In terms of mixing comfort with protection, lacrosse gloves in general are the best that the sporting world has to offer. This doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make them better. Our point of focus today will be the floating wrist guards that almost every company uses and how using velcro when closing and attaching the wrist guard to itself may not be the best option there. We’ve got a DIY (Do It Yourself) tip on how you can improve the form and function of your lax gloves. Enjoy.
First off, the velcro closure is most often SO tight that when you close it, you can’t take your hand in or out. Unless you have T.Rex hands. So you put one glove on and close the velcro with your other hand. Then you put your other glove on and have to close the velcro with your already gloved hand. Which results in this:
It makes it harder to close your gloves but that’s not really the worst part. The worst part is that it eats up your gloves and makes them wear out faster. The first finger can become unraveled and personally I like having all of my fingers protected by my glove. It’s why I wear them. The other problem with the wrist guards, as they’re currently designed, is that they are so tight that they restrict motion of the wrist and hand without providing extra needed protection. This is true on almost every newer pair of gloves I have worn in the past couple of years. The wrist is always too tight.
What I have been doing is cutting the velcro off and then stringing the two pieces of cuff together more loosely with a piece of shooting string, although you could use whatever you wanted. Older gloves used to connect the wrist guard with string and this proved to be adjustable and didn’t snag. Velcro also tends to catch on some types of jerseys and you never want that. I went back to string and now I can easily pull my hand in or out of the gloves and I feel the protection level is 99% as good.
The palms are usually tight enough (or you’re wearing gloves that are too big for you!) that tight wrist guards are superfluous. The looser wrist keeps you protected and mobile. If you’re really worried about your wrists, buy these fancy Warrior Wrist Guards. Otherwise, you could consider doing what I did. If you’re young or prone to injuring yourself, be careful. There are sharp things involved. Get parental permission, ask for help, etc. It is better to play and have help than cut yourself. Seriously.
