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

Soft Mesh of Hard? Cross-Fit or not? Is Playing In Close Quarters Good For Me?

Question: Julia asks Soft mesh or hard? Is Crossfit any good for a goalie? And how do I make the most of playing indoors?


Answer: Hey there Julia. Here you go.

Get it restrung and with hard mesh. Soft mesh is a definite no go anymore. They just turn into tennis rackets. You'll notice a huge difference with hard mesh.

Cross fit is cool but it's not the best for a goalie. Too much endurance work. Women love Cross Fit, but if you look closely there's not a lot that relates to the explosive goalie. You want to lift weights and lift them heavy. This will help you be more explosive in the cage not to mention you will look like a Goddess! You are right, running for 15minutes will not help you. Actualy it will hurt your goaltending game.

If you're getting the stick to the ball it is for sure your pocket. That one change is going to do wonders to your game.

The reason you're not doing so well indoors is because the shots are right on top of you. You're probably getting hit with the ball a ton. Make sure yo'uve got enough equipment on and have the shooters move back. Ask your coach if you can put a stick on the ground where the shooters have to shoot from so you have time to react to the ball and can work on things. If you would like me to email your coach just give them my email address and I will send them a guide to working with goalies that can help you.

Hey make sure you sign up at the forum. If we can do Q and A's through there we will be able to add content and make it grow. I love the emails though so keep it up. Let me know how things go and stay in touch.

Jonathan -

Should I Lotion My Pocket? How Do I Keep My Mesh From Breaking?

Question: Ryan from Virginia writes: Hey I play for a high school in northern Va and I am planning on restringing my eclipse and was wondering what mesh you think is best. I have 12d on now but it broke on the sidewall in my last game. I was thinking about trying hard mesh this time. I've heard putting lotion on hard mesh to soften it and get a large pocket works but i dont want to mess up the mesh, any ideas?



Answer: Hey Ryan. Sorry about UVA this weekend. I used to go to Dom Starsia's camp when he was at Brown so I'm a bit of a closet UVA fan now.

I'd stay with that 12D. You will have much better luck with the hard mesh. No need to soften it with any lotion. Just let it break in and you'll be all set. You'll like the mesh better once it breaks in without the lotion than with the lotion.

As for the sidewall. You probably won't have it wear again with the hard mesh like it did with the soft. You can string it right down the side with one lace OR a more advanced string job goes like this...cut a piece of sidewall lace that is three times the length of the sidewall. Then, take the sidewall lace and weave it up the side of the mesh starting at the bottom and then going all the way to the top. At the top of the mesh bring it over and tie it off on the plastic. Now you should have about a half to two/thirds of the sidewall lace left. String that lace between the plastic and the sidewall lace that you have woven through the mesh. Make sure you are looping it around the lace and NOT the mesh. This will give you an extra bit of give in the pocket and you won't ever bust out the mesh again. In twenty years of playing goal I've never blown out a mesh with this type of string job. It also gives you the ability to get more depth in the pocket but I doubt you'll need it with the 12D hard mesh.

Good luck with that and let me know how it goes. Make sure you check out my goalie blog and sign up for the newsletter. My email is on the front page of the blog.

All the best Ryan. Hey, what school do you play at?

Jonathan-
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com

What Kind of Mesh Should I Use?

I got a question via email recently from a dad whose daughter is going to play D1 ball and he was curious as to what mesh was better for her. 16 Diamond hard mesh? Or 12 diamond hard mesh. Although I don't give a specific answer I'll give you my guidelines for choosing any type of mesh for your stick.



Couple of things first: When we look to string a goalie stick there are two main things we have to consider:

First: We want to be able to catch the hardest of shots and not give up rebounds.

Second: We need to be able to cradle the ball if we have to run out of the net.

Ok, three things: We need to be able to pass the ball.

For all three of these things it's important that we have as light a stick as possible. With technology stick head design has come a long way and heads are getting lighter.

With mesh we now have options for the size and amount of mesh in the pocket (i.e. 16d, 10d etc.) So when we consider what is a better mesh we need to keep this in mind. 16d mesh is fine, but obviously 12d is less "stuff" It therefore is slightly lighter especially in wet conditions. Less mesh means less mesh to soak up water when it gets wet.

So when it comes to actually moving to the ball and making the save it's important to have a light stick so we require less strength to move it quickly.

Now when it comes to catching the ball and cradling, we can string up a super-deep pocket that acts like a lobster trap when any ball hits it. And we can do this with any type of mesh. But the trade off goes with my third point which is passing the ball. We need to find a balance between having a deep enough pocket and having a pocket that allows us to make accurate passes with some distance to them.

This is where I'm going to go a little off course for you. Your daughter has already noticed a difference in her own playing style as she's gotten older. I will make an assumption that she has gotten stronger physically. This is a big deal and something that can affect what type of mesh you go with. Most of my female athletes (I'm a strength and conditioning coach as well) have incredibly weak hands compared to the rest of their body. As your daughters hand and forearm strength improves she will notice that playing with the 16d is easier.

I have incredibly weak hands myself due to some chronic neck injuries so I've always noticed a difference in the mesh I use. 16d is a little tougher to cradle with but easier to pass with. 12d holds the ball better in the pocket while cradling and running out of the cage but it can take more of a wind up to get a good pass off. And if you're running and you need a big wind up to get a pass off you're likely to drop the ball or get checked. But if you've got the hand strength you need less of a wind up. Hopefully that makes sense.

So what I have done personally is string up two sticks. They are both STX Eclipse heads. One has the 16d mesh and the other has the 12d. I've been using this set up now for two years. I find the 16d is easier to throw with, especially long passes. And even though it gets very heavy in the rain I find that the mesh doesn't "bag"out or get really deep and tough to throw with. I then make the trade off for weight oer the ability to make better passes in wet conditions.

The 12d pocket holds the ball really well and I can make huge stick fakes to throw off attakers when we clear the ball. It is a little tougher to throw with because it gets more of a lip at the top of the stick. With strong hands this isn't a problem. But with weaker ones it can be. When the 12d gets wet however the pocket tends to get VERY deep and tough to throw with. So that's when I go with the 16d. I think if I can find a way to adjust that stick fast enough I just might tighten up the pocket and try and use it in the rain. I just haven't had the time or circumstances to test that.

Your say your daughter hasn't tried a stick with wider sidewall lacing but doesn't like them. George that's like not letting her eat brussel sprouts! George Carlin once joked that his mom always said, "How do you know you don't like them if you've never even tried them?" I know what she means though. I don't like them either. Back when I was in high school the only way to get a deep enough pocket in a goalie stick was to have that extra sidewall lacing. So you can let her know that even though she doesn't like the look it may give her a deeper pocket if she needs it.

With todays mesh you can pretty much string it tight to the sidewalls and go with it. Very easy to string. But if you need more depth in the pocket you loosen up the sidewalls to get more depth.

So finally, have her work on her hand and forearm strength. This will really help her with all facets of her game. Saves. Passing. You name it.