Best Groomsmen Gifts For Sports Fans & Athletes

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Not every groomsman wants to get a flask or cufflinks for their wedding gifts.

For those who lean more towards playing sports or supporting their favorite team rather than booze or jewelry, we present this list of gift options.

Here you’ll find products that are perfect for fitness training, showing off in a display case at home, and for everyday use.

[And even though we’re saying “groomsmen gifts” for all these products, it should be pretty clear that they can be personalized for Father’s Day, birthdays, retirements, end of season awards, or any other occasions].

Gifts For The Fitness Enthusiast

Crossrope Jump Ropes

If you’re shopping for someone who takes fitness seriously, why not go with a gift that can travel along everywhere they go?

Crossrope jump ropes are about as far from the standard $5 WalMart rope as you can get, and they offer a world of training options and will last you damn near forever as long as you take care of them.

By allowing you to swap between thin speed ropes and heavy cables in seconds, you can vary your jump rope training to fit any goals you have. And you can keep using the ball bearing handles with new cables if you wear out your initial ones.

Don’t know how to jump rope well? A slightly weighted rope actually helps you learn faster. And Crossrope also offers a free mobile app which provides workouts, tutorials, and makes it easy to track your progress.

In the interest of full disclosure here, I’m a bit biased here since I’ve known the founder of Crossrope since our first day at the US Naval Academy back on June 30, 2000.

Dave Hunt and I were in the same Plebe Summer company and lived down the hall from each other for all four years. Though we’ve typically lived across the country — or world — from each other over the last 15 years, we’ve stayed in touch to discuss business ideas over the phone or whenever we happen to be in the same city at the same time.

Bottom line: I’ve used these products, Dave is good people, I believe these ropes are great training tools, and I recommend them 100% for anyone looking for a way to improve their fitness. Click here to shop from their selection.

Gifts For Fans Of Any Sport

Sporting events make for great times if your guys are into sports.

Attending an MLB, NBA, NFL, or NHL game is a great option, though it may come with a hefty price tag. And you’ll need to live in (or travel to) a city with a big league team.

If funds are an issue or you don’t live in a city with a professional team then try the minor leagues, where baseball and hockey games are often just as fun as the big leagues at a fraction of the cost.

Not only will you pay less for tickets, parking, food, and beer, but you are likely to have better seats because the stadiums are smaller. And you’ll likely find it easier to move into nicer seats if they’re still empty as the game progresses.

Gifts For Baseball Fans

Dugout Mugs, Shot Glasses, & Bottle Openers

If you’re like me, you probably didn’t think it was possible to drink out of a baseball bat. Well, it’s time to think again.

These mugs are made from hollowed-out barrels of baseball bats and hold 12oz of your favorite hot or cold liquid.

Choose from personalized ones like you see above (click here) with 1-2 lines of custom text, or go with their officially licensed Major League Baseball collection like the Yankees mug you see below:

Shop from all 30 Major League teams here, most of which have several options for graphics, designs, player names and signatures, and so forth.

In addition to the MLB and custom text versions, you can also opt for a custom logo for your team, business, wedding initials, or anything like that, with volume discounts depending on the size of your order.

They’ve got some other cool gift options on their site like the Knob Shots™ 1oz Shot Glasses and Season Opener™ bottle openers made from chopped-off bat handles — click either of the links or the below photos to take a look.

The fact that these products are officially licensed by MLB — and that they can be found in dozens of major and minor league ballparks across the country — should tell you everything you need to know about their quality and uniqueness.

Personalized Baseball Bats

Most baseball fans would love their own personalized Louisville Slugger bat. You can select the color and type of wood and select from different signature options — custom text, classic designs, or MLB logos are all in play for you.

And you can also order the exact model used by your favorite player and have it painted and engraved however you want.

Gifts For Football Fans

Leather Head Sports Vintage Balls

While these hand-made footballs look like something you’d want to leave on your mantle, Leather Head Sports swears they’re made for play.

Choose from basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls, and rugby balls in addition to footballs. And they also offer personalization for all those products, so you have have them embossed with monograms or logos.

They’ve also got a line of accessories like keychains and coasters made from the same high-quality leather.

Click here to see their full lineup.

Big Game USA Footballs

Big Game USA also makes personalized game balls for each of your groomsmen. These footballs can feature the logo of their college football team or a custom logo.

How do you know that these guys make quality footballs? Well, the list of FBS teams that source their gameday balls from Big Game is pretty impressive. You’ll find schools like Navy, Clemson, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas, and LSU among their clients.

Made right in Dallas, these make really cool display items that are definitely conversation starters.

Jersey Sweaters

If you’re looking for the perfect bit of apparel for tailgating or game day lounging in the fall, these super-comfy knit sweaters from Jersey Sweaters might be right up your alley.

While they’re not officially licensed by the NFL or college programs (with the exception of their line of LSU sweaters) these sweaters feature color combinations, designs, and jersey numbers that are instantly recognizable to fans of any of these teams.

Choose from dozens of different college and pro football teams as well as a few hockey teams as well.

NFL Jersey Wallets

Every man needs a nice wallet, so this is one gift you don’t have to worry as to whether it’ll go unused.

But you probably don’t want to get him an obnoxiously-designed wallet that looks like one a teenager would carry.

Enter: these NFL jersey wallets. 

Made from top-grain leather, these wallets show off your friend’s fandom in a subtle way — with a debossed team name on the outside, and a bill divider made from game-used jersey material.

Each one comes with a tamper-proof hologram and an authentication card so you can verify the jersey’s game use history.

Gifts For Golfers

Many groups of friends love to get together and play golf for the social and competitive aspects of the game.

And as we’ve mentioned before, you could always treat your wedding party to a round of golf at an upscale golf course. You could do so as part of your bachelor party weekend, a day or two before the wedding, or on a different weekend in advance of the big day.

Websites like TeeOff allow you to filter golf courses by whatever location, price, or rating preference you want, then book tee times instantly.

If getting together for a few rounds isn’t feasible then some custom golf equipment or accessories may be the way to go.

I’m not a golfer myself, but I think most people who are would probably be thrilled to get a dozen personalized golf balls. You can get a set of custom golf balls from Fairway Golf right here starting at only $52.

Personalized golf ball markers would makes for a hole in one idea. Though if I got something as nice as the hand-forged ones shown below I might be hesitant to put it on the ground for fear of losing it.

You can see those (and more) right here.

In Conclusion…

As you can see, there are plenty of unique sports and fitness related gifts out there that will work for any occasion — these are just the first half-dozen or so to come to mind when I sat down to write this blog post.

Any suggestions? Post them to the comments and we’ll consider adding them when we update this post in the future.