High Schoolers Win $8,800 for Athletic Tape Innovation

Liv Bates and Sam Foster walked into their school gymnasium with a roll of tape and a big idea, and walked out with $8,800 to make it real.

The Westfield High School students won their school's sixth annual Innovation Competition on May 12 with VitaFlex+, a specialized kinesiology tape made with non-adherent gauze. The tape helps athletes recover and perform without the painful removal process of traditional athletic tape.

The final round worked just like "Shark Tank." Five student teams pitched their businesses to local investors from Hamilton County, Indiana. Three teams walked away with seed money to launch their concepts into actual companies.

VitaFlex+ took first place and $7,500 in the final round, adding to the $1,300 they earned throughout the earlier competition stages. The judges saw what many athletes already know: better athletic tape can make a real difference in sports performance and recovery.

Second place went to Templ, massage therapy glasses created by John Bunch and Nick McKeown. Their invention uses sensors to massage the wearer's temples and reduce headaches. The team is now seeking a patent and won $1,300.

Adrian Feltrinelli earned third place and $1,200 for Clean Out & Cash In, a garage cleaning service with a clever twist. He sorts items into keep, trash, and sell piles, then markets the valuable items online and splits the profits evenly with homeowners.

Two other teams made it to the finals: Neo Bait by Luke Moulder and Pocket Polish by Andrew Carney, Keaton Chapman, and Austin Onda. All five finalist teams proved that age doesn't limit entrepreneurship.

The Ripple Effect

This competition does more than hand out prize money. It teaches students that their ideas have real value and gives them the resources to test those ideas in the marketplace. Local investors are betting real dollars on teenage innovation, creating a pipeline of young entrepreneurs in Hamilton County.

These students now have something most business owners don't get: startup capital before they even graduate high school.