last more than a couple of sessions.
Matflex is one of the classic shoes which are preferred by many veterans. The company nailed the design and many wrestlers don’t do training with any other series. It also has a bigger mesh than usual. This is good for extending the durability and improving the sturdiness of Matflex. This is also great for your feet to be fresh.
Why are These Best Wrestling Shoes for Youth?
I chose these shoes based on the reviews of children on forums who actually used them on mats a long time. And these shoes also have good construction to last a bit longer than usual when the kids grow up. These are basically designed in this way.
Also, some of the shoes have adult models and these are just bigger models with the same design. And many regular people, professional athletes wore those shoes for years.
As pointed out, some of these are also used in amateur and high school wrestling matches and have lots of color selections. I am sure that the kids can find an aesthetic shoe and color which they fancy.
The Prices: The prices of the shoes depends on the company and the materials which are used for a particular shoe. However, the used material is not much for youth wrestling shoes so this is why price does not vary much.
With that being said, Adidas Men’s Boy’s HVC2 just gets better ratings and many wrestling gyms suggest their students train with them on the wrestling mats and this pair of shoes is definitely one of the best wrestling shoes for youth on the market. It has a great ankle support and made of higher-end materials (suede) as well.
There are also popular wrestling shoes’ smaller models which can be used by children. However, these don’t get reviews much from youth. These are generally adults’ reviews. Even though you might see that these shoes have high ratings it does not mean that these ratings were given by children for kids sizes. These shoes also don’t have a big kid, small kid sizes as the shoes above. So shortly if I were you, I don’t consider the adult shoes for children.
If you have further questions about children’s wrestling shoes above or any other model, just leave your comments below.
What a nice post you wrote! I really enjoyed reading it and I could not be silent about your post so I decided to leave my comment here and say Thank You! For sharing this quality post with others.
Actually this is exactly the information that I was looking for wrestling shoes and when I landed to your website and read this post, it answered all my questions in details.
So I’m happy that you decided to write about this topic and share it with people. It’s very useful and can definitely be used as a great source for wrestling shoes.
I will come back to your website again for sure and I’m looking forward to read your new posts.)
Thanks!
I provided a lot of information about these shoes as many youngsters asked my opinion about it. It is really awesome that you help to spread the word : )
Thanks for such a great review on these different wrestling shoes. I love the way you broke it down and gave such detail about each one. This will make it much easier for others to decide on the best pair for their needs.
I have a friend that would greatly appreciate this information. I appreciate your honesty and information.
All the best,
Devara
Hi Devara, if you can share with your friend, it will be so awesome : )
I’ve already shared this with him. He really likes the Adidas HVC2 wrestling shoe. The fact that they are light & flexible struck his attention. He also really likes that they are breathable. His feet sweat a lot.
Thanks so much for being such a big help!
Devara
Yeah, this shoe gets quite attention in wrestling clubs. Adidas always does a good job for flexibility and air circulation so I am not surprised about these : )