Stick Tech Article #4 Shooting Strings

Hey everyone, I hope the start of the spring lax season is treating you all well. So far I’ve covered stringing the pocket, now it’s time to finish it off with the shooting strings. After you’ve got your mesh strung up, it’s important to situate your shooting strings as to best accentuate your positions requirements. While the sidewall pattern and length and location of bottom string will set the primary location of where the ball will want to rest, different shooting string orientations will affect how well the pocket holds the ball. Prior to discussing these orientations, we have to first go over some terminology.

‘Shooting Strings’ – for this article, this will refer to the hockey laces used to control how/where the ball will release. Hockey lace can be obtained at rinks or sporting good stores, or from online retailers such as www.StringersShack.com or www.Jimalax.com. The strings these online retailers supply is normally thinner than the ones meant for hockey skates. The thicker the gauge of these strings the more you can feel the ball on them. 

Nylon – this is typically the top-most horizontal string in the mesh. This should be the tightest of the horizontal strings, and the ball should release off this string during passing/shooting. The nylon is typically done using standard sidewall string (made of nylon, hence the name), however some people will opt for a thicker gauge of this string, making for a more evident release point. The location of the nylon should be different for players of different positions (more on this to come).

U – refers to a shooting string in the shape of an upside down ‘U’. This is usually the lowest string, and the ball wants to rest right underneath the string, providing ‘hold’ on the ball.

Weaved – refers to one method of adding a shooting string or nylon to the mesh. This method utilizes a single row of diamonds on the mesh.

Rolled – as opposed to weaving, rolling the shooting string around itself and the mesh. This method uses the intersection of two rows of mesh, and will typically result in less of a feel or hold on the ball when compared to weaving.

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!

First, I’ll start by showing you the method for a Rolled nylon.
Cut about 24” of nylon, and start by feeding it in an open sidewall hole.
 

Leave roughly 10” of string on the backside of the head, and run it across the backside of the mesh. Find the corresponding open sidewall hole, and put the backside string through it.

Now pull all of the extra nylon through this hole. If you were to be stringing a rolled shooting string, as opposed to nylon, you would want to use the empty space between the sidewall string and the sidewall of the head to serve as the anchor for the shooting string. Here’s what your head should look like as of now.

Find the mesh diamond that is closest to the sidewall hole through which you ran the nylon, and put the string through it.

Pull the string back through the diamond that shared a diagonal face with diamond you just used, and feed the string back to the backside of the head.

Now just feed the string back through the next upper diamond, and proceed across the head.

Feed the excess string back through the first sidewall hole you used, as most sidewall holes have enough space for two nylon strings to fit through. This may require some patience, and a good poking device.

Adjust the tension of the string to your preference, and tie the string off. Now here’s your rolled shooting string/nylon

Now, here’s the basic method for Weaved shooting strings.
 
Cut your shooting strings to about 24” (use about 30” if you are going to weave a U), and burn the ends of the hockey lace to prevent fraying and aid in stringing.

Find the row of diamonds you would like to weave across, and locate a spot between the sidewall string and the sidewall of the head where it lines up with. It is important to anchor the shooting string to either the sidewall string or the sidewall itself so you can tighten the shooting string down, controlling the hold that shooting string puts on the ball. Feed the shooting string inside the gap.

Now alternate the shooting string across the row of diamonds, in and out.

Leave yourself some string on the far end to tie a knot. Now take the string on the inside of the head, and weave it around the one you’ve just alternated across the mesh.

Here you are, a weaved shooting string. Remember that this method can be used with nylons as well. Also, this method can easily be applied to the upside-down U shooting string.

Finally, I have to present my thesis about shooting strings (and pocket form in general). Basically I recommend a decreasing amount of hold generated by the shooting strings as your position moves up the field; and the location of these shooting strings will go down. Let me explain; Defensive players should use a good amount of hold in their shooting strings, and preferably a higher pocket so when cleaning up ground balls, the ball gets into the defined spot in the pocket as soon as possible. Defenders will also be able to use this higher pocket to their advantage when making clearing passes, or short dumps to the goalie. Generally, with defender pockets, I use two nylons at the top of the pocket, for a defined release point that will not let the ball hit the scoop of the head when passing. From there I usually use one straight weaved shooting string, and a U, so the ball will sit higher up in the head.
D-Middies/LSM’s can use a shooting string setup similar to this as well, since they need to be able to occasionally run through some traffic, but still make an accurate feed or shot on a fast break/clear. A recommended defensive player shooting string setup is as follows.

Offensive-minded midfielders should use a little less hold and have a slightly lower pocket than their defensive-minded counterparts, think 2/4 on the hold scale. This amount of hold will help when running through traffic, and taking outside shots, however should not be a deterrent from making an accurate, quick pass. Weaving the shooters helps provide some hold and feel on the ball and a tight nylon string will provide a defined release point that occurs lowers in the pocket than a defender’s, resulting in a quicker release. Here’s one of my favorite midfield shooting string setups.

Attackmen should use a lower-sitting pocket than the other players, because of the increased amount of one-handed cradling they should be doing, in order to protect their stick with their free hand from the defender. A small amount of hold should be induced with the shooting strings and nylon, but the ball should be able to sit at the very bottom of the pocket when one-handed cradling, and have a quick release for feeding. For this purpose I would recommend rolled shooting strings.

Remember that shooting string setup is up to the individual, so experiment with the methods covered above to see what works best for you! Do you have a unique shooting string method you would like to share with the readers of Walax? Or do you have any requests for future articles? If so, feel free to send them to me at [email protected]!

Feel free to check out pictures of some of my stringing/dyes at http://sports.webshots.com/album/569159428bfRDyg

Stick Stringing/Customization is available as well, contact me for info!
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