Comments on: A Beginner’s Guide to Lacrosse Parenting

By: Luscious Dick Tacoma

Luscious Dick Tacoma — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:15:00 +0000

A few related tips on buying equipment:
1) parents should know that in many cases, the coach/organizer will have a small cache of equipment that could be loaned. Sometimes you’re stuck looking at pricey gear that you simply can’t afford. Talk to the coach and see if you can borrow, say, a pair of gloves until you’re able to come across a used pair a month into the season. That said, it’s like a small set of extra equipment, and possibly not even there. It never hurts to ask.

related to that -
1a) be proactive for future players. Do small fundraising throughout the season, maybe hit up other parents for $5 a game or something to build an equipment bank for the team, so that future players could borrow equipment as costs required. If you’re really aggressive and charming, create the bank for use across multiple programs.

2) Don’t take your new player’s already-playing friends along when you do go to the shop to buy new gear. i can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a shop where the ‘experienced’ player kept telling the new player that he had to get the Rabil head or the Warrior EVO Pro or a titanium shaft or whatever because it’ll make him a better player, or even worse, because it’s “baller.” Now you’re fighting not only sticker shock on an advanced (read: overhyped and overpriced) head but also peer pressure.

By: Gregory Rose

Gregory Rose — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Oh yeah, totally! And to that point, you can probably find an older stick from someone in your lacrosse community, and it would be perfectly fine for a beginner – beginners definitely don’t need the latest and greatest, as you say.

Great article and thanks for writing.

#GTG

By: Nexus Lacrosse

Nexus Lacrosse — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:51:00 +0000

I agree…the point was simply that you can get the stick (to start with) for a whole lot cheaper than you used to! Definitely need decent stringing to get started, but at least the heads/shafts are cheaper than they used to be.

By: ChilLAXCustoms

ChilLAXCustoms — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:49:00 +0000

very true, indeed!

By: Gregory Rose

Gregory Rose — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:23:00 +0000

I agree on all points, except one: anyone who knows anything about stringing knows that the factory sticks are literally debilitating to play with – they create bad habits by adjusting unnaturally to an ill strung pocket. I truly believe players quit the sport because their sticks are not properly strung from the beginning.

Everything else can be old and worn, and it won’t have a huge effect on the player, but, if your pocket is strung totally wrong, the game just won’t be as fun, and that’s what it is all about.