Stick Science - "Sidewalls"

What’s happening Walax faithful?  In order to help some of you get ready for the upcoming spring season, this week I will be covering the most critical component of a lax pocket – the sidewall strings. While there are dozens of different knots and methods that can be employed when stringing your sidewall string, I will be teaching you a method that I feel maximizes the consistency with which the ball releases even in the presence of rain. As noted in the first article, mesh will break in and want to bag-out when in the presence of water, in order to minimize the effects of this, my pocket technique is based around one simple maneuver, what I like to refer to as the ‘inside to outside interlocking knot’.

 This knot will help the player in two major ways. First, the inside to outside method puts the knot to the outside of the head, which will result on less damage being inflicted to the sidewall strings by the ball when catching. This is a very common method of breakage for a lacrosse pocket. Some players who use an outside to inside method might also encounter a ridge in the mesh running parallel to the sidewall, which can make it difficult for the ball the release, especially with relatively new hard mesh.

The inside to outside method eliminates nearly all traces of this. Secondly, by featuring all interlocking knots, you are minimizing the deformation your pocket will experience when it is saturated with water. Players who do not employ an all-interlocking technique may experience their mesh pocket getting not only deeper when soaked with water, but may notice it shift up wards to wards the scoop as well. This results in a drastically different release point for the ball than when the pocket is dry. By using an all interlocking method, you essentially eliminate the variable of up wards shift by the mesh when wet.

My tutorial is done using a 10-diamond piece of mesh, however the method translates well to use with 5d and 7d mesh as well. The pocket will be of a general good shape for most mid fielders and attack-men, in that it will be mid-low sitting in the head. I always make a conscious effort to string a pocket so the ball will want to reside in a single defined spot. All too often I see people with a pocket that allows the ball to roll around fairly freely, and they frequently loose the ball when stick-checked and throw errant passes because they do not have a defined release point. By preventing the ball from moving around in the pocket and using a defined channel to funnel the release, you have more of an opportunity to generate shot speed and accuracy.
 

Prior to doing any stringing, it is important to have the right tools. Scissors, a lighter and occasionally a poking device (paper clips work well) are extremely helpful when stringing, but make sure to have the OK from any parents or guardians before using any of these!
 

To start, get your lax head with the top string done and have 2 pieces of sidewall string roughly 20” in length. Tie a simple knot in the end, and on the other end, carefully burn the string and form it into a tapered end to prevent fraying and ease the stringing process. Nylon mesh and sidewall strings stretch when wet, so it is a good idea to stretch and wet the stringing components before beginning. Trust me this makes it much easier to get everything tight and form the pocket to the location you’d like.

Locate the left-most diamond of the 10d row beneath the top string. This diamond will get locked off to the sidewall using the lock-off method covered in the previous article. Pull the mesh diamond tight to the sidewall, and find a sidewall hole that matches up to it. For defensive players, I recommend lining the mesh diamond up one sidewall hole above where it reaches when pulled tight (there would only be one open sidewall hole in the picture below).

From the previous article, lock-off the mesh to the sidewall. Pull the sidewall string tight.

Now starts the first inside to outside interlocking knot. Take the sidewall string through the next 10d row of mesh from the inside of the head through the outside of the sidewall hole.

With all the string pulled to the inside of the head, feed the tip back through the inside of the same mesh diamond, underneath the existing sidewall string.

Pull the string tight, and you have yourself the inside to outside interlocking knot. A fast, tight up and down pull on the wet sidewall string a few times should pull the string taught and result in a knot as seen below.

Now that you’ve learned the knot, it’s time to talk about the sequence of which to attach diamonds to the sidewall holes. So far 2 diamonds along the 10d rows have been used for the sidewall (one for the lock-off, and another for the inside to outside interlocking knot) and I normally employ 8 more, for a total of 10 rows. Logically, this means for a 5d or 7d piece of mesh, 5 or 7 diamonds respectively could be used for the sidewalls to for a well-shaped pocket. Frequently with 10d mesh, a single diamond interlocking will not work down the entire sidewall because it will pull the mesh too tight, resulting in an ultra-tight channel.

This is part of the balancing act of stringing; knowing how much of a channel is too much. I usually use around 2 or 3 single interlocking knots to form the channel, and I try to get these knots to pull the mesh very tight, in order to form a channel for the ball to funnel through when passing or shooting. Once it feels like the mesh channel will be too tight if another inside to outside interlocking knot is used, switch to a double. The method is the same, but two diamonds are used, creating more depth in the pocket between those two sidewall holes.

Keep in mind that 10 diamonds of mesh should be used in the sidewall, and continue single or double inside to outside interlocking knots down the sidewall accordingly. Looking back on the sequence of knots used for the sidewalls, a general code can be used to describe it. On my head I used one lock-off, followed by a single inside to outside interlocking knot, then another, then a double diamond interlocking knot, then a single, then a double, then another single. This code can be read as: Lock-off, 1i, 1i, 2i, 1i, 2i, 1i, corresponding to one sidewall hole for each knot. If your head features more sidewall holes, then a ‘skip’ could be added, referring to an empty sidewall hole.

Note that the pattern shows that 9 diamonds have been used, so when you are at the bottom of the sidewall run the string from the backside of the head/mesh to the inside, in order to tie the string off of the outside of the sidewall.

Tie the string off, and repeat the same sidewall pattern you generated down the other side of the head. Make sure to do them symmetrically to avoid painstaking fixes later on.

Here’s your sidewalls! While they aren’t much to look at right now, with the proper breaking in and bottom string, you will have a very well-formed pocket, with a defined channel to direct the release of the ball. Varying the pocket location can be achieved through the order in which you use single and double interlocking knots. Also, for defensive players, I greatly recommend starting the entire pocket on one sidewall hole above where you would for this mid-low sitting pocket. Feel free to experiment as you see fit with alternating single and double interlocking knots, just remember using 10 diamonds for the sidewall tends to form a deep pocket that will not go illegal once broken in. I would also advise against ever using a triple diamond knot, as the mesh tends to get too deep in those locations.
 

In my opinion it is very important to beat the pocket up and break it in properly. Keeping the mesh wet while breaking it in can ease in the formation of the pocket. Now I would like to introduce you to friend of mine who can help this sometimes painstaking process.
 

This is my pocket pounder, and it is composed of the foot-rest of a poorly made folding office chair, with a golf ball taped onto the end of it. When I say taped, I mean TAPED. This has saved my wrists and knuckles tons of wear and tear trying to break in a new piece of mesh. Here’s a piece of advice if you would like to make a pounder; clear packing tape on the bottom, athletic tape on the top, also no electrical tape, as it will leave black marks on your pocket.

Spend some time beating up the new piece of mesh, especially with it wet or damp, and a pocket shape will eventually form, complete with a tight channel.

OK, time to start the bottom string. The method I prefer features the 10d row of mesh below the 9d row to which the sidewall was ended on. Feed some string in the bottom holes on the head, and in through the second diamond in on that 10d row from the inside to outside.

Weave that string in an out along that row to the other side, and back down through the bottom stringing holes of the head.

Then I like to come back through the next hole (if the head has 4 bottom string holes), and weaver across again, starting another diamond over.

Tighten the string as you see fit, and spend some more time beating it up to break it in. Tie the string off, then make sure all of your other strings are cut and burned to avoid fraying.

Boo ya Gramma ! That’s a sweet-shaped pocket. The depth can be easily adjusted with the length of the bottom string. Defensive players pockets should be placed a little higher due to the location of the original lock-off and some examples can be seen in my Web shots (link attached at bottom).

With proper placement of the shooting strings and length of the bottom string, the ball can be prompted to rest in a single spot in the pocket. This creates a strong feeling of hold on the ball by the pocket, and can help generate shot speed while deterring errant passes/shots. Shooting string options will be covered in the next article.

As always, feel free to send any questions/comments/article ideas to [email protected] !
 

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Web shots of my stringing can be seen here ïƒ http://sports.webshots.com/album/569159428bfRDyg