Main Traditional Thursday photo by Jon Bongiorno. Quite a collection of traditional lacrosse sticks!
Welcome to Traditional Thursday: Reader Questions Answered! We get great questions via email and answer them. Hopefully this helps you out as much as it helps the person who submitted the original question!
Noah Frantz – I’ve been working on a couple trads and they are starting to break in. I was wondering if you post a couple pics of well strung and broken in trads. I was looking to compare them.
Noah, a broken in head is a thing of beauty, glad to hear your sticks are getting there! Below you can see three traditional heads, all in various stages of break in. The Thompson i6 (on the left) is the least broken in. I’ve only played with a handful of times. the Warrior Evo (on the right) is somewhat broken in, and now shoots consistently, but the “feel” of the ball in the stick is still not where it needs to be for games. The Nike Lakota (in the middle) is the most broken in. It throws consistently, shoots hard and accurate, and has great feel.
Beyond just picking up the stick and saying, “yup, it’s perfect”, there is another way to check on your pocket’s break in. Move one of the knots away from where it sits on the leather. If your leathers look like this around all the knots, you’re probably approaching broken in territory:
I hope that helped! If not, maybe Greg Rose can help!
Nick Goldberg – I want my first traditional pocket and I don’t know which style to get. I’m an attackman who usually dodges and I like a lot of hold with a medium amount of whip. Which style of traditional strung pocket (including pita) would be best for me?
Great question. Hard to answer, but great question. You probably want a traditional pocket with at least seven diamonds (or a pita with 7 twists) and shooting strings and a nylon top lace. I say probably because it’s impossible to be certain without seeing you play.
I say seven diamonds or more for two reasons: 1) This would be your first traditional, and six diamond or fewer pockets can need a lot more maintenance. It’s better to ease into it. 2) Pockets with lower diamond counts can tend to whip more, and you said you like medium whip.
Wherever you like your mesh pocket to sit, that is where I’d have your traditional sit. If you’re a low pocket guy, get a lower traditional pocket. same for mid or high. One thing to note, I always string my pockets a little lower than where I want them to end up. They have a way of shifting scoopward.
Evan Faber – I love the way it throws (photo below), it has a good pocket but whenever I shoot, half of the time I hit top shelf, and the other half it goes sky high. Also, I want to get my surgeon strung with a 7 diamond or a pita pocket, and I understand you can’t use it traditional mesh in the rain, is that true? If so what should I do?
A couple questions, all of them good! First up, let’s take a look at Evan’s pocket:
Well done!
To answer your first question, see my answer above on pocket break in. This Noz is getting there, but it’s not there yet. More wall ball. More tennis ball and chopstick. More break in time. Keep it up, it will start getting more consistent soon!
Now on to the issue of using a traditional pocket in the rain…
According to legend, this is true, but in actuality, it is less true. Some traditional enthusiasts maintain that the stick is fine DURING the game, but afterwards it becomes a disaster when it dries out. The leather shrinks and everything good is gone. So after using traditional in the rain, pack the pocket with newspaper for about 5 minutes. This will draw some of the moisture out. Then put in a tennis ball held by a knife or chopstick where you like the ball to sit. Then place the stick in a relatively dry room. I would not use a fan on the pocket to dry it out. This can cause the leathers to dry to quickly. You might also rub some baby oil on the leathers when they are drier, to keep them from drying out too much.
You can also buy weather treated leathers. Or you can weatherproof your own leathers.
Traditional Thursday – Waterproof Leathers
The big key is a tennis ball and chopstick while the pocket dries. Always.
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