by Kelly Kirk
Master Racquet Technician

One of the few female racquet stringers in the business, Minnesota's Kelly Kirk offers you some professional help in applying your own grips — as often as you like!

Get a Grip!

How often should players re-grip? You could hear “They ought to change ‘em every day!” from a wholesaler who just might have an underlying motive for persuading players to discard grips frequently. On the other hand, racquetball players can be inordinately cheap (as in “tawdry, contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities,” according to Webster’s). Allow me to illustrate. In the past month I have been presented with a performance frame with black electrical tape as its formal grip and a midline frame with a paper towel grip. That’s right, instead of investing in a new grip, simply grab a paper towel and wring it tightly around the handle. Coincidentally, both these players complained that they weren’t striking the sweetspot very often! There’s only so much a manufacturer can do …

At the very least, bare minimum, you should re-grip as often as you re-string. If you are a player who employs a stranglehold — or death grip — on their frame throughout the match, you can re-grip as often as every two weeks. From a piggybank perspective, it’s more economical to re-grip than to buy a new glove. Consider a grip purchase part of your overall playing budget.

As a serious player (you are playing to win, aren’t you?), how can you continue to ignore the grip? Why settle for a grip that has digressed from tacky to slick? Aside from being inordinately superstitious (in addition to being cheap), why would you not seek the advantage of a secure grip? After all, manufacturers have compiled a fair amount of grip data that covers not only the tackiness, but also longevity, length, width, compression, stretch, absorbency, thickness, and even the skiiving (bevel) of the grip. And although you may choose to disregard commercial claims, why would you opt to deliberately lose any points in a game due to a substandard grip?

You’re convinced to re-grip? Your first choice is easy: rubber or a replacement soft grip. There are drawbacks, and advantages, to both. Rubber burns your gloves, but the grip will last much longer and deters sweat accumulation. Rubber grips, in general, will increase the diameter of your handle more than a soft grip, and will also add a few more grams to your frame. On the other side of the scale, soft grips will have to be replaced more often and will, for the most part, accumulate sweat if you do not change your glove frequently. Choosing a grip is a subjective decision. What feels good to one player, may feel awkward to another.

Let’s start with rubber grips, which in some cases are not rubber at all. Take the Python. Touted the thinnest of the rubber grips, it feels like rubber, looks like rubber, but it’s not rubber. According to Doug Smith of Python Racquetball, it’s actually made of Kraton. Kraton’s claim to fame is that it absorbs absolutely no moisture. Or to put it another way: if you submerged a Python in water for a week (why would you do that?), the grip would still maintain its tacky feel - as opposed to rubber which deteriorates under such conditions. Whether you choose Wilson, Ektelon, or another manufacturer’s rubber grip, you are now left with the task of putting it on.

The application of rubber grips is relatively easy if you’re not in a hurry. Remove your wrist lacer and put a bit of scotch tape over the lacer’s entry to prevent glue spillage from being a nuisance. (Carpeted flooring isn’t the best place to try this.) Strip your handle bare and clean the surface with alcohol. If there is a staple remove it with a pair of pliers. A pallet handle will benefit from a brush up with sandpaper to rough up its slick surface. If your pallet handle has experienced crunch, you can fill the gaps with beeswax. If you don’t want the bulb or ring at the end of the grip, now is the time to take a pair of scissors and cut off the extra length. For those of you not blessed with hot hands, use a heat gun to soften up the first part of the grip on the end you plan to slide over the handle.

Take your tube of glue and squeeze three quarters of it — spinning the grip as you do so — into the grip’s interior. (It is not necessary to make sure the entire inside of the grip is coated for the glue will spread as you pull on the grip.) Set aside the grip. Take the remaining glue, all of a teaspoon’s worth, and apply it to the butt of the handle. This is the most important part, if there is not a ring of glue around the handle where you first start to slide the rubber grip, it will make for a difficult job. Now take your grip and “spin” it over the handle. Don’t pull it on, spin the grip. It should glide on with little trouble. For best results, allow your grip to sit overnight and dry. For those of you favoring Ektelon’s Clear Vision grip, life gets much easier! These grips are designed to slide on with virtually no effort. Clean the grip off as described previously. Then take the Clear Vision grip and tug at the top just a bit so the mouth is a bit wider. Spray WD-40 inside the grip and on the handle too. Once again, spin the grip on. A bit of warm water and soap on this grip after hard matches will extend its longevity.

As a group, soft grips are much easier to put on, but for whatever reason, few people wrap them correctly. As usual, strip and clean your handle before application. When you are applying a soft grip a clean surface becomes even more important. You may wish to assist the grip by one of three ways: staple it to the butt; spray a blast of adhesive glue on the handle; or stick a three inch strip of double sided adhesive tape near the butt end of the handle. You will take the tapered end of the grip and begin the wrap at the butt end of the handle. It is important that you stretch all cushion grips and line up grooves so there is barely any overlap. Failure to stretch the grip out properly will result in an unwieldy grip. How tight do you wrap? You should almost hear the back of the grip breaking as you stretch it over your handle. Finally, take your finishing tape and cut it at a diagonal. (Keep in mind that with the handle held away from your body, left-handers will wrap counter clock-wise, right-handers clock-wise.)

Don’t be stingy when it comes to soft grips. If one doesn’t suit you, try another! For comfort you might try Ektelon’s Duratred, a long-time favorite which has performed well over the years. And naturally, Wilson offers up a nice cushion grip as well. ProKennex has introduced a Vibe grip that is not quite like the original put on their frames, but close enough to satisfy players who have grown accustomed to the ribbed grip. If thinness is a priority over cushion, one of the thinnest wraps out there is E-Force’s original grip. Last, but not least, Python has just announced a new leather wrap grip with a snakeskin pattern that is both thin and durable. But with such a huge variety of grips on the market, I think Luke St. Onge expressed it best, “… support those who are dedicated to the racquetball industry.”

And if wrestling with your handle creates great anxiety, just have your stringer do it. That’s what we’re here for!