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Traditional Thursday: Testing The EverPocket2

Yesterday we supplied you with a quick tutorial on how to do a Teardrop Top String for your traditional sticks, which allows you to take a traditional pocket out of one stick, and then put it into another. Today, I take a deep look at Doug Trettin’s EverPocket2, which is the original transferrable pocket, and put it to the test!

Doug Trettin, the man behind the EverPocket, sent me one of his string jobs in an Easton Core head. Needless to say, I was really excited to give it a whirl:

The first things you’ll notice have to be the shiny buttons in the leather. They are used to open and close the leathers, where they connect with the plastic, in case the head ever breaks and the pocket needs to be moved to another stick. You can see how this works in the video below.

The next thing worth commenting on has to be the shooting strings. The red nylon strings are actually just a single piece of string, and they have been strung like they were in the 70s and 80s. It’s an old school way of doing shooters, but it’s still incredibly effective.

The sidewalls are the old style as well, where you run the sidewall from the bottom, up through the top, and then just loop the mesh onto the existing sidewall. It’s not my style, but when it’s done by a master stringer, like Doug, my personal style goes out the window, because it still works, and creates a beautiful pocket. The natural channeling Doug achieves with the cross lace to cross lace interlocks in between the first and second, and third and fourth, leathers is impressive.

Once the heavy does of nostalgia wore off, I took the EverPocket2 out to the wall, to throw around a little, and see if I could play with this style of pocket. I found out very quickly that I could. Due to the small diamonds Doug creates, and the nice channel he creates with his leathers, the pocket throws incredibly smooth. There is no jerky motion required, and the ball never gets hung up in the shooters, or diamonds. With a good overhand motion (and sidearm and btb later) I was able to hit the same spot on the wall very consistently. The stick had good hold immediately.

So right out of the box, the EverPocket was great. But how would it fare as the leathers broke in, and I made the stick mine?

Very well it turns out. To get the pocket perfectly to my liking (it didn’t take much), I simply tightened down the outside leathers a bit more, and I tightened up the sidewalls as much as I could. The stick still threw perfectly, and I could really feel the ball in there. I’ve thrown with it a couple times since then, and it’s extremely consistent, and only getting better as the leathers break in.

The ONLY possible knock on the EverPocket is that it could be considered a little bit heavier than some other traditional pockets out there. This is true 1) because of the buttons, 2) because Doug uses more diamonds than a lot of modern stringers, which results in more string being used, and 3) because the leathers Doug uses are really beefy, they are a bit heavier.

In the end, the buttons will add less than a quarter of an ounce of weight to the pocket, which is really quite negligible. The extra cross lace might weigh in at a quarter of an ounce (if that), and the beefier leathers might add an extra bit, but they look like they will last forever, so it’s well worth it.

Who will love the EverPocket2? Lots of people!

The EverPocket is ideal for people like me, who love traditional. It’s ideal for an older coach as a gift, as the pocket style will remind him of the good old days. It’s also perfect for a younger player looking to get into the world of traditional, or anyone looking for a leather pocket that is totally moveable from head to head:

https://youtu.be/0LS2RP8yVyQ

Next up for me is doing what Doug did in the video above. He sent me a EverPocket kit as well, and I can’t wait to string that up!

Check out the #TraditionalThursdays Archives for more great work with lace and leather, and don’t miss yesterday’s Hot Pot, where we talk about giving away gear to Grow The Game!