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Rob Pannell Joins StringKing Lacrosse

Big news off the West coast today as StringKing Lacrosse announced Rob Pannell has officially joined the StringKing Pro Team. While professional players joining-up with mesh companies isn’t necessarily a new thing, the progression of this relationship is pretty unique and a great story by itself. We were able to speak with Kevin Clopeck of StringKing Lacrosse to find out a little more about their relationship with Rob and how he joined the StringKing team.

We are proud to announce Rob is joining the StringKing Pro Team and is officially endorsing StringKing. He has been swearing by our Performance Mesh since his senior season and tells us he hasn’t used anything else since! Plus, he has turned out to be truly a nice guy and someone who is always willing to help.

Turns out Rob’s college teammate suggested he try out StringKing Performance Mesh and Rob hasn’t gone back since, even requesting that “mesh, strings, and pockets” be left out of other contracts he signs. We aren’t about to ruin a good story though, so make sure to read the full post from the StringKing Lacrosse Blog below.

Congratulations to both StringKing Lacrosse and Rob Pannell, we wish you nothing but the best moving forward. If you haven’t tried out StringKing Performance Mesh, we would definitely suggest checking out our Gear Showcase and Gear Review on their performance mesh kits – high quality kits for sure!

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Rob Pannell Signs with StringKing Lacrosse

Rob “RP3″ Pannell was in the process of establishing himself as the best player in all of college lacrosse when his Big Red teammate (and stringing guru) Steve Mock suggested he give StringKing Performance Mesh a try. Rob would be the first to admit that he’s not much of a stringer and trusted Mock to steer him in the right direction. Mock (now Rob’s teammate on the NY Lizards) was already using StringKing himself, loved it, and wanted the man responsible for setting up most of his goals to give it the old college try. So he strung up a pocket for Pannell and waited for how his teammate would react to the new mesh. And it was all love from the very first pass.

But how did we find out RP3 was using StringKing Performance Mesh? Simple. He told us. Who’d of thought we’d be watching Pannell on SportsCenter “Top 10” one minute and the next we’d be getting an email from him entitled “Thank You”. It’s not every day a marquee player like RP3 goes out of his way to send a small company a note thanking them for their hard work and dedication to crafting a product. He wasn’t asking for free stuff or looking to get anything out of us, just wanted to let us know that at least one lacrosse player in the world had noticed our hard work and was reaping the benefits of using our mesh. Apparently he’d been unsatisfied with the other mesh on the market and said…

“…I then turned to your mesh which was unlike anything I have ever felt“.

Precisely! Whether people like it or don’t like it, everyone who tries it seems to agree that StringKing mesh is an entirely different breed from the rest. In the case of Mock, and consequently Rob, the differences provided an opportunity to differentiate their level of play. That’s how our relationship with Rob was born.

Rob Pannell

I’m sure you’re saying, “but isn’t RP3 sponsored by one of the big guys”. That’s why this deal is so cool! Rob trusts StringKing Performance Mesh so much that he insisted “mesh, strings, and pockets” be left out of his other contracts. In order to play his best Rob needs that consistent pocket that only StringKing Performance Mesh can deliver. He went on to tell us…

“Its amazing how consistent the mesh is, no bagging out or what not, what you string is what you get which is always nice.”

When we asked him how Team USA tryouts were going, Rob shot us a quick text back saying…

“Gotta love having a stick strung Thursday and then using it Friday and going 3 [goals] and 4 [assists].”

Rob Pannell Signs with StringKing Lacrosse

We felt like proud parents hearing that the precision and quick break-in time of our Performance Mesh—which we had worked so hard to engineer—was proving effective for a player like Pannell in a high-pressure situation. Our baby, Performance Mesh, was finally out in the big, scary world doing great things.

After taking a trip to the NCAA semifinals and winning the Tewaarton Trophy along with a handful of other accolades, he entered his first MLL season with the NY Lizards knowing that he’d truly be able to trust his pocket with StringKing Performance Mesh. How did the season turn out for RP3? He took home the MLL Rookie of the Year award, scored 25 goals and had 17 assists in only 10 games played, was invited to try out for Team USA and recently made the 52 man roster cut as they prepare for the 2014 World Championships in Denver. Not a bad Rookie season!

Rob Pannell Signs with StringKing Lacrosse

Going forward, StringKingLacrosse.com will feature exclusive interviews, videos, and insight from Rob that you won’t be able to find anywhere else! You want to know specifics about his pocket? We’ll tell you. You want lacrosse tips from RP3 himself? This is where you’ll find them. We couldn’t be more excited to have Rob join the StringKing Pro Team and can’t wait to see what he does in the sport as our relationship continues to grow!