So i'm sure most of you here know what I'm talking about - that hole on the inside of the dragging foot that develops from repeated dragging on the court. Finally after years of going through the same problem i've come here and i've seen various suggestions to remedy the problem e.g. tape/rubber coating etc. Got a few questions then: - Is the hole normal? Do higher level players frequently come across this problem? I'm sure the pro's are getting a fresh pair of shoes every week if they start looking bad, so I doubt i'd find any pictures/videos. Perhaps it's bad technique/footwork on my part? - Are their particular brands of shoes/models that are known to be particularly well built against this? For reference, the hole tends to develop for me in about 2-3 months, playing ~10 hours per week. The first time, I didn't notice until I had a lot of holey socks, the second time I put tape on my sock inside my shoe with the hole still there (until the upper and sole got ripped apart on a particularly hard lunge). I've got through a couple more pairs replacing the shoes (though still in the cupboard for an 'emergency'), whilst the sole looks pristine... Is there a better solution?
The hole is perfectly normal, you're not alone with this problem. Watch videos of pro players online and you will see them drag their foot during a lunge. But they will be given a fresh pair of shoes before the cameras at a tournament can capture the wear. 10 hours a week for 2~3 months is pretty quick to create a full hole. At least 6 months for a full hole on a good pair of shoes. Try and keep your trailing leg 'light'. Pushing the trailing leg into the floor will increase wear and slow the lunge. A small piece of leather, left over from an old belt or something, looped through the shoe lace and superglued over the wear patch can make the shoe last longer. That's if you don't mind the way it looks. Use sandpaper to neaten up the edges so they don't catch on the floor and rip it off before it wears down. Hope that helps a bit
Hole is normal but you do seem to wear a bit faster than normal. Plastidip works but I'd suggest it more as a preventative than a fix.
I use duct tape. Surprisingly, leaves no residue when taking off my SHB-65X. Maybe it's due to the leather. And having 3 layers of duct tape, I've been testing, still getting nowhere near the shoe surface. Lets me lunge without worry since i'm short. Haha.
Looks kinda ghetto, but I find that cloth type bandaid strip stays on longer because it's more pliable and duct tape is too stiff.
I also thought of that... when I went to the pharmacy, it was SGD$6.8 per roll compared to $1.30 for the duct tape... so... yolo Oh and, duct tape comes in a myriad of colors, which I'm able to hide better. Haha!
Okay. Ghetto looking with many small cuts and pastes. And intense use, I guess. After removing, the wear is nowhere near the inside of the tape. After removal, as said, surprisingly, no residue. Good as new.
Yeah man, first time so I thought I'd overkill on the tape just in case.. its lasting much longer than I thought.
Tks! Excellent idea! *goes off to Amazon to search* Nah... too expensive. Much cheaper to go with hockey tape or athletic tape.
I posted a thread about this some time ago where I started experimenting different materials including gaffa tape. Gaffa tape in my opinion is not suitable. I tried several versions ranging from the cheapest to the more expensive tapes like Gorilla. They were either not wear resistant enough, or if they were, they were not pliable enough and often came unstuck at the edges. Plastidip worked ok, but it is a lot of work and does need replacing every few months. The best material I have used and still use to date is cloth bandage tape. But not the cotton version, the best one seems to be a plastic/cotton type fabric. It's slightly shiny in appearance. This stuff is very hard wearing and usually lasts me at 6 - 12 months. It never comes unstuck until it needs replacing and the best thing about it is that I can colour it to match my shoes! http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...-in-your-badminton-shoes.148808/#post-2352652
Any pics or brands of that cloth bandage tape? I'm using athletes tape and that seems to work, but adhesive is not that strong and comes loose after a few hours and needs replacing then, which takes only a minute. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
I'll get you a photo and will probably post it on my thread as an update. I've no idea where we got it from I just rummaged our first aid kit!
A bittersweet victory - I no longer have the dragging foot hole problem. Unfortunately, it is because my right shoe now breaks faster than my left. Lack of straight foot is causing my right foot to eventually burst out of the right side of my right shoe... Now I really feel like my ankles are on borrowed time
