Project Pinnacle: Stiffness
You'll pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the -
You may recall a recent newsletter where I lambasted the preposterous creation known as the Warrior “Stiffi” - the worst named head in the history of lacrosse. Aside from being wildly inappropriate, the head stands as an example of what can happen when you base an entire ethos of design around one aspect of a lacrosse head.
Still, ranking stiffness as the third most important aspect of a lacrosse head probably seems just as odd. What about the scoop? What about weight? It’s nice to see that #TeamWhatAbout doesn’t even leave my subconscious in my own newsletter.
Stiffness is important because it’s the one thing that can completely ruin every other aspect of design. You can get over a head with a below-average scoop if it slings just like you can deal with a slightly heavier head if it meets or excels in every other measure. But a flexy taffy-pulled head that bends every time you try to shoot? That’s a worthless piece of trash attached to an expensive carbon or metal rod.
I’ll give you an example. Some years ago I was running a local lacrosse day camp for younger players. One of the newer attendees came with a refurbished beginner stick with a newly strung neon green pocket. He was having a tough time just in the warm-up tossing the ball with a partner so I walked up and watched him throw for a minute. His form was fine, if a little adjusted with that gross New Jersey “I carry the ball behind my head and do stupid little cradles to show you I have the ball” thing, but his passes weren’t going anywhere but into the ground. His initial excitement gave way to frustration. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that it was his stick.
“It’s always the stick,” I said, smiling. “Let me see it.”
I tried to throw the ball into the net, which was about 10 feet away. The ball felt like it was caught in the strings and I ended up throwing an unintentional fake instead of throwing anything. The kids thought I did it on purpose. I played it off and gave the kid my stick to use for the rest of the session. I tossed his stick to the side and thought nothing of it.
I offered to restring the stick for free so he could have it for the next sesssion, but when I got home I found that the stringing was not the issue. The plastic was so flexy that the head couldn’t even maintain enough stiffness to flip the ball up without hooking directly into my jaw or nose. It was unbelievable. I’d never seen anything like it.
Public Service Announcement: Parents - When your kid says that they need a new head, your first test should be whether or not you can bend the sidewall down with minimal effort. If you can, they’re right and you need to pony up. If you can’t bend it down, then you have every right to say, “No - learn how to restring it on YouTube like everyone else.”
At camp the next day I had to have a weird conversation with a parent wherein I explained that they needed to buy a new stick for their kid and that a restring just wouldn't do. I ended up giving him my stick for the rest of camp. Presumably, he used it in perpetuity.
Now, I’m not advocating for something as misinformed as calling a head “Fresh” versus “Dead” like a certain lacrosse company did a number of years ago to move more units. No, the point here is that a lacrosse head needs to have some sort of structural integrity in order for it to fulfill its purpose. Would you want to drive a car made out of bamboo? Fight an intruder with a knife made from old Jell-O? In order to have a full lacrosse experience, your head cannot bend like a palm frond in a light breeze. And yet...stiffness is seemingly the first place where companies cut costs. There is no longer a design excuse for producing a head that is compromised - really there never was, but especially now in the time of rendered CAD files and 3D printers. Stiffness has much more to do with material cost than anything else, which is why the heads made for younger players (and thus sold at a much lower cost) [usually] use lower quality nylon blends.
Is this entire entry a call to action for lacrosse companies to stop cheaping out on their youth sticks? Kind of. But it’s also a notice to newer companies looking to enter the space not to cheap out when it comes to materials. No lacrosse head lasts forever, time and use will degrade even the most well-designed weaponry. So why compromise on something as integral to the performance as rigidity?
For my analogous choice, I’m going to select the stiffness of the king of all throwbacks - the head that started it all: the Brine Edge.
Yes, the original Brine Edge, known for the revolutionary implementation of offset technology, is the king of more than just ball control. The Edge is ALSO the first head that showed us all two very important things:
Sidewall design actually means nothing
Material matters
But Kyle, look at all of these cool struts in this new defense head! You mean look at all of those ridged plastic lies? I have an original Brine Edge sitting next to me right now. It has a rotting factory traditional pocket in it. It’s that gross/cool bone yellow color that old heads turn if they make it past the five-year mark. The Brine sticker is peeling on the scoop. This head is over 20 years old and I cannot bend it at all; I can’t even squeeze the front sidewalls more than a quarter of an inch inward. You’re telling me that heads today are made with the same material as this? I don’t think so.
We are officially halfway through Project: Pinnacle and so far we have selected the following aspects to a perfect head (for me).
Offset Point: Maverik Centrik
Face Shape: ECD DNA
Stiffness: Brine Edge
Next week we will tackle a new aspect of head design before this wacky NCAA season begins. What’s your head inspiration look like so far?