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The rule says that the pole "may have a binding of no more than two layers of adhesive tape of uniform thickness in the hand area." I've never seen a definition of "adhesive tape." Can I use tacky tennis or squash racquet grip tape? How about road bike handlebar tape? both are strips of material with adhesive on one side.

Many people just use athletic tape...I haven't seen anything else.

ive seen duct tape and electrical tape no joke...kinda seems ineffective

CHC04Vault wrote:ive seen duct tape and electrical tape no joke...kinda seems ineffective

When duct tape is used, it is applied sticky side out. That can be so effective it is a problem in that you can't release the pole they way you want to.

I guess what I'm asking is, can an official come up to one of my kids at a meet and tell him or her that the racquet grip tape or handlebar tape is illegal and has to be removed?

I would also be interested in the interpretation on this. I've found some tape that is similar to a tennis racket grip that is designed for poles. It used to be sold by a MF athletics a few years back.....unfortunately I can't seem to find it on their site anymore. My kids would like to use this stuff but we're not sure on the rules regarding it.

master wrote:

CHC04Vault wrote:ive seen duct tape and electrical tape no joke...kinda seems ineffective

When duct tape is used, it is applied sticky side out. That can be so effective it is a problem in that you can't release the pole they way you want to.

i shoulda said w/o the sticky side up on both of them. as for officials, i have seen officals after warm ups to have some1 rewrap their pole.

having to rewrap the pole doesn't necessarily mean they were using the wrong kind of tape...they may just have had too many layers.

thats what i meant, sorry i forgot to add that