Shin pads are a necessity when playing hockey because they protect your legs from injury. The shin pad is designed to mainly protect your tibia since the bone is not protected by much muscle along the front of your leg. Shin pads not only keep the bone safe, they also keep you free of other injuries caused by hockey sticks, pucks, other players' skates and falling on the ice. It is important to keep your shin guards in place for proper protection, so many players choose to tape their shin guards to keep them from sliding.
Step 1
Place your knees in the knee cups of the shin pads. Attach the shin pads to your legs using the Velcro straps. Pull your hockey socks over the shin pads, making sure they fully cover your legs from your thigh to your ankle. Put on your skates and lace them normally.
Step 2
Select the type of tape you want to use to tape your shin pads. Many hockey players use the same tape to tape shin pads as they use to tape their sticks. Others prefer a poly tape, which is designed specifically to hold shin pads in place. According to the Polyflex tape brochure, poly tape has many advantages, including more flexibility to allow the skater easier movement, water resistance to keep player from having to retape their shin pads often and it comes in a wide variety of colors to match many teams' colors.
Step 3
Sit on a bench or in a chair. Make sure your feet touch the ground and that you can comfortably bend over and reach your shin pads. Some players find it easier to tape their shin pads if they don't lace up their hockey pants until after taping, as this provides more room for movement.
Step 4
Locate the joint in your shin pad just below the knee. Wrap tape around your leg at this spot one or two times. The tape should be snug but not so tight as to cut off circulation in the leg. Tear off the tape. Hockey player Michael Jakubowski suggests leaving a little extra tape when you tear it so you can fold it under to create a tab. He says this makes removal of the tape from the shin pad after the game much easier.
Step 5
Measure an inch or two above the bottom of your shin pad. Wrap tape around your leg at this spot to hold the lower portion of your shin pad in place. Tear off the tape, leaving a tab for easy removal if you'd like.
Things You'll Need
- Hockey shin guards
- Hockey socks
- Hockey tape or shin guard tape
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