How To String a Lacrosse StickCompletion Time: Approximately 1 hour

David Belias

IntroductionThe game of lacrosse has been played since the 12th century by the indigenous peoples of North America. These games lasted several days and involved up to 1,000 players on a field that stretched nearly a mile. This was a very violent game, but it was a major aspect of Native American culture. The players used hand-carved wooden sticks that used leather netting. Eventually, the game was refined by a Canadian dentist, William George Beers, who reduced the number of players to 12 and the field size.

Today, lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the United States. There have been major changes to the equipment and rules. There are only ten players on the field for each team and there is less hitting allowed. The most noticeable change has been to the equipment used by players. The sticks now have two pieces and are made of an aluminum or titanium shaft and a fiberglass head. The netting, also referred to as mesh, is now made from nylon or other synthetic fibers and coated with a polymer. It is attached to the stick using sidewall, a nylon string coated with polymer. For improved accuracy, shooting strings are woven into the top half of the mesh. Usually, hockey laces or extra sidewall is used for the shooting strings. The most common polymers used to coat the mesh and sidewall are polyurethane and poly-vinyl chloride. These materials allow the mesh to be more durable and weatherproof. The holes in the mesh are diamond shaped and these vary with the type of mesh.

Most mesh has a width of 10 diamonds that are 1/8” in diameter. Hard mesh is the most commonly used because it has the polymer coating that makes it more weather resistant. Soft mesh does not have this coating, so it is less stiff and provides a better hold for the lacrosse ball. Monster mesh has larger holes (1/2” diameter) than typical mesh, so it can provide a deeper pocket. Choosing the type of mesh is an important aspect of stringing a lacrosse stick.

Stringing the stick is an art form, so there is a high degree of variability. The stick can be strung to have a high, medium, or low pocket. The alignment of the shooting strings is also another important consideration to make. Even though there is a large amount of variability in the stringing of a lacrosse stick, it is a relatively quick and simple procedure. There are only a few loops and knots to learn, and after that it is all repetition. The steps involved are preparing the materials, stringing the top, stringing the sides, stringing the bottom, and adding the shooting strings. This instruction set will focus on stringing a stick using modern mesh, rather than the traditional leather pieces.

MATERIALS

Lacrosse Stick Mesh Sidewall String

Shooting Strings Scissors Lighter

PREPARING THE MATERIALS

1. Stretch out the mesh. Take the mesh and with two hands begin to pull it apart moving from the top to the bottom. Stretch it out as much as possible because this will make it easier to form the pocket later.

2. Cut the sidewall pieces. From the sidewall provided, measure the length of your arm and cut a piece of sidewall with the scissors. Complete this two more times, so you should have three pieces of sidewall of equal length. If your mesh kit has everything precut, ignore this step.

3. Burn the ends of the sidewall pieces. Take the lighter and wave it over a ½’’ stretch of the end of the sidewall where the cuts were made. Repeat this until a hard, plastic tip forms on the end of the sidewall. This prevents fraying of the sidewall when stringing the stick and playing with the stick later on.

Warning: Be careful not to touch the ends of the sidewall immediately after burning them. The polymer coating melts and forms an extremely hot molten paste.

STRINGING THE TOP OF THE STICK1. Identify the rough side of the mesh. There is a rough and a smooth side

of the mesh. The rough side has considerably more texture, so identify this side and place it face down.

2. Fold the top row down onto the second. With the rough side down, take the top row of the mesh and fold it back onto the second row. There should now be a double layer of holes on the top row of mesh.

3. Double knot the sidewall string. Take one piece of sidewall string and wrap it around your finger twice about 2” down the length of the sidewall. Slide this off of your finger and loop the shorter end through the hole and pull tight. This should form a tight knot that will not come undone.

4. Slide the sidewall through the top hole on the side of the stick. With the front of the stick facing away from you, identify the top most hole on the right side. String the sidewall through this hole and pull it all the way through.

5. Attach the mesh to the stick. With the double layer of holes at the top of the stick, string the sidewall through the first hole going from front to back. Pull the sidewall through the holes and loop it through the outside of the top most hole of the stick. Pull tight and loop the sidewall again through the first hole of the mesh going from front to back. The mesh should now be attached firmly to the top right corner of the stick.

6.

String the mesh to the first top hole. Loop the sidewall through the back of the first top hole on the stick and come through the next mesh hole from front to back. Run the sidewall through the same top hole of the stick and come through the same mesh hole from front to back. Pull tightly to ensure that there is no slack left in the sidewall.

7. String the remaining three top holes. Loop the sidewall through the second top hole of the stick and this time skip a mesh hole when coming from front to back. Run the sidewall through the same top hole of the stick and come through the same mesh hole from front to back. Repeat this for the final two top holes, and each time skip a mesh hole. This keeps symmetry in the pocket, which is very important.

8. Attaching the mesh to the left side of the stick. Run the sidewall through the final mesh hole and come through the inside of the top most hole on

the left side of the stick. Pull the sidewall through and run it through the final mesh hole again, going from back to front this time. Run the sidewall through the inside of the top most stick hole again and pull tightly. Make a single knot and tie it as close as possible to the stick. The mesh should now be tightly attached to the top of the stick in all locations.

NOTE: The single knot allows adjustments to be made, if necessary. It is also easier to tie a single knot closer to the stick than a double knot.

STRINGING THE SIDES OF THE STICK1. Double knot the sidewall string. Use the same procedure as above to tie

the double knot on the top of the sidewall string.2. String the top hole. Identify the hole on the side of the stick that is directly

below the one used to string the top of the stick. Run the sidewall through the outside of this hole. Loop it through the outside most mesh hole that is directly below the row used to string the top of the stick, going from front to back.

3. String the next 3 holes. Loop the sidewall through the outside of the next stick hole and loop it through the space between the mesh and the side of the stick that is above the hole you just ran the sidewall through and pull tight. Depending on the stick, a hole may need to be skipped. Some sticks have many holes to allow more freedom with stringing, while others have only a few, so every hole has to be used. Repeat this for the next two holes.

4.

String the pocket location. To form the pocket, run the sidewall through two mesh holes in succession. Run the sidewall from front to back in the first hole, and then back to front in the second hole. Next, follow the procedure from step three, running the sidewall through the outside of the stick hole, looping it through the open space, and pulling tight. Repeat this one more time and the pocket will be much deeper in that location in the stick. Continue in the normal fashion using the procedure from step three until you reach the final hole.

NOTE: For a higher pocket, perform this step higher up on the stick and for a lower pocket, perform this lower down on the stick.

5. String the final hole. Loop the sidewall through the next mesh hole going from front to back. This time, run it through the inside of the stick hole, instead of the outside. Pull tight and tie a single knot in the sidewall, leaving 1/8’’

between the knot and the side of the stick. This leaves room for adjustments that may need to be made later on.

6.

String the other side of the stick. Repeat steps 1-5 from above to string the other side of the stick. Make sure to go through the same exact holes on the other side to keep symmetry in the stick. This ensures that a uniform pocket will be formed, so the stick will be much more accurate when throwing the ball.

STRINGING THE BOTTOM OF THE STICK

1. Cut the sidewall for the bottom. There should be plenty of sidewall string remaining to attach the bottom of the mesh to the stick. Cut a piece of at least 10’’ and burn the ends using the same procedure described above.

2. Run the sidewall through the bottom holes. For sticks that have four holes in the bottom, run the sidewall through the outside of the two innermost holes. Make sure that the two ends of the sidewall meet at the same point.

3. Attach the mesh to the stick. Run the sidewall through the mesh two rows below where the mesh is attached to the sides of the stick moving from front to back. Loop the sidewall through the mesh hole directly to the outside of the holes you just ran it through going from back to front. Run the sidewall through the inside of the two outermost holes of the bottom of the stick and tie single knots.

NOTE: The knots will have to be moved up after the pocket is broken-in to ensure that the pocket is not too deep.

4. Cut the bottom of the mesh. Cut across the bottom of the mesh four rows below where it is attached to the bottom of the stick using the scissors. Burn the bottom of the mesh by moving the lighter across the bottom, making several passes. This prevents the mesh from fraying after significant use of the stick.

STRINGING THE SHOOTING STRINGS1. Attach the shooting string to the mesh. Run one end of the shooting

string through the space between the side of the stick and the mesh three rows below the top of the stick. Bring this same end back up through the first hole in the mesh going from front to back. Make sure that both sections of the shooting string are of equal length. Take the other end and run it through the first mesh hole going from back to front. The two sections of the shooting strings should be on opposite faces of the mesh.

2.

String the shooting string across the whole row. Take both ends of the shooting string and feed them both through the next mesh hole at the same time. After this step, they should again be on opposite faces of the mesh. Continue this procedure until you have worked your way across the entire row of mesh. Loop the section that is on the front face of the mesh to the back face, running it through the space between the side of the stick and the mesh. Tie a single knot to keep the shooting string tight.

3. String the second shooting string. Repeat steps one and two for the second shooting string, but skip a row of holes in the mesh.

4. String the third shooting string. Repeat the procedure from step one, but attach the shooting string nine rows below the previous shooting string. Use the same procedure as step two, but move diagonally upwards and to the right. Once you reach two rows below the previous shooting string, string the third shooting string across the row for three holes across the row. Finally, move diagonally downwards and to the right and tie a single knot to finish the shooting string. This should form an upside down “V” shape with the shooting strings.

NOTE: This portion of stringing the stick is all personal preference. The straight shooting strings add more tension in the mesh, while the “V” shooting strings hold the ball in the pocket longer.

TIPS FOR BREAKING IN THE POCKET Use a ball to pound the pocket repeatedly in the location where you want the

pocket. Stick a ball in the location where you want the pocket and slide a butter knife in

the space between the mesh and the stick. Leave the stick like this for several hours then remove the knife.

Fill up a bucket with hot water and add one cup of conditioner. Stir up the mixture and dip the stick into the bucket for 10 minutes, rubbing the mixture into the mesh. Rinse the stick off with more fresh hot water and use a blow dryer to dry the mesh. The mesh should now be much softer and broken in.

Play catch with a friend and after several sessions of use, the stick should be broken in and ready for game action.

TROUBLESHOOTING If the pocket becomes too deep once it is broken in, move the knots in the bottom

of the stick higher until the pocket reaches the desired level. If the stick is throwing too high, change the “V” shooting string into a “U” by

going across the row for several more holes. Remember to keep it symmetric about the center of the stick. On the other hand, if the stick is throwing too low, remove the “V” and add another straight shooting string below the second one.

If the ball is hitting off the top of the stick, tighten up the top most shooting string to add more tension to the top of the mesh.

Restring the stick every 3-4 months. The sidewall will undergo a great deal of stress during the lacrosse season, and it will begin to weaken. Also, during the season, the mesh will get very dirty and may become too stiff beyond repair.