- Jun 2, 2015
- 11
- 1
I am an not a proponent of metal cleats and never have been. Medically speaking, there is no difference between the way a man's knee or a woman's knee is structured. Both have the same ligaments, tendons, meniscus, etc. However, a woman's knee is inherently weaker than that of a man. There are various reason for this but the most compelling is the way a females hips are structured for birthing which transcends down to the knees. You see a greater majority of athletic women suffering torn ACL's and MCL's than you do with men that play a sport that puts stress or pressure on the knee. Metal cleats do not give when they dig into the ground like molded rubber cleats do. I have seen more injuries happen with women (playing all positions, not just catcher) whose metal cleats dig into the ground resulting in knee or ankle injuries than those who wear molded rubber cleats. The amount of traction difference between metal spikes and molder rubber cleats is negligible in my opinion. My daughter played catcher in college and I told the coach when he recruited her that I would only allow her to wear rubber spikes. I asked if he had a problem with this and he said no. She started all 4 years wearing rubber cleats and never had a problem. More importantly, she never suffered any type of injury to her knee or ankle during her career. She also played 3 years in the NPF wearing rubber cleats.
