How to Tape Football Cleats

When watching pro football on TV, you may notice many players have their shoes taped. Taping cleats can provide some extra support to the ankle, and keep the shoe and shoelaces from loosening during a game. The method to wrapping a cleat with tape is essentially the same as for wrapping a bare ankle, since the goal is to provide support to the same areas underneath the shoe.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Athletic tape

1. Create a base of support from the arch of the foot. Ideally, you should tape the ankle itself with several strips of tape that come under the heel and up the back of the leg on either side of the Achilles tendon. With cleats, however, you won't be able to get the strips exactly parallel, since your heel has cleats on it. You have to loop strips a bit farther forward on your foot.

2. Put several strips of tape up along the Achilles tendon, perpendicular to the first set of strips. This will hold the first set of strips in place and further support the back of the cleat.

3. Put two continuous loops of tape around the ankle portion of the cleat without ripping the tape.

4. Begin looping the tape under the arch of the foot and back up around the ankle repeatedly. This will create a sort of figure-eight motion, securing the ankle and cleat in place.

5. Rip the tape and firmly rub the end around the ankle so it sticks well and does not unravel.

Tips & Warnings

• If your ankle is injured or you have weak ankles, an ankle brace or taping the ankle itself will provide much better support than taping a cleat.

Resources

• How to spat football cleats

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