Players spend a great amount of time taping their stick handles to get that extra for drag flicking or strong hits. Goalkeepers, as kit addicts, should also spend as much time if not more tweaking their equipment to suit their needs. I got this tip from Sparta hockey (the famous goalkeeping coach duo of Steve and Panda in England) and have find it to be extremely useful ever since.
Why?
Zinc oxide tape is a great alternative stick grip for goalkeepers. The grip itself is soft and smooth, but at the same time grippy, making it easier to slide your hand up or down the stick to change position of where you are holding it easily. Zinc oxide tape is great for gripping the stick in extension; giving you for when you extend the stick out (lowering your hold in stick tackles or extended stick saves i.e. when diving) and then want to hold it high again.
Where can I get it?
Auction sites like ebay are great places to buy it. Zinc oxide tape is supposed to be used for medical cures to cover blisters, so you should be able to find it in pharmaceutical stores too.
Taping the stick
The tape itself is self-adhesive, with the underside being the sticking surface. Therefore all you have to do is roll the tape around the stick, with the non-sticky side facing you, to get it to tape to the stick. The technique is to wrap the tape around the stick, so that you get the tape to cover the stick handle; try to work diagonally to cover more area. It is easy just to simply tape over an existing grip (unless you want to remove it!), as a double tape grip gives you more to hold on to. To finish off, you can wrap some insulation tape around the ends to cover them and prevent any peeling.
