the locker room before the exhibition: the match-wrap by exact rubric
A match-wrap is two horizontal layers just above the malleolus knob-thing, then straight down and four times around the tarsus just in front of the joint, so there’s a big gap for flexion of the joint, but a compacting and supportive wrap.
Context
The rite specified to the bone. The ankle-taping has exact rubrics — "two horizontal layers just above the malleolus knob-thing," four times around the tarsus, a gap left for flexion — the body serviced with the precision of a mechanic torquing a fitting. "Compacting and supportive": the wrap is load-bearing infrastructure, the joint prepped to spec so the instrument can take high-level play without failing.