SOCKERZ: A sensory sock that helps provide the correct training and technique to become an ample soccer player with practice. The sock will buzz as an indication on whether the person with it has done something right or wrong during his or her practice session.

Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide. It breaks down barriers to create a connection between people who may have never met before. It creates a bond between everyone that they all can agree on. That connection is the love for the game. But the love for the game is often questioned in the heat of the moment, specifically, when one is injured. My project, SOCKERZ, will help prevent injuries during games and practice sessions by insuring the correctness on how a player practices in his or her free time.

SOCKERZ is a sock with forces sensors and buzzers that work together to indicate to the player when the ball is hit in the wrong or right place on his or her foot. With this sock, the user will always be able to practice perfectly instead of practicing the wrong thing and creating bad habits. As many great athletes and coaches have said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.” With this idea, instead of practicing the wrong technique, SOCKERZ will alter the way the user looks at a soccer ball when practicing. The problem today is that soccer players get injured, constantly. This is mainly due to either not stretching well before games and sessions, or bad practice habits. Kids today aren’t, for the most part, taught correctly at their tender age. They tend to kick the soccer ball with their toes, instead of the top of their foot. This creates bad habits that usually carry on with them throughout their careers as soccer players. If they practice like this, they are more prone to get foot injuries. 

SOCKERZ was created using an everyday soccer sock, an Arduino LilyPad, a buzzer, a battery pack, conductive thread to run electricity through the sock, a force sensor, and resistors.  The force sensors altered the amount of pressure needed to trigger the buzzer. If more time were available, SOCKERZ would include multiple sensors all over the foot. It could also include its own app, allowing the player to select a certain drill to practice. For example, if someone wanted to practice a juggling drill, they would press the “Juggling Mode.” This would then activate and deactivate certain sensors, that would be needed for that certain drill. All in all, SOCKERZ would revolutionize how players practice, thus leading to a perfect soccer playing community.