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Stick Doctor Program & Caring for Lacrosse Sticks

To keep equipment from getting too musty, please let it air out after each use - please don’t let it sit in a closed equipment bag! You may also clean it once every few weeks of use. Prior to returning it to SYC, all lacrosse equipment MUST be cleaned as set forth below. 

Equipment Cleaning Instructions

  • Shoulder pads, arm pads, gloves and goalie pads - machine wash, cold water, on the delicate cycle, and then drip dry for at least 48 hours.
  • Helmets - completely remove any tape or stickers that were placed on the helmet after it was issued, and wipe clean inside and out with a wet cloth and mild detergent.  

Stick Doctor Program

Players will perform better and have more fun if their lacrosse stick is properly tuned (see below). To help our players maintain the pockets of their sticks we have created the SYC Lacrosse Stick Doctor Program. Here’s how it works:

The Patients: younger and newer players that do not yet have any experience stringing or adjusting the pockets of their sticks.

The Triage Doctors: SYC Lacrosse coaches that assess their players’ sticks, and prescribe solutions for achieving a healthier stick.

The Surgeons: older and more experienced players that can adjust the pockets of sticks so that they perform better or that can replace worn nets entirely. Our surgeons might also consider acting as a mentor to the younger players that they help, and show them how to string sticks too!

The Medical Fees: the suggested donations to our youth surgeons for their stick-stringing services are $5 to adjust pockets and $10 to restring a new net (net kits to be provided by patients’ families).

How to participate: Older and more experienced players, contact lacrosse@sycva.com to let us know that you can be one of the surgeons. Patients, contact lacrosse@sycva.com to let us know that you need treatment. Please e-mail your name, age, and phone number, and then we will put you in touch with each other. 

Tuning Lacrosse Sticks

Eventually, every lacrosse player should learn how to adjust his or her own stick so that it continues to throw and handle correctly. One of the most common problems we see in young lacrosse players is a lack of attention to maintaining the pockets of their lacrosse sticks. We see two common issues every year:

(1) New sticks are often strung too tightly - the pocket is too shallow.* By loosening the sidewall strings (the strings that hold the net to the sides of the stick head) and/or by loosening the strings that hold the bottom of the net to the stick head, you can create a deeper pocket.

*Note that this problem is more common for boys’ sticks. Girls sticks are required to have shallower pockets than boys sticks under the Rules of Lacrosse. To determine whether the pocket complies with the rules, hold the stick horizontally and drop a lacrosse ball into the pocket. Boys stick - if you see daylight between the top of the ball and the back of the stick head (the side facing the ground) then it is illegal. Girls stick - if you do not see the top of the ball above the front of the stick head (the side facing the sky) then it is illegal. Many players like to play with pockets that are as deep as possible but within the rules, but personal preferences vary.

(2) "Whips." After a new stick starts to get broken in, whips often develop. We often see this with new players. After a couple weeks of practicing against a wall and with the team, new players begin to master their throwing and catching skills, but then all of a sudden, they can’t throw anymore. The ball seems to go everywhere. This can be discouraging to new players that are just starting to feel comfortable with their developing skills. The problem is usually not with the player’s skills, however; the problem is that a whip has developed. As the stick gets broken in, the shooting strings loosen. Shooting strings run horizontally across the top of the net, either in a straight line or in an upside-down V pattern. There are usually at least 2 or 3 shooting strings and sometimes as many as 4 or 5. Players often add shooting strings to improve their pockets. Thick sneaker laces work great as shooting strings, come in many colors, and can be purchased at a drug store for $1-2.

To correct a whip, adjust the shooting strings by untying and retying as needed so that the tightest shooting strings are at the top of the stick and the loosest shooting strings are at the bottom of the stick. (The higher you go up the net, the tighter the shooting strings should be.) This enables the ball to travel the entire length of the net before it is released from the stick. When a lower shooting string is tighter than a higher shooting string, the ball gets caught at the tighter shooting string, and comes out before it gets to the top of the net. (Hold your stick vertically, take a ball in your hand and run it from the bottom to the top of the net, if it feels like its getting caught by a shooting string before it reaches the top of the net, that shooting string is probably too tight.)

Those are the basics. Don’t be afraid to start experimenting with your stick pockets. There is no mistake you can make that can’t easily be corrected by starting over or getting some help from one of the coaches. Just like anything else, the more you do it the better you get at it. Local lacrosse stores would also be happy to string or adjust stick pockets for a fee, but why spend good money on something you can do yourself if you just give it a sincere effort?