When buying a pair of cleats, it is important to consider the sport which you intend on playing. Golf for example will obviously need its own individual pair, as many clubhouses won’t even let you on the tee box without a proper pair of spiked shoes beneath your feet (not to mention slacks and a collared shirt). Aside from dress code, however, is there really a difference between the cleats worn by athletes young and old across the most popular participation sports. Football, baseball and soccer are all staples of the American childhood, with pee wee and youth leagues abounding, it’s a rarity if at some point you haven’t been on a team for at least 2 out of the 3. Many adults continue their amateur athletic careers for decades, even if talent precludes any professional aspirations. Unfortunately, several players greatly limit their potential by not purchasing the proper equipment or attempting to use one pair of footwear across a multitude of sports. Furthermore, they place themselves at an unnecessary risk for injury.It is strongly recommended to purchase 3 pairs of cleats if you plan on playing football, baseball and soccer, one for each. This is because all 3 sports require very different ranges of motion, across differing surfaces, with cleats designed to optimize performance and keep feet and legs healthy. Football cleats and soccer cleats both must be able to grip in the mud and grass thus require thicker, generally plastic, protrusions. Football cleats are the heaviest of all three cleats, providing additional support for the unpredictable movement caused by contact. Soccer is the lightest of all three, a game built for speed, still providing traction. Other cleats will also have a spike beneath the toes which can cause pain, discomfort or worse when kicking a soccer ball head on. Baseball players, on the other hand, must traverse grass and dirt, typically running in more of a straight line fashion than sharp cuts back and forth, requiring a completely different cleat design than football and soccer. If you want to be both at your best and feeling your best, a sport-specific cleat is a no brainer. And whatever you do, leave the golf spikes on the golf course, or else you might as well be sprinting in loafers.