Grip tape

[souleman]

Thanks Russ, All Right! Someone else remembers Firm Grip. Towards the end of my senior year I was bringing a can of lighter fluid with me (zippo type) I'd squirt a little on top of the tape and "work" it alittle and it would revive the sticky that was on and in the tape. Worked great and prevented 8 inches of Firm Grip or Tuff Skin build up. What it would do is work through the cloth of the tape and into the adhesive and bring it to the out side of the tape. I liked Tuff Skin better than Firm grip because it wouldn't sweat away. Just another blast from the past from an ol' geezer. Later...........Mike

[ladyvolspvcoach]

Souleman, I've used the firm grip, tuff skin, and the lighter fluid too. It is a flash from the past! Thanks for the cage rattle. We also used to reverse our tape so the sticky side is up and against your palms. Something Mack is now doing.....must have been a good idea!!

[rainbowgirl28]

Souleman, I've used the firm grip, tuff skin, and the lighter fluid too. It is a flash from the past! Thanks for the cage rattle. We also used to reverse our tape so the sticky side is up and against your palms. Something Mack is now doing.....must have been a good idea!!

My teammate John Ryland learned the hard way that you have to be careful when you reverse wrap the tape... if you reverse wrap too much at once, you don't have enough stuck to the pole. His tape ripped when he planted, causing his hand to come off.

My guy teammates went to Auto Zone and bought stuff to make their grips sticky. I dont know what they bought, but one was gold and one was red and they all smell toxic

[Skyin' Brian]

while we are on the subject of grip tape, why is it when i am at a collegiate meet where an official is "checking in" your poles, all they do is run their hands along your tape job and then tell you it is ok and put a ring of electrical tape around the bottom of your pole or tell you that it needs to be retaped. i mean, what does taping really matter for? i could hand an official a fifteen and a half foot long piece of pvc pipe with a huge crack in it and he would probably say it was ok as long as the tape job didnt have too many layers.

sorry for the pointless mini-rant, but i just dont like checking poles in since my team always brings an almost excessive number of poles to every meet

[souleman]

Hopefully it's not 2 part epoxy Later..Mike

[Russ]

The NCAA rules even allow vaulters to wear a glove. My goodness. What more could you want?

[rainbowgirl28]

The NCAA rules even allow vaulters to wear a glove. My goodness. What more could you want?

They do? I thought that was banned at every level

[Russ]

I wouldn't kid about something like this.

The 2005 NCAA Track & Field-Cross Country Rules, Section 6, Article 4 reads in part:

"Competitors may use a glove or an adhesive substance on their hands or on the pole in order to obtain a better grip."

It really is surprising, isn't it? Neither the NFHS nor the IAAF allow a glove. I don't have a current USATF book (it's on order). So I don't know what the USATF allows, but I don't think that it allows a glove (but I'm not certain).

[souleman]

Why would anyone want a glove? I can see the layer rule because if they didn't have it there would be vaulters that would put the perverbial collar or "ledge" of tape to keep their hand from going down. Personally I think it"moot. A person can squeeze tighter on a 1" pipe than they can a 2" pipe. So, to me it would make sense to have the least amount of bulk in your grip ( the bulk that a glove ar multiple layers of tape would provide) to give you the tightest gripping ability possible. Later.......Mike

[master]

.... I was bringing a can of lighter fluid with me (zippo type) I'd squirt a little on top of the tape and "work" it alittle and it would revive the sticky that was on and in the tape............Mike

A fellow masters vaulter I jump with uses lighter fluid as you describe. He did that back when he was an eliter vaulter also. His son, now an elite vaulter, also uses this technique.

[souleman]

Gee golly, I thought I was the only one who did that. Funny, I was useing my 1550 cat-a pole to take down some of the Christmas lights off of the house today, (Yeah I know, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow), but the thirty-some year old athletic tape that I put on there in high school was starting to come off. So I pulled the rest of it off .I grabbed a little lighter fluid and worked it over a small part of the adhesive that is now part of the pole and d*mn if it doesn't work back sticky. When I start working back to jumping, I don't think I'll even put any new tape on it. Just bring the can of lighter fluid. Later.................Mike

[rainbowgirl28]

Hopefully it's not 2 part epoxy Later..Mike

I checked today... they're using some kind of gasket sealer. It has all these warning labels about causing cancer in laboratory animals, to avoid contact with skin, and to use in a well ventilated area