Gear – Gym Class Dad

A major part of keeping my kids engaged and happy with the rigors of daily exercise and PE at home is keeping it fun and incorporating games and sports into some of the sessions. I played football in high school and always enjoyed it when my father would toss around the football with me. My kids at the time we started tossing the football around were 7 and 9. I always had a full-size leather football in the garage and my kids had a hard time catching it. It was too hard and large for them to consistently catch and throw. I went on the search to find a smaller softer football option that my kids could learn throwing and catching techniques before graduating up to larger leather balls. As a kid in elementary one of my fondest memories is playing two-hand touch during recess. I remember having foam Nerf footballs that even as little kids we could bomb downfield for epic touchdowns. My search for a good starter ball led me to two Nerf options I thought would work well for teaching my kids some basics: the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football and the Nerf Sports Weather Blitz Football. After testing both of these footballs with my kids the Weather Blitz Football was a better option but the Pro Grip Football had some good points to consider too. Read on to learn more about our experience with the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football. Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football Product Description The Nerf Sports Pro Grip football is an all-foam football. The football is called the Pro Grip because there are laces on the football that resemble the location and style of a real leather football. The laces are not actual laces, but part of the foam football itself and rise on the surface of the football. The football is on the smaller side and is similar in size to what is used in youth flag football leagues. The football is rated for kids ages 6 and up. The football comes in three colors orange and blue, black and yellow, and blue and orange. The football is evenly smooth textured across the entire ball. The Pro Grip Football is on the softer side and is one of the softest Nerf footballs I’ve ever used. How well does the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football Throw I am not a fan of throwing the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football. It’s kind of a funny name that the ball is called the pro grip as it is very soft and a bit hard to get a good grip on. Not having a good grip makes it a bit hard to get a good spiral on the throw. The foam laces don’t add much value or functionality to the grip or throw of the ball. My kids also struggled to toss this football. Their hands were too small to get a good grip on the ball. The ball is also coated in a very slippery smooth texture which also made it hard for them to throw. How well does the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football Catch To start my kids learning to catch the football I taught them to make a triangle with their fingers and palms out. I taught them to catch the ball with soft hands and fingers relying on body and arm catches only when necessary. The texture and slipperiness of this football made it hard for my kids to catch the ball. It would often slip through their hands and mine to boot. Though there are opportunities with this ball in terms of surface slipperiness and firmness, the ball is very soft and doesn’t hurt when catching. If you have younger kids or more kids that are more sensitive to the ball hitting their hands or body this ball could be a good option to getting them used to an object hurled in their direction. What do kids think of the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football? My kids did not like this football very much. They found it both hard to catch with their hands and tough to throw. We had both the Nerf Pro Grip football and the Nerf Weather Blitz football. In testing my kids much preferred the Nerf Weather Blitz football. The Nerf Weather Blitz football has ribbed rubber around the football that makes it much easier to both throw and catch. The Weather Blitz football just feels like it is better constructed and firmer making it easier to use and I think will also last longer. Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football v.s. Nerf Weather Blitz Football and Recommendation If your kids are brand new to catching and throwing the Nerf Sports Pro Grip Football might be a good choice. The softness of the ball makes it less intimidating to catch and will help with building their confidence in getting and staying in front of the football for the catch. With that said I do think that the Nerf weather Blitz Football is the better option to start with as it has a superior grip for both throwing and catching.