Best foot forward

Some UNC men's basketball players fancy pampering pedicures

DURHAM -- To Marcus Ginyard, playing good defense isn't just about good footwork. It's about good feet. That's why, at least once a month, you can find him and a Tar Heels teammate or two reclining in tan leather massage chairs at Avalon Lifestyle Salon, magazines in hand, having the rigors of basketball cut, sanded and buffed from their oversized tootsies.

"Corns, dead skin, callouses, ingrown toenails -- our feet just get gross. So, a little maintenance is in order,'' said Ginyard, sliding his size 14s into a bubbling bath of water on a recent Sunday.

Pedicures -- a cosmetic comfort during which feet are massaged, cuticles are softened, heels are pumiced and toenails are clipped -- used to be a grooming luxury reserved for women. But the half-hour-or-so ritual appears to be growing among the male population -- including UNC's fifth-ranked basketball team.

Sans polish, of course.

"Twenty years ago, they all went to the barber shop together to get their hair cut,'' said UNC head basketball trainer Marc Davis, whose team plays at Maryland today. "Now, they're going to the salon to get their toenails done."

Uyen Vo, manager of the Avalon at the Streets at Southpoint location, said four or five guys request pedicures at her salon each day, up from one or two a week a couple of years ago. And many are athletes.

UNC walk-on Dewey Burke first tried it when he was a Division I-AA football player at Fairfield University and saw NBA star Ray Allen on television getting his toes treated. "I figured if he could try it, why not me?" the senior said.

Ginyard talked All-America forward Tyler Hansbrough into going with him to the salon last summer, and the muscular sophomore is now a regular. "It's just something that feels good,'' said the 6-foot-9 Hansbrough, who tends to get extra work done on his right foot.

Freshman point guard Ty Lawson tried some pedi-pampering with his mom, and wants to join his teammates the next time they go. Junior point guard Quentin Thomas has indulged in a manicure, and thinks something similar would benefit his feet.

Even forward Danny Green was talked into giving the $28 special a whirl before the season started -- although he doesn't think he'll be going back.

"It was nice, but I don't know if I'm going to have too many of those,'' he said. "There were a lot of girls in there, and it felt real feminine, kinda. We were reading magazines, and all they had there were Cosmos and stuff like that."

Relaxation after a grueling practice aside, pedicures are not a medical necessity for athletes, Davis said. Trainers are always concerned about the wear and tear on players' feet, "but we don't worry about their toenails as much as their bones,'' said Davis, who nonetheless plans to counsel the players on the risk of infection if pedicures are done incorrectly.

"I'm not going to do anything to cosmetically help their feet look better,'' Davis said. "With foot hygiene, it can be helpful -- length of toenails, dead skin. You can get rid of that yourself, but maybe somebody else can do a better job, if it's done properly."

Ginyard thinks so. He's been indulging since he was a sophomore in high school. His mom, Annise, finally cajoled him into going -- much like he now cajoles his teammates -- although it took awhile, "because he thought it was a girl thing,'' Annise said.

"I just wanted to teach him to take care of his body, including his feet, because he does so much running and pounding,'' she said. "Like getting a massage for his body, it's kind of like getting a massage for his feet."

Ginyard, a reserve guard, still hears some razzing from the teammates he hasn't convinced to take the foot plunge. Their girlfriends also tend to tease sometimes, Burke said. And when some of the Cameron Crazies learned about the Tar Heels' propensity for pedicures, they brought pink toe separators to the Feb. 7 Duke-Carolina game to taunt the players.

Not that it worked.

"I don't really care what people think,'' Ginyard said, sliding his newly smooth, carefully filed feet into a pair of sandals. "Feels like walking on air. ... Anyone who doesn't try it is missing out."