Summer Time, Livin's Easy

Summer lacrosse is some of the most fun lacrosse, all day tournaments, 4 games a day,

picnicing for every meal, camps with your teammates, and crazy uniforms. It is also a great time

to work on your skills and to really improve your game, take advantage of all the free time and

great weather. But just playing for your summer club team on the weekend, game after game,

does not count as practicing. Those are games where you can see the improvement in your

shot or maybe try the move you have been working on all spring. The key though is to not be

sitting on your couch all your summer. Games, tournaments, and camps are chances for you to

display and hone your new skills not practice them. With that said put on your craziest lax

penny, nicest golf shorts, highest nike socks, some sweet shades and enjoy the summer.

Under Armour: Protecting Their Secrets.

UA Website

Under Armour, the sports apparal company that started by creating warm weather gear for lacrosse teams of Maryland, has finally announced the development of their own lacrosse equipment line, complete with protective gear and sticks. But just like their slogan "We Must Protect this House", the details for their products are very slim. Other than a few leaked pictures by our friend over at laxunation.com and a small posting on the Under Armour website nothing is known. And while there is no apparent release date we will all have to just wait for the highly anticipated launch.

UA Spectre Glove

UA Control Shafts

UA Demolish Head

Crooked Arrows

All sports have their great movie to call their own. Football has Rudy, Remember the Titan, Any Given Sunday. Basketball has Hoosiers and of course Space Jam, Hockey has Miracle and Mighty Ducks, and Baseball has too many too count. Finally Lacrosse fans everywhere will have our own movie.


Crooked Arrows, expected to release next spring, is the story of a Native American High School Lacrosse team rekindling their  love for the game while challenging the Elite of East Coast Prep School Lacrosse. This traditional underdog story incorporates the spirit of the game with the modern backdrop of High School lacrosse. The movie will be directed by Mitchell Peck who just completed the extremely successful and action packed Priest 3D.


Last week finished the really cool auditions. Peck and his crew traveled to Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut, all hot bed lacrosse states to enlist the help of budding high school lacrosse stars for a chance to be in this feature film. Over a thousand nation wide talents have already tried out.


The timing of this movie could not be more perfect, it is currently coming in the wake of MTV Teen Wolf. A TV series about a teenage Wearwolf, lacrosse replaces the cliche back story of high school football with California's premier High School Program. The sport will not be an undertone in Crooked Arrow, however but the full blown focus. This additional publicity for the sport comes at a time where proffesional and collegiate lacrosse are gaining national attention, interest and attendence. Denver Universities sucess this year in the NCAA tournament proves the growth of the sport nation wide. With lacrosse's new spot in Hollywood who knows where lacrosse will end up.


Cooked Arrows Official Website

1,000th View!

This week Lil' Laxers blog had its 1,000th view, a great accomplish in such a short period of time. Thank you for your support and please continue to read and follow Lil' Laxers. Also remember to follow Lil' Laxers on Facebook as well as either a google, yahoo or twitter subscriber right here on the website.

Lil' Laxers is also pleased to announce the new Lil' Laxers mobile offering a modified web page for improved and easier reading and browsing on all of your mobile gadgets.

Just Meshin' Around

You have so many option when it comes to stringing your stick. The biggest decision though is deciding which material you want to use. There are so many different variations of mesh, traditional and other creative creations, all with their own advantages and disadvantages.


Mesh

10 Diamond Mesh

Lacrosse mesh is simply a nylon woven web. It is the least expensive stringing material, but also the easiest to work with and to play with. The durability and reliability make the material of choice for most beginners and players in difficult weather. Even with in the Mesh category there are numerous choices. The number of diamonds refers to how many diamonds the mesh forms across the mesh. The more diamonds the closer nit the mesh. Some players choose 10 diamond mesh for that reason, they feel that the smaller holes gives more grip and control on the ball. Others feel the exact opposite and pick Monster Mesh. Some people even choose Micro Mesh, or 20 diamond mesh. If you choose 10 diamond you then have the option between soft and hard mesh. Hard mesh gives your strength, consistency, and durability where soft mesh gives flexibility.

6 Diamond-Monster Mesh

20 Diamond- Micro Mesh

Traditional

Traditional Stringing

Traditional stringing is the combination of vertical leather strings interweaved with nylons. The name says it all, this is the original way of stringing, minus the animal gut! Apart from looking really cool, Traditional lacing gives you the most natural feel as a ball handler. A well strung Traditional stick will though perfect every time. Although beware they often have whip just because of the nature of the strings. However, what traditional lacing gains in ball control it loses in convenience. Traditional's biggest short coming is its inconsisency. Since the leather will warp or shrink in any climate or moisture there is not much dependency to be had in a traditionally strung stick. Because of the inconsistency and difficulty level, these sticks are not recommended for beginners. 

There is no one correct way to string a lacrosse stick. You can combine materials, blend traditional methods and new methods, or just make it up as you go. Here are some awesome pictures of creative stringing.

Breaking in Your Pocket

Breaking in the pocket is essential for you to be comfortable with the ball in your stick. Most players feel that by breaking in their pocket they have more control of the ball and the release of their passes and shots are more precise. The most natural way to break in a pocket is just by lots and lots of use, only after you have thrown, shot, and scooped with your stick for a week of so will the mesh naturally warp to perfection. Personally this is my favorite way to break in a pocket because I like the feel and control of brand new, hard gripping mesh. Others want to get right to the soft broken in pocket, and there are a few ways to do it.


One of the more common ways is by using hair conditioner. Just like it does for your hair, a little bit of condition rubbed into the mesh will soften the material and make it feel worn in. All you need to do is apply a nickel sized squirt into the pocket and rub it in, then let it sit.

A more natural way is by stretching the mesh, this will give a feel more like actually breaking it in. The process is simple; lightly rinse the pocket in water, place the ball where you want it to sit in the pocket and then wedge either a knife, chop stick, pencil or what ever over the ball and in between the sidewall strings and the plastic of the stick. Hopefully this will keep the ball propped in the mesh stretching it. Let it sit until the water dries. This is a simple and less time consuming alternative to pounding the pocket with your fist or a ball, which works just as well.


If you are a player who doesnt like their mesh soft but still wants the big pocket then you can loosen the side strings and back string. By loosening the string the pocket will become larger with out the mesh stretching at all. This accomplishes the goal however when the mesh does stretch, naturally, you ll have to tighten the strings back up to avoid a sagging pocket.

Second Times the Charm: Salisbury Tops Tufts 2nd Second Time Around

Sunday afternoon the Salisbury Sea Gulls captured their 9th NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship with a demanding 19-7 win over the reigning Champion Jumbos of Tufts University. The victory was extra sweet by avenging the final round loss to Tufts the year before. The Sea Gulls victory ends the 17 year drought for the program and marks the 15th title in school history as well as the 9th title for head coach Jim Berkman in his 23 year tenure.

Salisbury came out of the gate hungry, starting with a big defensive stop followed by 3 quick goals, forcing the Tufts coaching staff to call a timeout rather quickly. Tufts was able to recuperate by scoring one tally but ended the first half down 6-1, ironically the same lead they had at half time last year. The difference in the first half was owning the ground and the face-off circle. Salisbury scooped up 18 balls of the turf where Tufts only had 10, won 57% of the draws, and nearly doubled the Jumbos 14 shots with 27 of their own.

The Sea Gulls controlled the rest of the contest, rallying behind stellar goaltending from Division III National Goalkeeper of the Year Johnny Rodriguez and explosive offense from Sam Bradman with a career high 8 points.

_____

Tune into watch the Virginia and Maryland duke it out for the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship today, 3:30 on ESPN2.

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