Equipment/Basketball: Fingertip Moisteners Produce Better Ball Grip

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

Basketball players with small hands or poor grip strength often have difficulty gripping the ball when their fingers become dry. Dryness is a problem because of the dirt the ball picks up from the floor.

Just recently I've found a product that will improve your players' ability to grip a ball. And it comes from a very unlikely place—a stationery store.

Fingertip Moisteners
People who work with a lot of mail are familiar with “fingertip moisteners.” These are substances that, when rubbed on the fingertips, seem to replace the skin's natural oils. Although they don't make the fingers sticky, they do provide a better grip on envelopes, pieces of paper…and surprisingly, basketballs.

Where to Purchase
Most stationery stores should have a fingertip moistening product of some sort. One example is “Lee Sortkwik.” A container that should last one player most of a season costs only a couple of dollars.

Personal Experience
Not having the grip strength or hand size of Lebron James, I've always had problems gripping a basketball. I've recently been using a fingertip moistener before our old-men's league games, and it really works.

A quick application (place it on the fingers, and rub it into the skin) before the game, and sometimes a re-application during a stint on the bench, and I'm much better able to grip the ball when dribbling, passing and catching. I also find my shooting accuracy is better (.009% instead of .008%) because my feel of the ball is better.

Dick Moss (Editor), Physical Education Digest, Updated, 2010.

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