Coach Jonathan Edwards unveils the golden number of sticks any lacrosse goalie should have in their arsenal: 3. Coach gives tips on how and when to use them and creating equipment consistency. Coach Edwards also shares his philosophy on whether or not buying the most expensive equipment for your goalie will be worthwhile in the long run.

0:29 – Coach Edwards enlightens lacrosse goalies on the perfect number of sticks: Three.
0:41 – The hierarchy of sticks. The game stick, the practice stick, and the warm up stick.
1:15 – Creating equipment consistency.
2:00 – Breaking in your C stick and using it to experiment.
3:31 – Your hands don’t change, your sticks do. Get used to playing with unfamiliar sticks.
4:05 – Parents should buy cheap sticks for young kids, but once the goalie is grown, investing in a titanium shaft is worth it.

Introduction

Hey there. It’s Jonathan Edwards with LacrosseGoalieTips.com and LacrosseGoalieUniversity.com and today we’re going to talk about how many sticks should you have. For some of you parents listening to this, you’re probably going to cringe at what I’m going to say here, but I just wanted to share for some of the goalies who were pretty excited about what I’m going to say.

Three Goalie Sticks

So what’s the perfect number of sticks that you should have? The answer is 3. Moms, dads, it’s kind of like the number of sheets you should have in your closet. You should have one on the bed, one in the closet, one in the wash. The same thing is true of lacrosse sticks.

The ABCs

Goalies should have basically a game stick, like their favourite stick that is game ready. This is like your A stick. The thing is, you don’t use your A stick all the time. You use your B stick in practice. Your B stick is your stick that you use in most of your practice, not including the warm up. Your third stick, or your C stick, is the stick that you take shots with in warm up.

Creating Equipment Consistency

Here’s the deal. What we’re trying to do here is create a consistency of equipment and have backups. I remember vividly in junior high school playing on my varsity high school team. I had a stick which I broke. It was the first stick that I ever broke and I only had two sticks. I had one stick I used all the time and I had a backup that I rarely used and it had a pocket that I didn’t really like. I couldn’t throw with it. I hadn’t cut the shaft down and it was just a mess. We don’t want to have that happen.

Breaking in Your C Stick

As you get more advanced, you want to have a minimum of two or at least three. In warm up when you’re just taking straight shots from a coach or a player, that’s when you really want to break in that back up, the third stick or your back up stick. You want to get that stick throwing equally as well as your main stick and that’s going to happen when you get a lot of shots taken at it. That’s how you’re going to break in that pocket quickly, and you’re going to save that A stick for game day. That game day stick is going to throw nice, it’s going to be your best one. It’s going to be broken in real well and you’re just going to be really confident with it.

Experimenting With New Equipment

The cool thing is your C stick is the one that you should try stuff out on. Maybe a different pocket, a different string, a different head, a different shaft. That stick in warm up is the one that you want to basically experiment with. When you experiment you get to try new things and it’s a lot of fun. A lot of fun too is, if you’ve got another goalie on your team, is to switch sticks for warm up just to get your hands used to using a different stick. I always say your hands don’t change but your equipment might. The best players in the world can take any stick and be a really good player with any stick, because their hands don’t change. Their sticks do.

You Don’t Change, Your Sticks Do

That’s something I try to teach younger players. Not getting hung up on having a lacrosse goalie stick that’s just your only stick that you can throw with. That’s just not the case. You don’t change. Your ability to throw is the same. It’s the stick you use. Think of it like golf. Golfers have a bunch of different clubs in the bag, but their hands don’t change. Each club does a different thing, but with a little getting used to, they can make every club and be just as accurate with every club. Distances might change but they can be accurate all the same.

Expensive Lacrosse Goalie Equipment

Three lacrosse goalie sticks. Moms, dads, sorry, but that’s the way to go. One thing I will add here is, do you need to have the most expensive equipment out there? The answer? Not so much. One thing I recommend to parents is once your goalie is kind of at a size that they’re not necessarily going to grow anymore, this might be middle of high school, I highly recommend investing in a titanium shaft, because that’s going to be the lightest shaft that’s really available and it’s also going to be the most durable. It’s going to be expensive, but you’re going to have it forever.

Titanium Shafts Are Still My Favourite

I will prove to you how long they last. I still have a first generation warrior titanium shaft, I think from the early 90s. I still have it. It has one tiny little dent in it. I’ve never had to buy another shaft for that goalie stick. But when kids start using carbon and all of this craziness, those sticks break and you’re shelling out a lot of money every season for your lacrosse goalie stick. So when you can, investing in the titanium shaft is going to save you a lot of money long term. Otherwise, for young goalies who want to get into a light shaft as quickly as possible and keep them cheap because you’re going to outgrow them super, super fast.

Conclusion

So that’s it for today on lacrosse goalie sticks and how many you need. Leave your comments below on the blog and let me know what you think. If you’ve got any questions on shafts and sticks, you email me at CoachEdwards@LacrosseGoalieTips.com. Cheers.

Comments

comments