The Little Things!
This week, I have been mostly - to coin a phrase from ‘The Fast Show’ - stringing rackets for some of the County Juniors I coach and for competition winners from, events I’ve helped to sponsor or donate prizes to. Even though there have been a couple of freebies (I’m good like that), the care and attention to detail I apply doesn’t diminish. I love stringing - it’s a passion, more than a chore.
As already mentioned in previous blogs, I’m a sucker for presentation and general upkeep of rackets. If the grip’s dirty or shiny, if there are grommets missing or if I think I can better match the frame to choice of strings than have previously been used or requested, then I’ll do my best to get the racket back to its owner in the best state possible.
One of the rackets I restrung last night, for example, is a Prince O3 Black. It’s a few years old, the grip was pretty gnarly and there are a fair amount of jagged edges around the O Ports – a really common issue with power ring rackets unfortunately. The owner loves Tecnifibre 305, which annoyingly aren’t very forgiving when faced with the slightest imperfection on grommets/frames. Whilst I don’t like to use grommet tubing too much (I’d rather use eyelets, or new bumper and grommet strips), grommet tubing is really handy for Prince rackets when the frame has jagged, cracked paint and bodywork. Needless to say, a bit of tubing was used last night!
So, for any stringers out there, please remember to put a little extra into the rackets you string or if you’re a player, change your grip regularly so that you can feel the racket/strings better when you hit the ball. New grips also look better!!!
