My son is in his second year and sees most time at middie. He has a beginner stick with soft mesh. Control and cradling are a strength of his but velocity is not. Would the hard mesh help this? Is a wax mesh the way to go or are people loving these new warp heads? I want to find the gear that fits his game not just the shiny new toy.
LAX gear question
- Thread starter jreinsdorf
- Start date
At that level, entry level gear is fine. Until he masters the fundamentals the nuances between a beginner stick and high end gear will be lost on him. Focus his effort and energy in getting in front of a wall and working on throwing and catching lefty and righty as often as he can. They make beginner gear for a reason. They are usually designed to be more forgiving and provide a more consistent pocket so they can learn to throw with the same motion without having to compensate for a whip or other variable. Higher end gear will allow him to tailor his stick to his game, but he doesn’t know what his game is yet. Save your money IMO.
Do not worry about velocity yet. Work on stick control and ball placement. Velocity will come as he feels more comfortable throwing and catching, having loose wrists, etc.
Is there a good tutorial on lacing and pocket adjustment? Seems like the pocket on off the shelf stick isn't quite right.
Get a Stringking stick with medium-hard mesh. Stick and pocket comes pre-formed and broken in. He can customize it as he wants but I still the best stick I’ve found prestrung at least.
Hard mesh is good when broken in but it takes a while.
Hard mesh is good when broken in but it takes a while.
So let me say what happened this weekend. It was his first game of the season and in a wet pregame warm up he came over to me saying "dad somethings wrong with my stick. I cant pass like i normally do. I shrugged him off thinking he just had pregame jitters. Turns out as i read more about the soft mesh on beginner sticks this is the biggest complaint. He has mentioned this difference in his stick a couple of times but i never took it seriously and now i feel a bit bad basically telling him he doesn't know what he's talking about lol
I hate soft mesh, rip it out and get the ECD mesh. Or some kind of semi hard mesh. If the stick is forcing your son to change his throwing motion you have to get it fixed. If you can get to Universal lacrosse get it strungvthere and tell them that he wants a mid pocket and they will hook him up
My absolute favorite stick for kids is the Warrior Evo Warp:
https://www.lax.com/lacrosse-equipment/warrior-evo-warp-next-beginner-complete-stick
It is inexpensive, durable and best of all, zero adjustments. The mesh is made out of Kevlar and bonded to the head so it never stretches or becomes misshapen in wet weather. It throws exactly the same every time. This eliminates all variables when it comes to throwing / shooting motion so kids can focus on a consistent stroke that they can replicate over and over and developing muscle memory. As they get better they will want a stick they can adjust to achieve certain objectives based on position and preference but as a developing player the most important aspect of a stick is consistency.
https://www.lax.com/lacrosse-equipment/warrior-evo-warp-next-beginner-complete-stick
It is inexpensive, durable and best of all, zero adjustments. The mesh is made out of Kevlar and bonded to the head so it never stretches or becomes misshapen in wet weather. It throws exactly the same every time. This eliminates all variables when it comes to throwing / shooting motion so kids can focus on a consistent stroke that they can replicate over and over and developing muscle memory. As they get better they will want a stick they can adjust to achieve certain objectives based on position and preference but as a developing player the most important aspect of a stick is consistency.
This is where im at. Consistency. Literally the one aspect i think is most important for him. So im leaning the warp or some semi hard non wax mesh.
One thing I will say is don't get too caught up in the equipment. Get it right, then forget about it. As they say, it's the magician not the wand. Though a sweet wand always helps the magician, lol.
On a side not, I am seeing a lot more broken sticks at the D1 level. With cross checking basically being legal, I think this is why.
On a side not, I am seeing a lot more broken sticks at the D1 level. With cross checking basically being legal, I think this is why.
I have a warp and stringking. Both are good. The warp I have is boarderline illegal with no way to trade out the pocket.
Don’t think you can go wrong with either but I prefer stringking.
Don’t think you can go wrong with either but I prefer stringking.
All this talk of gear. I bought my son a kevlar and graphite shaft for his long pole. It was light and indestructible. The aluminum shafts dented and bent. Not sure if legal, but never challenged. Was not widely available.
He also strung and dyed heads and made some money. Some pretty cool stuff, none of which of course helped his or anyone else's play but was cool nonetheless.
He also strung and dyed heads and made some money. Some pretty cool stuff, none of which of course helped his or anyone else's play but was cool nonetheless.
