Basketball Sticky Mat vs. Grip Spritz Traction Mat - 2024

Why your basketball team uses a sticky mat:

Every basketball player, coach, parent, or fan has seen one. They're sitting next to the scorer's table when you're playing or watching your kid or favorite NBA or college team. Players step on them real quick before going on the basketball court but if you watch closely, you may notice something else, too.

Basketball players will either wipe the sole of their shoe with their hand, maybe even lick their hand before wiping the

shoe, or spit on the ground and rub their shoe in it! (I know all the basketball moms out there have seen it).

They all doing this to help get their shoes to have better grip! Most courts are dusty, especially at the high school and AAU level where courts just aren't cleaned enough. They're not maintained the same way as a court you may see during March Madness or at an NBA arena.

But, if these sticky pads worked at enhancing the traction of your basketball shoes, players wouldn't have to do these other things and that is the problem!

For decades, the only fix to dusty, dirty basketball courts has been what was just described. Step on something sticky to remove the dust on the soles of your shoes, go play on that same dusty court, and lick your hand every few possessions until you have a chance to do it all over again.

Why does the sticky pad fall short? 

Stepping on a sticky pad to remove any dust that has accumulated on the soles of your basketball shoes is only solving part of the problem. It's not stopping your shoes from accumulating more dust as soon as you step on that dirty court. Since the product uses such a strong adhesive to remove the dust in the first place, any residue on your basketball shoes may actually help accumulate more debris on the soles.

As a player, when you see a sticky pad you want to use it every time you go into the game. Of course, you want a fresh sheet, too! The previous one is covered with dust and dirt from the last player's shoes. So you tear off another sheet, step on it, and go play. When you start to realize how much these replacement sticky sheets cost, this adds up super quickly. 

Coaches are not only stuck paying for these sticky sheets that don't work very well, in addition to dealing with the maintenance of the sticky mat itself. If you let players be in charge of tearing off their own sheets, it's only a matter of time before someone accidentally peels off 5 at once, a costly mistake. After coach tears off each new sheet, they have to find somewhere to throw it until they can clean up later. It may not sound like a ton of work but, coaches want to focus on actually coaching not peeling off sticky sheets!

How is a Grip Spritz Traction Mat different?

Whenever we're at events showcasing the Grip Spritz Traction Mat to coaches or athletic directors, they come into the conversation assuming we are just another sticky pad. We let them use it and immediately there are some noticeable differences. A handful of coaches can all use it back to back to back and no one had to peel off used sticky sheets, all of their shoes are suddenly squeaking on old gym floors, and that tackiness is still on the shoes a while later, this is all new!

"So how is this different than a SlippNott?" is usually the first question we get. Most coaches either stopped using the old sticky pads because they were too expensive or still use them and love the idea of a longer-lasting, less expensive, zero-maintenance alternative. That's what Grip Spritz is.

When the Grip Spritz Traction Mat came around in early 2020, everyone already knew about and used the sticky pads. We took all the feedback we could from coaches and athletic directors and built it around what they wanted. Less expensive, enough for the entire season (no reordering over and over), no peeling and throwing away mid-game, and players don't have to constantly reapply all game long.

We did exactly that!

The Grip Spritz Traction Mat is incredibly lightweight, easy to carry, and comes with a bag large enough to hold all of the coach's equipment. 

Each kit includes the traction mat itself and the tote bag, but also enough Grip Spritz solution for 64 games or practices. Teams could get everything before the season and know they will always have traction on the court without having to buy and wait for replacement sticky sheets to get shipped.

School budgets are constantly getting tighter and tighter. Not only is it hard for them to sufficiently clean their gym floors, but it's also tough to afford these expensive sticky pads. It can cost a team about $300 just to have one for their games. We wanted to be sure teams could get a Grip Spritz Traction Mat (enough for the whole year) for about half the price!

Finally, players had to love it. They don't care about the cost, they're not paying for it. They don't care about taking off a new sticky sheet over and over, as long as there are enough for every game. They don't care if the sticky pad is heavy or awkward to carry. They just want grip on their basketball shoes, even if the court is dusty. We eliminated adhesives from the process, your shoes want to be grippy, not sticky! Stepping on the Grip Spritz Traction mat will last about an entire game as compared to a few possessions. That means no licking or wiping, just game long grip!

An awesome bonus even we didn't think of initially actually came from a TikTok comment on a video about our traction mat. A player asked us, "How much better for the environment is Grip Spritz since there are no plastic sheets?".

Honestly, we hadn't thought about it at all. It was a great point, however. So we got to work to find them a number.

According to the sticky pad website, enough plastic sheets for a team for a season will come out to about six pounds. If 10,000 teams use a sticky pad, that's 60,000 pounds of plastic waste (the weight of 30 pickup trucks)!

We didn't comprehend the sustainability  side of our business until that moment!