How Should Young Female Lacrosse Goalies String Their Sticks? (Boys should read this too!)

Question: Micaela from Minnesota writes:

Hello...
I'm a high school girls goalie coach and was wondering what stringing style my girls should be using?? I recommended soft mesh because they are both beginners - I used soft mesh myself in high school and college at UWEC and it worked fine for me (I was an All American as well). We're in Minnesota so there aren't many lax places we can go to for stringing - both girls currently have hard mesh which is really hard for them to control at all - don't get me started on clearing! There are two guys in the metro that can restring sticks so that we don't have to send them out east -- one of them won't restring to soft mesh for them - the other wants to know what kind of stringing style they want - what should I tell him? Our season starts in a couple weeks and it only lasts about a month so I'd like to get it done soon. Thanks!

Answer:

Micaela sorry for the delay in the response of this email. We just had a baby and things have been really nuts so I'm a bit backlogged.

You're in a tough situation. I've noticed with girls that one of the limiting factors for stickhandling ability is hand and wrist strength. If you give them a shallow pocket they will be able to throw further but any sort of cradling is iffy at best. Give them a really deep pocket and they can't move the stick well enough to get any distance on the ball.

My experience with soft mesh is that it creates a lot of rebounds because it can be really springy. And once it gets wet it shrinks up like a teaspoon. Being in Minnesota you're going to have some wet days due to late snow unless you're playing inside all the time. But even then, one wet day and you're hooped.

When he asks for stringing "style" I'm not sure what he means by that. He may just mean deep or shallow. Just ask what he means and don't be embarassed. Communication is key in just about everything.

I'm a big believer in having a stick that allows girls to throw a decent distance over being able to cradle with it. My experience has shown me that most girls aren't strong enough to handle a stick with a really deep pocket. If you work with your team on clearing then she should have plenty of time to find the open teammate on the clear with a nice, well thought out pass. If your team is shaky on clearing then you aren't giving them much of a chance to clear anyway.

My suggestion would be to sting up those sticks with hard mesh and slightly shallow. When I say shallow I mean put a deep pocket in it and then tighten up the sidewalls. Leave the string at the throat of the stick as loose as possible without leaving a hole for the ball to go through.

Then have the girls work on upper body strength. I've had great results teaching girls a simple proper push up with great form. If you email me I can tell you more about that. My email is on my blog.

By increasing their upper body strength you are now helping them in a number of areas, not just throwing the ball and handling the stick.

Hopefully that helps Micaela. Email me if you need anything else.

Jonathan -
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com