There are many types of equipment that can stop a sports person from getting injured some of them include.
Shin Pads-
These are used to protect your shins when playing football. What they are used for is to stop people from damaging your shins as they are very delicate. These shin pads act as a shield to stop your shins from breaking or seriously injured. The shin pads were first invented in 1874 by a man called Sam Weller Widowson he invented these to protect himself from getting injured and through the years they got more modernized and got made much better. Now there are loads of different types of shin pads some of them have ankle guards on the side of them. They were made by cutting up cricket pads and were shaped around there shin to prevent injury.
Cricket Pads-
These pads are used to stop the ball hitting your legs and your head. These pads are vital because if you do not use them because if someone bowls the corcky hard it will will seriously injur your head of wherever it hits you as it is a hard ball. The first cricket pads were invented in 1836 they were invented to stop your shins getting injured and they made the first shin pads out of cricket pads.
Mouth Guard-
These are to make sure your teeth dont get knocked out. If you do not use these your teeth could either be badly damaged or either you could loose them. Most rugby playes use these because it is a dangerous sport so if you play rugby i suggest you use these. The mouth guards were invented in 1890 by London dentist Woolf Krauze in an effort to prevent boxers from getting cut on their lips. They were made of a material similar to rubber and the boxer would grip the device between their teeth. Later his son took this design and developed a stronger version using rubber.
Ankle Protectors-
Ankle protectors are used to stop your ankles from being damaged. These act as a barrier over your ankles so that thay do not pick up any injuries. They are generally used in football as most of the injuries are to do with ankle so i strongly advise you to use these. These were invented in 1970, these were something that you added on to your shin pad and now they are getting modernized so they are built into the shin pad.
