With three active boys that love to play football together in the garden, I have lost count of the amount of times they have kicked the ball over the garden fence - one side into the neighbour's garden, the other side into the road.
After school, be it light or dark, Liam will gather his two younger brothers and all will play football in the garden. They love having a kick about together, although sometimes Jacob gets quite angry when his two older brothers stick him the goal - he'd much rather be with them kicking and tackling them.
So when we received the OpenGoaaal net, the boys were quite excited and very anxious to get it up to start using it, however we had really wet weather, and our garden was saturated and being it clay mud, trying to pin anything into the ground, was a no go, so unfortunately we had to wait a couple of weeks for the ground to dry out somewhat. Once it had dried out, we tested the spikes, which they held and we were able to erect the OpenGoaaal fully - to the boys delight.
It is recommendable for two people to put the goal up, my husband and my oldest son did it together, it took them a couple of hours, but the whole process is very clear and the instructions and on-line video helped alot.
The OpenGoaaal net is 10 feet high, and the whole structure is very sturdy, allowing the boys to belt some balls at the net, without fear of knocking the net over, or losing a ball. It stands perfectly and you can adjust the width to suit your garden - but there is a minimum width for it to work, so please check on the OpenGoaaal website beforehand, to make sure it will fit your garden. It is available in two sizes, standard which costs £99 and the large which costs £119. The net slides open and closed like curtains, perfect for putting it away.
The net was up and the boys were straight outside giving it a try, and the final verdict is, they are very impressed. - We put it up at the minimum width, but in the spring/summer we do plan to widen it, so when the boys bounce on the trampoline kicking the ball whilst they are bouncing, to try and get a goal, the OpenGoaaal net will protect any stray flying balls getting kicked into next door neighbours garden (to their relief I am sure).
Final verdict, the boys appreciate the freedom it gives them to play football in our garden without the worry of losing the ball. They've had tons of fun since it has been up, even playing in the dark - I can't wait until spring/summer evenings when they can get out there in the light and enjoy it even more.
You can follow OpenGoaaal:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/opengoaaal
- Website: http://www.opengoaaal.com
