What are the best Portable Goals and Targets for you? A guide to the best goals for kids, players, clubs and schools.

What goal is the best? What goal is right for me?

Whether you are a professional football club or recreational player, a portable goal is a must when training or playing. More adaptable and easier to maintain than a fixed goal, the portable goal is now a mainstay of most venues. Clubs, schools and associations improve training, reduce dead grass areas and save money. Being able to move a goal allows pitches/grass to be better maintained, as training and games can be flexible to needs.

Portable goals come in a wide range of styles, functions and qualities for all ball sports. There are big differences in quality, manufacturing and usability when considering which is best for you. The Sports Club needs will be different to the player that wants a goal for their backyard. But this doesn’t mean that you must choose poor quality when considering your next goal.

By definition, portable goals are meant to be movable. Because of this, they should be easy enough to move without problems or a lot of people. They should be easy to put up and pull down without tools and easy to fit into a storage area or boot of car.

You should not think portable goals are a set and forget, they are best used as a quick way to get playing or training. In most cases, goals should not get left outside for any length of time and have checks to keep in good working order. If left outside in the weather, the sun and water will decay the net and parts, which will reduce the life of the goal. We always suggest to pack the goal up or move it under cover when not in use.

Portable goals used to be PVC pipes with a net, but PVC pipe goals are not easy to set up, expensive and hard to move. The days of having to use PVC pipe goals is gone. The latest in portable goals makes it easy for any type of athlete, sports club or school be ready to play. And they are now good enough for most matches as well. There are also questions about the safety of PVC pipe goals, a topic discussed here.

Portable goals and nets are usually used for soccer, futsal and training of sports. Coaches, academies and teachers find mobile goals allow for easier training and drills. The portability of the goals means fields won’t get worn in the same place, leading to dead grass and dust/mud bowl. Recently, we have seen associations and clubs moving away from fixed goals to stop fields getting destroyed. A portable goal helps alleviate this issue.

Used as training aids, you can combine your goal with rebound nets (rebounders), which make training easy and instructional. Great for coaches and sports clubs, they can be set up or hand held. In the case of bownet, you can turn your goal into a rebound goal by putting it on its side. The top of the net is then a rebounder, making it a lot cheaper than purchasing a goal and rebounder. Hand-held rebounders are good for one-to-one training with goal keepers, catching, cricket etc, and can be used for directing balls to where you need.

Reflex or crazy rebound catchers are another rebounder that can be successfully used as a training too. Just like a normal rebound net, the reflex version usually has two nets layered over each other. This makes the ball randomly return to the thrower. Not only is this a good tool for training, it is great fun too!

Find out more about the different types of portable goals: