The spark: why I decided to develop my own hockey grip
Lieke here! You are listening to a self-confessed ‘hockey-gear freak’. After a way too long lockdown due to the COVID pandemic, I was finally allowed to hockey again. Searching in the garage, I found my hockey stick covered with a thick layer of dust. My freaky sport gear mind told me I needed to prepare my stick to shine again. What’s a better way to pimp your stick than putting a new hockey grip on it?! I faced a problem… I could not find a hockey grip that met my high standards. That’s when I took the plunge and decided to develop a new hockey grip myself.
Asking the experts: what do hockey players really need?
But where am I going to start? I began questioning the needs of hockey players. I asked for advice from my teammate at H.O.D. Valkenswaard, youth players of HC Oranje-Rood Eindhoven and a lot of motivated kids to who I give hockey training at the MB Hockeyschool. They were all excited about my idea to innovate a new hockey grip and gave me a lot of specifications they thought a hockey grip would definitely need. Quite a task for me to make a grip that meets all these requirements 😅
- Be waterproof
- Have a non-slip surface
- Be long enough to grip down the stick
- Dampen vibration
- And of course look stylish as hell
“The traditional grips I use are too slippery… All I want is a reliable hockey grip I can count on – whether I’m playing in the rain or any other weather conditions.”
Charlotte, player MB Hockeyschool
Turning player wishes into product specs
But, for me there is no mountain too high! I started thinking, developing, making samples, try out sample grips, get feedback from hockey players, learn, improve, make new samples, test samples again, implement feedback, I have been going through this innovation cycle over and over and could finally put all the pieces together in order to deliver the best hockey grip solution for all hockey players: RIBBON Sportgrip!
The RIBBON Hockey grips are ready to go around your hockey stick! Or not?? Find out more about it in the next blog post
