Things to Consider when Choosing Lacrosse Shafts
More and more middle school girls are playing lacrosse these days. Some play 4 and 5 years before they try out for high school. The question is, is that experience as useful as it could be? The jump from middle school to high school can be tough. The play is rougher, and the rules are different. A middle school star may not be able to improve as fast when she hits high school if she has been allowed to play with certain bad habits learned in earlier years. It is often easier to teach a brand new kid to play than break the bad habits of a 4th year incoming freshman player. As such, teaching than the basics from the very start is crucial.
One of the rules that are different is that checking is allowed only below the shoulder in junior lacrosse. This is well intended, and crucial for safety in middle school. But, it encourages kids, when cradling, to slide their top hand way down their lacrosse shaft, and raise their stick head up high above their head. This works great in middle school. It allows many kids to run the field with the ball in a high cradle, shoot, and score. The kid and her coaches think this is a good thing, and everyone cheers and claps.
In high school, checking is allowed up and over the head, as long as it doesn't go toward the head, or break the plane of the sphere or bubble around the head... But, when they get to high school, this cradle is too high, and is very checkable, leading to more forced turnovers. Worse than that, it draws other kids to check in that area because that high stick is so inviting. That happens to be where the head is, and checking near that area is not legal, but it happens anyway.
Not fixing this leads kids and parents baffled when they get to high school and are ineffective. Far too many kids are coming into the high schools with this habit, and it's really hard to break. The only answer is to start from the ground up.
This problem is easily solvable, by sliding the top hand all the way up the lacrosse shaft in tight spaces and cradling shoulder to a nose. The hands should be at the top and the bottom of the lacrosse shaft. If there is stick showing at the bottom, it can be pulled by the opponents cross, causing a dropped ball. If the top hand is at the top, it keeps the cradle in closer to the head, less checkable.
A drill to help this shown in my DVD, "Your Stick work will save you!” Cradle with dominant hand at the top, bottom hand close to the butt end of the stick. Cradle right in front of the face, shoulder to shoulder. The stick is vertical and making the same sized arc top and bottom. While cradling, sit down. Then lay down on your back, still cradling. Now, still cradling, back stand up. If you do this enough times, you can do it without dropping the ball. When you can do it without dropping the ball, do the same with your non-dominant hand. When you can do 10 in a row on each hand, without dropping the ball, please come and try out for my varsity team. I need you!
The cradle in the boys' game is much different than the effective cradle in the girls' game. Kids run into problems when their coach (often an X-Men's player) teaches a cradle that is diagonal... across the body. This allows a low point in their cradle, next to the shoulder of their top hand. I call this a "hanging stick". It is easily checkable and leads to lost possessions.
When a player catches a ball, she has 2 choices on how she does this, and she needs to learn the right way from the start. It's a very subtle difference. A parent or an untrained eye might not be able to see the difference. And they might not even know that there is a difference. When the ball gets to her stick, she can wrap the stack head around the ball... essentially start her cradle early. With the shallow nature of girls stick (vs. a boys stick) this wrapping can cause the webbing or one of the side walls to knock the ball out. This decreases her catching percentage. Or, she can learn from the beginning to give catch. Article sources by, Rich and Posh.
