Cleats

Cleats is a comic strip created by Bill Hinds of the Buzz Beamer and Tank McHamara fame.

History
Cleats was launched in November 26, 2001 and carried in over 75 newspapers. The last iteration of Cleats ran on 31 October 2010, in the form of a special Halloween 'exit' strip. The October 31, 2010, strip showed Peri, Mondo, Abby, Jack, Edith and Dee as ghosts playing soccer in the Comic Strip Graveyard. Abby has her giant ponytail back. Jack asks a trick-or-treater in a Spider-Man costume for help in getting back the soccer ball, which has fallen outside the cemetery wall. Bill Hinds stated that he had ceased producing Cleats because the strip "had suffered in many newspaper comic polls over the past nine years."

Premise
The show follows the everyday lives of Jack, Abby, Mondo, and Peri, four young soccer players who compete on different teams (Jack and Mondo compete on the recreational Dawgs, while Abby and Peri compete on the select Panthers). Surrounding them are their fellow teammates, parents, and coaches. Together, they face the trials and tribulations of being on a sports team while facing the challenges of growing up.