Visit the Fastpitch Festival during the week of August 25-31, 2008 for YOUR chance to WIN one of the great prize packs!  There is NO COST to enter.  Participation is simple.  Just click on one of the categories  right and leave a response.  That’s it!  Every* response you leave will gain you an entry into a prize drawing.  CLICK HERE to check it out.

Need a fundraiser for your sports team?  Take orders for pre-wrap and buy it by the case.  We keep it at our concession stand at home games and visiting teams love it!

Do you have any more tips for us?

The human body is such an amazing thing. It is incredible what it is capable of when it is nourished and trained well. This is most obvious with athletes. Athlete training has come a long way. We live in a time where the awesome training techniques that professionals have used for years are finally becoming mainstream. I’m talking about sport specific training and it is without a doubt the way to go when training for a specific sport or activity.
With sport specific training you are actually training your body in the planes of motion and situations that mimic your sport. You train for endurance and power in conjunction to the skills you need in your sport.
Conventional training had athletes going to weight rooms and ‘lifting’ no matter what sport they were participating in. That makes absolutely no sense and unfortunately is still being played out at many high schools and colleges today. Also, very often the lifting that is being done is just aimlessly throwing the weight around and seeing how much you can lift. This serves no purpose except that you can then say how much weight you lifted, how does that help on the playing field?
Too many coaches just pass on to their athletes what they did when they were playing without realizing that there is a much better way. Things have changed and they have changed for the better. For example, coaches will have their football player’s bench press to train for football. Think about this, how often does a football player need this skill? When does he get down on the field and bench press another player? It doesn’t happen.    You may think this would help a lineman and it might if all he had to do was push his opponent away one time but that is not what he needs. He needs the strength and the endurance to outlast his opponent at the line and bench pressing does not help with that at all.
I get frustrated when I see the exercises that young athletes are told to do by their coaches, like the deep squat. I can’t believe people are still doing this dangerous and useless exercise in the year 2007. When you go below a 90-degree angle when you squat you are doing major damage to your knees and there again when in your sport do you need this skill? I can’t think of one sport where the player does this, can you?
Sports specific training is so much safer because you’re training your body for the demands of your sport so that when you are in the game your body is ready for those unique demands when they happen. The results are just incredible.
For example, I have athletes who have increased their vertical jump by 3 inches in just 5 sessions, I have seen wrestlers who couldn’t keep their opponent down become vice like on their opponent.
Core and balance training are also a big part of sports specific training. You may not even realize it but these components are necessary in every sport there is. It is unbelievable the difference it makes to have a conditioned core. Conventional training does not even address this at all except to maybe throw in some sit-ups and, trust me there are no sit-ups in core training.
Like I said, the body is an amazing thing and it is capable of amazing things but you need to work with it, not against it. You need to train it, not punish it.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional specializing in the training of athletes. He is the creator of the HOT selling volleyball Training program – Training For Volleyball

Critters Who Care is an amazing organization whose mission is to lessen the pain of children who have suffered traumatic events in their young lives. Some of these children have been removed from their homes because of abuse, some children have a parent in hospice care or are in hospice care themselves and some have lost a young sibling to a tragic event.

Children are innocent and inexperienced in the harsh realities of life, so knowing someone in the world cares for them can make a huge difference in the way they view their lives. A simple stuffed animal may not seem like a big deal to adults but often it becomes the child’s prized possession in his or her world of fear or grief.

Many of us had regular childhoods where we were oblivious to all the bad things in the world. Unfortunately, many of the children we help live in a constant state of fear: fear of being abandoned when a parent dies, fear of dying themselves, or fear that their abuser will come back to hurt them.

Their actions are simple. They deliver soft and cuddly unstuffed animal skins to children who need a friend the most. Everything they need to stuff their animal with love is included, even a rainbow star that they can wish upon before putting it inside their animal. In the case of hospice situations, grief counselors are often involved helping the children process their grief as they work with the animals.

Please us help support this amazing cause!  Today a percentage of our sales are going to Critters Who Care!  Join us or get your own critter to donate here: Donate Now!

“Pre-wrap is cool for sure!” said 17-year-old soccer player and Century High School senior Amanda Joy Smith, sporting a pre-wrap headband.

So how did prosaic pre-wrap, created for sports medicine to serve as a soft, filmy barrier between skin and sticky athletic tape, attain cool-for-sure, fashion-statement status among teen and preteen female athletes?
Details are as gossamer as the product, but Teresa Smolinski of Glastonbury, Conn., and Raymond Rehbein of Rochester have a theory.

“I think it started when somebody dug into a sports medicine bag and found a substitute for a forgotten headband,” said Smolinski, the mother of 16-year-old entrepreneur Tessa Smolinski, who, four years ago, launched a pre-wrap e-business — pre-wrap.com.

“One girl one time probably tied her hair back with pre-wrap. Then more tried it and the trend grew,” said Rehbein, a salesman at Play It Again Sports.

Primeval pre-wrap came in two hues, tan and black. And then manufacturers began expanding their pre-wrap palettes. Lime-green debuted recently at pre-wrap.com, whose hottest seller is the Rainbow Special, one roll each of the dozen colors available.

Katie Frischmann doesn’t remember when pre-wrap didn’t come in colors. The Century High School senior works at Play It Again and takes part in hockey, soccer and lacrosse, and she and Amanda Joy are teammates on a Rochester Youth Soccer Association squad called The Chill.

Katie started using pre-wrap for fashion’s sake when she was in sixth or seventh grade. She demonstrated how she makes a pre-wrap headband. She measured a length of pre-wrap around her neck, tore the tape, knotted its ends, rolled it into a thin band and pulled it up on her head.

“I use it all the time,” she said.

More than mere chic, pre-wrap upholds rules as well as hair. Several sports forbid hard headbands that might cause injuries.

Some girls tie up their sleeves with pre-wrap, which also makes pretty necklaces and bracelets — often in team colors.

The AAU Girls 12 & Under National Championship brought miles more pre-wrap to already plenty pre-wrapped Rochester. Lauren Crisler, who came from Philadelphia to play in the tournament “has extensive knowledge of pre-wrap,” said her father, John Crisler. “We have quite an inventory of pre-wrap in every color available.”

“In AAU, teams have to wear the color of their uniforms,” said Lauren, whose yellow pre-wrap headband fit the requirement.

Some people twist two colors together.

“Pink and blue are the prettiest colors,” said Mayo High School senior Elizabeth Joyce, and teammate of Katie and Amanda Joy on the Chill.

“Absolutely no pink!” said Amanda Joy. Black is her pre-wrap favorite.

“I like pink and purple,” said Chill player Anna DiCecco, a senior at Lourdes High School.

Pre-wrap is daintier than duct tape but as versatile. Here are some pre-wrap applications:

• Used under skates, ski boots and other footwear, pre-wrap helps prevent blisters.

• Pre-wrap guards shins from shin guards.

• Pre-wrap holds up spaniels’ (and other breeds’) floppy ears.

• Wrapped around dogs’ paws, it helps keep dogs’ boots from slipping off.

• Fly tyers use pre-wrap to make colorful fishing lures.

• “Pre-wrap is a great wrap for tendinitis and Osgood-Schlatter disease,” said an AAU girls basketball coach. “Because of its flexibility, it’s better than many devices you can buy.”

Fill us in…how do you use pre-wrap?

Tell us how you use pre-wrap and win a chance to win a free roll!

Yes, it’s true! Every week we will give away a free roll of pre-wrap to one of our fans! Never tried pre-wrap? Now is your chance! We know people are crazy about pre-wrap - this week all you have to do is tell us how you use pre-wrap and be entered to win a free roll. (Of course, if you’ve never used it before - just say hi here and let us know you’re interested!)

Leave a comment here and be entered to win. Don’t forget to leave us with a valid email address so we can let you know if you’ve won.

You will be contacted by e-mail if we choose your name!

Champions-and championship teams-are made, not born. They use their God-given talents to reach their full potential and allow nothing to come between where they are now and where they want to be.

Champions understand and believe that their limitations are governed only by their imagination.

All real success and achievement result from your own choices, not those of others who may try to make your choices for you.

— Excerpts/concepts from “A Champion” in Becoming a True Champion

Sound advice isn’t easy to come by in today’s world of competitive sports. It’s refreshing to hear Mango’s voice of reason and willingness to promote personal responsibility in athletics.

“Becoming a True Champion” empowers you by placing the responsibility for your sports training success exactly where it should be, with you, the athlete. No matter what goals you set, the path you choose, or obstacles you face, the basic principles behind true success will always be the same.” –Kirk Mango

]]> http://pre-wrap.com/blog/2008/07/on-becoming-a-true-champion/feed/ http://pre-wrap.com/blog/2008/07/pre-wrap-facebook-groups/ http://pre-wrap.com/blog/2008/07/pre-wrap-facebook-groups/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:19:01 +0000 treece http://pre-wrap.com/blog/?p=86 Did you know that pre-wrap fans are everywhere?!!! Check out how many groups there are on Facebook alone!

1. Pre-wrap is THE Best (Girls love it even some guy haha but really it helps those w/ amazing hair =])
2. A Little Pre-wrap Can Fix Anything (
   It might be preventing the tape from pulling your hair out when you take it off or stopping the blood from gushing out of that open wound. Could it be preventing you from spreading an infection? Or, maybe its used for a simple task like keeping your hair out of your face; it could even be holding that perfectly rigged up contraption together. Perhaps it doesnt even serve a purpose at all, but by god it looks cool! No matter what your reason is, pre-wrap is by far one of the greatest inventions ever created…)
3. I Love Pre-Wrap
4. Pre-wrap is my life…can’t live without it ever! (Description: everyone in here has at least 2 rolls at home. there’s too many colors to count.
   you know exactly where to get it.
   if you play sports you have some.
   you have some with you just in case yours breaks.)
5. Pre-wrap is prolly the greatest invention ever…
6. Pre-wrap is the @#$%”
   Pre-wrap - YAY!!
   Head bands, shirt holders
   and well, pre-wrapping!!
7. Pre-wrap (or pro wrap or sports wrap) is GLORIOUS!
8. Pre-wrap will save the world someday.
9. 101 Uses for Pro-Wrap
10. i’m addicted to pre-wrap… but it isn’t my fault!!

Dr. Peter Lowenberg has designed a line of ice packs designed to fit the ice pack to your injury AND keep it there! Total Ice Therapy products use an ice bag with a screw top combined with a neoprene wrap to provide firm, consistent pressure to maximize healing. The principle behind this is that real ice decreases pain, swelling, and inflammation best. The unique design of these ice wraps makes for easy compliance of a recovery regime because they are easy to use, they stay in place, and you can always get ice anywhere you go.

The best method to treat any sports injury is ICE. Proven to be safe and effective at relieving pain and decreasing inflammation, ice therapy is an easy self-care technique for conditions of the joints and soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons). It minimizes swelling and bleeding and is always accompanied by rest, compression and elevation. When applied, the athlete goes through the 4 phases of icing: cold, burning, aching, and numbness. These are all perfectly normal.

Cold therapy, also known as cryo-therapy, is most effective in the early or acute stage of inflammation, before range of motion exercises and rehabilitation. It works on the principle of heat exchange whereby the cooler object will absorb the heat from the warmer one, that being your body.

After an injury, surrounding blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients and take away waste products are damaged. Everything slows down and now blood and other fluids seep into the space around muscles, causing swelling, bruising, and pain. Applying ice lowers temperature of the damaged area; constricts or makes blood vessels smaller, thus reducing tissue damage; and slows down nerve impulses, which also decreases pain.

Never use heat right after an injury as it will have the opposite effect of ice and increase pain and swelling of an already damaged region.

When it comes to cooling devices, real ice does a better job than chemical or gel packs because it is able to draw 4 times the amount of heat out of tissue, since it lasts longer at an even temperature, giving a more effective treatment. Most chemical or 1-time-use packs quickly lose their ability to transfer heat and thus their effectiveness to reduce swelling.

Cold therapy should always be used as soon as possible after an injury occurs and at 15-20 minute intervals with a minimum of 1 hour off in-between. In order to maintain the results of the treatment it also should be used any time there is a flare-up.

REMEMBER: IF YOU HURT YOURSELF…YOU NEED TO ICE. Be sure to visit Total Ice Therapy to order your own! If you are an athletic trainer or run an athletic facility, these are great to have on hand!