What Makes a Great Pair of Youth Football Practice Shorts?

Routes on air. 7-on-7. Position drills. Conditioning. Flag football. One more rep because somebody dropped the last one.

Football practice has its own rhythm, and youth athletes know it.

Some days mean helmets and pads. Others mean shorts, cleats, a ball and a field full of cones. Then there are camps, combines, speed sessions and pickup games where performance shorts become part of the everyday football uniform.

For those days, here’s what we think matters.

They have to move at football speed

A receiver needs to get in and out of a break. A defensive back has to flip his hips and run. A quarterback is dropping, resetting and moving outside the pocket. Flag football can turn into a full-field sprint in about two seconds.

Football practice shorts need to keep up.

Four-way stretch gives youth athletes room to sprint, cut, backpedal and change direction without the shorts fighting against them.

Because August practice is still August practice

Football season may make you think fall, but a lot of the work happens when it is still hot outside.

Preseason practices, football camps, 7-on-7 and conditioning sessions can mean hours on the field in warm weather.

Breathable performance fabric matters. UPF 50+ protection is another useful feature for athletes putting in all those hours outdoors.

They shouldn't need fixing between every rep

A youth athlete should be thinking about the next route, the next drill or beating somebody to the cone.

Fit matters because football puts athletes into so many different positions. Sprinting one minute. Crouching into a stance the next. Then backpedaling, cutting or reaching for a flag.

That is one reason we believe performance apparel should start with youth athletes, not adult proportions made smaller.

Football doesn't always end when practice does

The athlete walking off the football field might be heading to basketball tomorrow, baseball later in the week or straight into a driveway game when they get home.

That's youth sports.

The equipment changes. The uniform changes. Sometimes even the ball changes.

The youth athlete doesn't.

Features should earn a roster spot

Football teaches pretty quickly that everybody on the field needs to have a job. We think features should work the same way.

Functional pockets are useful before and after practice. Odor-resistant technology makes sense when shorts go straight into the sports bag after a hot session. Reflective details add visibility when workouts start early or finish as the light disappears.

If a feature doesn't help the youth athlete, it doesn't need to be there.

Start with the youth athlete

Football has plenty of specialized gear, and it should. Helmets, pads, cleats and gloves all have a specific job to do.

But the shorts a youth athlete reaches for on a 7-on-7 day, at football camp or for speed work can start somewhere else.

With the athlete.

How they move. How they train. How the product fits. How it feels by the last rep.

That's where Eyrx starts, regardless of which field they're headed to next.

Built from the ground up. For youth athletes.