How to Make a Lacrosse Pocket

When you first buy your lacrosse stick, the first order of business is to develop a pocket in the net of your stick. This is very similar to breaking in a new baseball glove. You want to keep the netting taut as you begin to use the new stick. Your pocket gets formed by the action of throwing and catching the ball. Here's how you can make a lacrosse pocket the right way.

Instructions

1. Pound the net of the lacrosse stick, keeping your fist inside of a lacrosse glove, until a pocket starts to form. Make sure your pocket is taut before you begin. Do this repeatedly until a small depression starts to form.

2. Make sure the strings of the netting are on the tight side. Now, with the lacrosse stick in one hand and the ball in the other hand, toss the ball against the center of the netting. It will likely bounce right back out, and you will have to catch it with your throwing hand.

3. Loosen the strings just a little bit in accordance with the kind of stick you have. Traditionally attack men have short sticks with shallow pockets. Defense men have long sticks with deep pockets. Except for the goalie, all sticks cannot have a pocket that is deeper than the diameter of the ball. A goalie’s stick has no such depth regulation.

4. Start using your new lacrosse stick for catching and throwing the ball. Let the action of the lacrosse ball wear on the netting until your stick starts to form a natural depression in the center of the webbing.

5. As your pocket starts to form, you might want to loosen the strings ever so slightly. You want to then continue to use the stick for catching and throwing.

6. Repeat step 4 as many times as necessary until you get the pocket that you want.

Tips & Warnings

• Form your pocket in accordance with the position that you will be playing. Crease attack men have very shallow pockets, while other players will have a significantly deeper pocket. The point attack position and some mid fielders will definitely want to use a deeper pocket than the crease attack. Other mid fielders and most defense men tend to have a pocket that is developed to maximum depth. Since goalies, in accordance with the rules, are allowed as a deep a pocket as they want, they need not be concerned with the overall depth of their sticks.

• Don’t use oil on the webbing of a lacrosse stick.