R&D
Research & Development
Sports Access has developed sports gear that prevents finger injuries to players and also prevents elbow injuries that would otherwise result in Tommy John surgery. That is a glove worn on the throwing hand.
Esports has over 100 million players worldwide. The speed of your fingers decides victory or defeat, and huge prize money is at stake in the World Cup. Our sports gear is the perfect product for esports players around the world.
Glove
We are confident that we will bring a new era not only to MLB Major League Baseball and NPB Japanese Professional Baseball, but also to amateur players across the world, in response to the demands of the times.
Why? Because the glove worn on the throwing hand prevents injuries to the fingers and hands, eliminates slipping between the ball and fingers, shortens game time, and has a high potential for greatly reducing Tommy John surgery for pitchers.
Patent
We have already been granted a patent in Japan in 2023 for practical and innovative gloves that prevent finger injuries and On February 27, 2025, we applied for a patent application for these gloves to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO.
Hoping that the patent approval will be completed by the end of this year 2025 or early 2026.
Vital Technology Essential for Injury Prevention
The glove we have developed prevents the ball and fingers from slipping in the MLB and NPB, protecting the players’ fingers from injury. Of course, it never damages the surface of the ball. It is breathable, lightweight, and reasonably priced.
Sustainability Focused on Reducing Waste
In addition, we have also developed a glove that allows only the fingertip part to be replaced. This is environmentally friendly because the glove can be reused many times without discarding it, and it means that it is even more friendly to the players’ wallets.
Eight Benefits
We are excited to explain the eight benefits of the glove Sports Access invented as follows, which is worn on the hand that throws the ball.
: The photo above shows the prototype glove used in the 2023 benchmark test. The glove in the photo has only basic functions such as finger sacks, inner anti-slip material, and breathability, so no design elements such as vivid colors, team logo, or player name have been applied.
1★Protects the player’s fingers from injury
2★The fingers and the ball never slip during pitching, even if the balls are slippery.
→The glove and fingers adhere to each other during pitching, and the fingertips and the ball are prevented from slipping. No adhesive substances such as Spider Tack are used on the fingertips.
3★The gloves are easy to put on and take off
→No adhesive substances or stickers are used on the inside of the gloves. The gloves are simply put on the hands in the same way as putting on work gloves.
4★Breathability prevents the player’s hands from getting sweaty
5★Lightweight, putting no strain on the elbow or shoulder
→The same lightness as disposable work gloves.
: The photo above shows a micrograph of the outer layer of a hard ball. It is cowhide, so there are irregular holes that you never see with the naked eyes.
6★The fingertips can be replaced, so the gloves themselves can be used repeatedly.
→This is environmentally friendly, as it reduces waste. The gloves themselves can be washed in a washing machine and used repeatedly. This reduces the financial burden on amateur players.
7★Durable
→The standard for replacing the fingertips may be 100 to 200 balls.
8★Affordable.
→It is possible to mass-produce a single glove for less than 3 US dollars. It is possible to mass-produce 10 replaceable fingertips for less than 2 US dollars.
→For gloves with team logos, player names, and player numbers, such as the “Shohei Ohtani model”, additional costs will be incurred, so it is probably possible to produce them from around 10 US dollars per glove.
Prevents Injuries to Players’ Fingers
The glove will prevent injuries such as blood blisters, broken nails, and nails digging into the fingers, and the hygienic management of the game will be achieved since no blood or bodily fluids stick to the ball.
The Fingers and the Ball Never Slip during Pitching
The surface of the fingertips and the skin of the hard ball adhere tightly to each other, so there is no need for chemical adhesive substances. Rosin is also unnecessary, and you are freed from the unhygienic situation of rosin mixing with saliva and sticking to the gaps between fingernails of the pitchers or getting into injured areas.
Eliminates the Need for Tommy John Surgery
Pitchers tend to grip the ball more tightly than necessary out of fear of slipping, but this will be eliminated. This means that the burden on the pitcher’s elbow is reduced, so this glove has the potential to eliminate the need for Tommy John surgery for pitchers from a medical theory perspective.
Tommy John surgery is reported in many amateur athletes, including high school students, and it is a matter that the entire baseball world is in a hurry to solve.
Reduces the Average Game Time by about 7 minutes
Since the ball does not slip, the number of unintentional balls (strikes and balls) for the pitcher will decrease. If we assume that, on average, there is one ball every 10 balls that is beyond the zone, or in other words, a ball that the pitcher dose not intend to throw, then the elimination of this will result in the expected reduction of about 7 minutes of game time on average in MLB and NPB.
The figures used for this calculation are shown below.
・Number of balls in a game: 130 balls x 2 = 260 balls (assumption)
・Time required to throw one ball = 15 seconds (assumption)
・Unintentional balls = 260 balls x 1/10 = 26 balls
・15 seconds x 26 balls = 390 seconds → 6 minutes 30 seconds