The Football Season Begins....I find KTTape

So, last night the season began.....

@ Montpelier, Ohio, the season begins on a rare Thursday Night Contest...my plans our to chronicle the entire season, and it started like this...

First off I forget my camera, so my plans on at least photographing the pre-game and stadium were deep sixed to start....not a good beginning.

I headed out of Celina, and hooked up with our umpire Denny in Payne, some 45 miles north and west about 4:30 at his place and we met the rest of the crew at Montpelier at 5:15pm....our pre-game and meeting with the coaches went well, and by 6:15 we were out on the field for the 7 o'clock start.

The host Montpelier Locomotives had been suffering though a long losing streak which had gone on for several seasons, under a new young first year head coach, they would take on Hilltop, their rivals from close by, also being coached by a first year guy, but one much more "mature"...someone closer to my age...both teams were looking to get off on the right foot....speaking of foot, or feet, ankles, heels, etc, that takes me back earlier in the day to my situation.

After a pre-season which included 6 or 7 scrimmages, and a Freshman game at Celina this past Tuesday, I had noticed my feet, especially the heels and ankles, were not taking the pounding of the fields very well...and after suffering a slight sprain Tuesday, I knew wrapping or something needed to be done, if I was to get through the early season, able to walk...especially with few days off in order to recover.  It was usually taking 24 hours of more for the pain to stop and for my walking routine to get back to normal...whatever "normal" might be for a 63 year old.  So I headed out to Wally World looking for ankle support in one form or another...there I purchased a few rolls of athletic tape and wrap. 

While in that sporting goods section, I also noticed a rather expensive brand called  KTTape....turns out this stuff is what, if you were watching any of the Olympics this past month, you saw some swimmers and runners using.  Seems it is suppose to offer a bit more support to muscles, joints, and sprains....I picked up a box of 14 for around $8 a box, and figured I would give them a try.  Once home, I realized that these expensive little numbers were also a bit difficult to figure out how to place on the pain spots, or potential pain spots...lucky for me however, they do have a web site that gives you directions...and being clueless when it comes to anything like this, I gave it a try:

http://www.kttape.com/instructions/ankle-stability/
This link if for the ankle...while switching back to the home page, you'll can find other remedies for using the KTTape...

So at 2:30 yesterday I followed the directions and managed to get my right ankle fixed up....while leaving the less painful left heel and ankle without.  I must say it seems to work, the right ankle head up well during the game...while the left side hurt like Hell by games end....so it seems I have found something to use...although at the price, I will be using it only when facing some real pain, while using the old athletic tape and wrap the remainder of the time.

Meanwhile back to the game....

Montpelier managed a 6-0 lead at the half, then made some good defensive stands in the 3rd quarter, and pulled away for a 27-0 win, thus ending a long, long, losing skid....Next week, we will have Hilltop(some of a rarity having a team two game in succession) again on the road at Antwerp...this game could be close, but really you never know.

So the season has began...I have a busy weekend ahead, at Paudling for a JV game tomorrow morning, baseball fall double header in the afternoon, and then a youth league football double on Sunday here in Celina.

Then  next Friday night off to my Uncle Jack's hometown of Antwerp for the host Archers against Hilltop...

Hopefully I will have my KTTape on and camera, in hand for that one.

back later>>>

Photos-In addition to my duffel bag filled with clothes, towels, whistles, flags, bags, and shower items, my briefcase goes with me filled with rules, and more items designed to get me through the Varsity contests.  The KTTape appears to be a good find, despite the issues with limited adjustments and novice approach to wrapping it correctly...hopefully I will get better as I use it.