Question: Hey Jonathan- I'm new to lacrosse im 5-2 and 120 pounds I love lacrosse and i love your awesome answers you give to people when i got my lacrosse stick the first night i started by grabbing a can of green beans and pounded it for like two hours in all and it was working find the next day for 1 hour but it started to then when i threw the ball it started to go staright down! So can you please tell me if im throwing my ball wrong or if its my head/mesh. Can you also tell me how i can throw the lacrosse goalie ball better.
Answer: Gino, tighten the sidewall laces a bit. Also, make sure the top shooting string is as tight as possible. It should be two diamonds away from the plastic. Then make the next shooting string a little looser. And the third one looser than that. There should be a gentle lip from the mesh to the shooting strings so that the ball releases higher. You'll have to mess around with this a bit as it comes with practice getting to know your stick. You may also have to move the lace at the throat, up a bit. So that the overall pocket is just a bit tighter. This should help.
As far as throwing better, it all comes with practice and strength. The stronger you get in your hands, forearms and legs (ironically) the further your passes will go. It will come with time if you work at it. Also, by fixing the head of your stick the balls will fly further.
Hope that helps buddy. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Jonathan - The Goalie Guru
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com (Sign up for the free e-zine!_
www.yourbestlacrosse.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label Lacrosse Goalie Sticks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lacrosse Goalie Sticks. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Lacrosse Goalie Wonders, "Is it my goalie stick? Or is it me?"
Question: Hi Jonathan,
I'm a sophomore goalie in Northern California and I play for my girls varsity team. I was the starting goalie last year, but now I am battling a senior for the position. I had a pretty good rookie season last year, but I had a lot of trouble keeping the ball in my stick after making saves. I got a brand new stick halfway through season last year because I broke my first two, and I never had it restrung. I think it is hard mesh, but not knowing much about goalie sticks I don't know. I have three questions: 1) Should I have it restrung (there is literally no pocket), 2) How do I break in my mesh (I've played with it for a season and it still looks like new, I have taken it in the shower, I've stepped in it, I've pounded it, nothing works), and 3) Is there even anything wrong with my stick or is it me?
Thanks
Answer: Ok, answers to your questions in order. Then some comments.
1) Get it restrung. If it has no pocket it's useless for you. Only goalies with incredible hands, and extremely strong hands and forearms can use a shallow pocket and then it's not recommended.
2) I've got a couple of articles at AllExperts.com and on my blog at www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com where I describe how I break in a stick. Sorry to make you search but it's too involved to type here. Short story: You've got to soak the hard mesh prior to putting it in the stick and then stick a weight in it overnight while it dries. This should work wonders for you.
3) Thank you for even admitting the problem might be you! If your stick is that shallow it's definitely not helping you. It's like playing golf with bad clubs. Golf is frustrating enough to play without having bad clubs and that's you right now. The you part is just hand/forearm strength. Most women I've worked with have very weak hands. It's just how you guys are made. Unless you have "man hands" like in that old Sienfeld episode. But even then, most women just don't have the hand strength to hold the stick softly yet firm enough. What ends up happening is that you have to grip the stick so hard so that it doesn't spin when the ball hits your stick. Now that being said, I don't know for sure if that is your problem specifically. As a generality I can recommend that you do what you can to strengthen your hands and forearms. There is a great book called The Mastery of Hand Strength. You can find it at www.Ironmind.com I recommend it to all my goalies. It's cheap and will help you tons. I can tell you this, every woman I have every coached, no matter what the sport, when we worked on their hand strength her whole game improved.
Get two sticks on the go. With pockets you like in both of them. That way you are never without a stick that you don't like. You will always have your "A" stick and your "B" stick but if one goes down you're not scrambling to try and break in a stick while playing in meaningful games.
Good luck! Where do you play? I had a goalie from Novato write me a while back. You playing them this year? I went to Stanford for a summer and have friends in Sausalito. One of our favorite places on the planet. Keep me posted. I love to know how things go for all my goalies.
Jonathan- The Goalie Guru
PS. If this helped you I'd love to get some feedback that I can post on our new website. I'm compiling a list of testimonials and would love to have you guys on there.
I'm a sophomore goalie in Northern California and I play for my girls varsity team. I was the starting goalie last year, but now I am battling a senior for the position. I had a pretty good rookie season last year, but I had a lot of trouble keeping the ball in my stick after making saves. I got a brand new stick halfway through season last year because I broke my first two, and I never had it restrung. I think it is hard mesh, but not knowing much about goalie sticks I don't know. I have three questions: 1) Should I have it restrung (there is literally no pocket), 2) How do I break in my mesh (I've played with it for a season and it still looks like new, I have taken it in the shower, I've stepped in it, I've pounded it, nothing works), and 3) Is there even anything wrong with my stick or is it me?
Thanks
Answer: Ok, answers to your questions in order. Then some comments.
1) Get it restrung. If it has no pocket it's useless for you. Only goalies with incredible hands, and extremely strong hands and forearms can use a shallow pocket and then it's not recommended.
2) I've got a couple of articles at AllExperts.com and on my blog at www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com where I describe how I break in a stick. Sorry to make you search but it's too involved to type here. Short story: You've got to soak the hard mesh prior to putting it in the stick and then stick a weight in it overnight while it dries. This should work wonders for you.
3) Thank you for even admitting the problem might be you! If your stick is that shallow it's definitely not helping you. It's like playing golf with bad clubs. Golf is frustrating enough to play without having bad clubs and that's you right now. The you part is just hand/forearm strength. Most women I've worked with have very weak hands. It's just how you guys are made. Unless you have "man hands" like in that old Sienfeld episode. But even then, most women just don't have the hand strength to hold the stick softly yet firm enough. What ends up happening is that you have to grip the stick so hard so that it doesn't spin when the ball hits your stick. Now that being said, I don't know for sure if that is your problem specifically. As a generality I can recommend that you do what you can to strengthen your hands and forearms. There is a great book called The Mastery of Hand Strength. You can find it at www.Ironmind.com I recommend it to all my goalies. It's cheap and will help you tons. I can tell you this, every woman I have every coached, no matter what the sport, when we worked on their hand strength her whole game improved.
Get two sticks on the go. With pockets you like in both of them. That way you are never without a stick that you don't like. You will always have your "A" stick and your "B" stick but if one goes down you're not scrambling to try and break in a stick while playing in meaningful games.
Good luck! Where do you play? I had a goalie from Novato write me a while back. You playing them this year? I went to Stanford for a summer and have friends in Sausalito. One of our favorite places on the planet. Keep me posted. I love to know how things go for all my goalies.
Jonathan- The Goalie Guru
PS. If this helped you I'd love to get some feedback that I can post on our new website. I'm compiling a list of testimonials and would love to have you guys on there.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Can You Fix A Soft Mesh Pocket So It Throws Better?
Question:
> Well john, i'm a freshman and i got a goalie question.
>
>
>
> I got a nemesis head with soft mesh (biggest mistake of my life)
> and i need to know how i can work with it. I love how it catches
> honestly, it seems to work well for me, but anytime i throw i
> get a lip. Right now i got three shooters to work with. I'm sure
> you'll say to get hard mesh but i'm working on that and no local
> area place has it. I've tried everything i can think of, from
> placing one on the top diamond and a shooter one diamond down
> from that, but i still seem to get a horrible lip!
>
>
>
> Could you please help me cause my season is starting soon! Thanks!
>
>
>
> PS - I'm strong and i got 6 inch pocket.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
Answer: Oh man. You need hard mesh. Go to www.comlax.net and just order one online. You'll have it in a couple of days.
In the meantime, tighten up the sidewall lacing from the top to about half way down the head. You're going to want to put the pocket more to the bottom of the head. Not the middle. This should help.
Also, space out your shooting strings. Maybe 2 diamonds apart. Keep the top one super tight. The second one about two down from that, and so on.
Lastly. Tighten up the pocket as a whole. So move the string at the throat up a few notches and get rid of the bag.
These will help with your release. But it will drastically change how the pocket works. It will be much shallower. But with a soft mesh pocket there is not much you can do. I've heard kids trying to spray paint. Oil. Etc. Nothing really works. Also, have you gotten it wet yet? Because when that happens it's going to tighten up like a tennis racket. That won't be fun when that happens.
Wish I could give you more advice but it's a tough one you've got to deal with. Good luck and let me know what you do and how it turns out.
Jonathan - The Goalie Guru
> Well john, i'm a freshman and i got a goalie question.
>
>
>
> I got a nemesis head with soft mesh (biggest mistake of my life)
> and i need to know how i can work with it. I love how it catches
> honestly, it seems to work well for me, but anytime i throw i
> get a lip. Right now i got three shooters to work with. I'm sure
> you'll say to get hard mesh but i'm working on that and no local
> area place has it. I've tried everything i can think of, from
> placing one on the top diamond and a shooter one diamond down
> from that, but i still seem to get a horrible lip!
>
>
>
> Could you please help me cause my season is starting soon! Thanks!
>
>
>
> PS - I'm strong and i got 6 inch pocket.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
Answer: Oh man. You need hard mesh. Go to www.comlax.net and just order one online. You'll have it in a couple of days.
In the meantime, tighten up the sidewall lacing from the top to about half way down the head. You're going to want to put the pocket more to the bottom of the head. Not the middle. This should help.
Also, space out your shooting strings. Maybe 2 diamonds apart. Keep the top one super tight. The second one about two down from that, and so on.
Lastly. Tighten up the pocket as a whole. So move the string at the throat up a few notches and get rid of the bag.
These will help with your release. But it will drastically change how the pocket works. It will be much shallower. But with a soft mesh pocket there is not much you can do. I've heard kids trying to spray paint. Oil. Etc. Nothing really works. Also, have you gotten it wet yet? Because when that happens it's going to tighten up like a tennis racket. That won't be fun when that happens.
Wish I could give you more advice but it's a tough one you've got to deal with. Good luck and let me know what you do and how it turns out.
Jonathan - The Goalie Guru
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