Ok, so did you instantly recognise these as types of tape used in sport? Over the course of a season you get through a lot of tape. At our level, where money is tight, every metre of tape matters in the budget. I've been very lucky that the team for whom I've been working for this last year have supported the cost of buying the tape we've used.
We've been quite frugal in our use of tape, but we've not skimped either. I was wondering the other day how much tape we'd actually used and I did a bit of maths. Overall we used around 1.8Km of tape. That would go the length of the pitch 18 times and it would cover an area of around 110 sqm.
I suspect that a Premiership club uses 4 or 5 times that amount of tape!
This year we introduced lifting blocks for the line-out jumpers. These are small foam blocks taped to the thigh just above the knee. They are single use normally because the tape sticks to the foam and you can't separate them without tearing lumps out of the blocks. They're only £1 a pair, but that would cost £25 per player each year on average. With at least three jumpers, £75 is a lot to spend on bits of foam! I discovered that if I covered the blocks in ZO (zinc oxide) tape before taping them to the players, then they've lasted the season saving us £65! At first I wrapped them in cling film, which worked well but needed doing every week. I tried sock tape (electrical tape) but I think that made the blocks too stiff, so ZO tape did the job.
I've really enjoyed my season and I'm looking forward to next season. Part of me wishes I could go back and study either sports therapy or physiotherapy in more detail. But time travel isn't an option and I'm not sure I have the energy to embark on yet another degree now! So I'll keep reading, going to CPD courses and do my best. I just hope there's a special offer on tape before the season seats and we can stock up!
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