WBCA - Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association - 2022

With the fall high school basketball coaches clinics in full swing, the road took us to the Wisconsin Dells and the Just A Game Fieldhouse! Grip Spritz is the newest basketball traction mat. For decades, schools have used sticky pads to get better traction on the basketball court.

When you talk to coaches and athletic directors about these sticky pads, you're met with an eyeroll. Players always want better grip on their basketball shoes but schools are tired of paying so much money for an outdated option that only lasts a few possessions.

That's why we knew we had the opportunity to created the best basketball shoe grip pad on the market. We wanted to hammer out what the pain points for basketball coaches and athletic directors were and completely fix them. Here's what we found:

• Sticky/traction pads are expensive. The board and enough sheets for the season can approach $400.
• Coaches have more important things to do during games instead of worrying about peeling off sticky sheets and finding somewhere to put them.
• The average basketball team will use 3-6 sticky sheets per game. Coaches are responsible for that because when they let kids, every kid wants a new sheet or they accidently peel off 4 sheets at once by grabbing the wrong tab.
• When you run out of sheets, replacement sheets are incredibly pricey.
• The traction on the basketball shoes just doesn't last that long. After a few possessions, your shoes lose their grip. Adhesives are going to build up a residue on the shoes, making them sticky so that dust and dirt on the court only has one place to go.

We knew our individual player basketball shoe grip spray was perfect for players. It wasn't overly expensive for schools, coaches didn't have to worry about it during the game and it lasted long enough that players didn't have to worry about their shoes. However, if you're a coach during a timeout, you don't want to be going over a set and see your players spraying their shoes, so we had to make it quicker and easier!

That's when we created our Grip Spritz Traction grip pad. We designed it specifically for high schools, colleges, and AAU programs to solve how to get better grip on their basketball shoes, without creating a whole new headache for coaches. Here's what we did:

• Make it affordable for every basketball program. Our traction pad, 64 games or practices worth of Grip Spritz, and an easy to carry tote bag for all your coaching equipment for less than half the cost of a sticky pad.
• No plastic sheets. Coaches can coach, not deal with sticky sheets and finding somewhere to throw them away. Just pour some Grip Spritz on the mat pregame and forget about it.
• By eliminating adhesives, the basketball shoes can grip how they we're designed to, even on dusty courts, because it won't pick up more dirt. It's like every player has a fresh sheet every time.
• Give teams enough solution for the whole season at least, so you're not trying to order replacements during the season.

High School programs love making the switch from sticky pads to Grip Spritz. It is the easiest way to make sure every pair of shoes can be the basketball shoes with the most grip! Every school has that one program in their conference that has a worse than normal court. Our goal is to not only help player's shoes slip less on that court but also increase safety!

Grip Spritz is much different than other products out there, working much longer and being more effective, but they also save schools a lot of money! This was our best event to date! We were super well received by all the coaches who were totally blown away after trying our traction mat out on the court!

The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) drew around 1000 coaches! As one of the longest running coaches associations, coaches from all over the state know how much value is packed into these clinics and make it a priority to make their way to the Wisconsin Dells. In addition, every coaches clinic has a court where speakers are able to put the college teams on site through the drills they run and offensive and defensive sets. It's a great opportunity to see what an hour at high level college practices look like. Bill Self spoke and ran through the high intensity, up and down, style of practice they run at the University of Kansas. Wisconsin had four courts of speakers and teams running at the same time to provide as much value and as much variety to coaches.

We're getting better grip and helping teams stop slipping and sliding one state at a time. We still have a few more weekends of traveling across the states to get more coaches and teams in the know!