Month: May 2010

If you play in a distinctly hot and sunny climate, glare is going to be a continuous problem and bane to your playing abilities. Rather than standing around with your glove put over your eyesight to try and block out the sunlight, it’s better to have something to maintain the coverage against glare. With summer hockey now upon most western european countries (like the UK), the sun becomes more of a prominent issue when trying to perform at your best. The basic method of blocking out sunlight is to tape the top of the helmet you wear. You will often seen internationals doing it when it is particularly sunny (like Australia’s goalkeepers did in recent tournaments), so even the best use its simple methodology!

Taping the helmet

A simple, but really effective way of keeping the sun out of your eyes is to tape the top of your mask, above the eye line. By doing this, you cut off the light showing down on you, eliminating the sunlight that would otherwise get through to your eyes. You want to tape over the bars of the helmet, to make sure it blocks out the light, before taping the ends onto the sides of the helmet, to keep it on.

‘Gaffer’ tape (which is cloth based tape used for stage production) will give your a bigger coverage, so you do not have to do multiple layers in order to block out the sun. Insulation/duct tape (used to insulate electrical wires) makes a great alternative (it is less likely to leave behind a gooey stain!), but due to its thin width, it often requires a few layers to get good coverage (just simply tape below the original line to get another). It is also good to know about the colour you use. Taping with white tape will reflect the sun light, rather than absorbing it (like black or a dark colour), making it easier to see.