True Temper Lacrosse: Open Letter to the Community

Members of the Lacrosse Community:

My name is Ryan Harrington and I was a senior captain at Hampden-Sydney. I was recently put in charge of the lacrosse operations at True Temper, a company that I strongly believe will change the way you think about lacrosse shafts. I'd like to take this opportunity to quickly introduce both myself and True Temper Lacrosse; its identity, technologies and values. Please take some time to read this open letter and give us some feedback--your opinions and views will not go unnoticed.

You may not have heard of True Temper before, but we've certainly heard of you. We've been manufacturing lacrosse shafts for several companies for many years now, and we recently made the decision to give the lacrosse market our undivided attention. We currently have a 92% market share of the golf shaft market, and our technical expertise, materials engineering knowledge and manufacturing abilities are second to none. We want to bring all of those competitive advantages to lacrosse, and ultimately, right to your hands.

We've been watching product development and advertising in lacrosse from a distance for a while, and it seems that a lot of products promise many things but don't necessarily deliver. I made the decision to spend our advertising dollars reaching out to you, the players, instead of big-time photo shoots and expensive endorsements. In fact, we’ve never had to pay anyone to use our products, yet look at how often our products are used in the PGA and NHL. There’s a reason for all of this: we don't serve up any gimmicks, and we let our products do all of the talking.

You may have noticed some of our technology prototypes in the hands of the top college and pro teams this season (we can’t keep up with the re-order demands!), but our superior design and manufacturing process begins with all of you guys. We want to be a company that listens to its customers and delivers a home run time after time. As this season goes on, I will start introducing different aspects of True Temper Lacrosse right here on Lacrosse Playground, and by Memorial Day weekend, I hope that you will all have a good idea of who we are and what we stand for. Most of all, I'd like for everyone to understand the performance benefits of our technology and R&D. It's not all smoke and mirrors, folks...I promise you that.

We are a company built on our aerospace engineers, metallurgists, composites experts and design staff, but more importantly, we are a company built upon our customers. To that effect, I'd like to open up the table and give you guys a chance to give us some feedback:

- What are the current pains you experience with lacrosse shafts?
- Do they shatter, bend or break prematurely?
- Are they too expensive for the duration of their lifecycle?
- What kinds of things would you like to see in shaft technology?
- Which shafts out there do you like and why?

I look forward to speaking with and hearing from as many of you as possible. This is a brand that I love, and one that the lacrosse world needs. Please leave your feedback in the comments section.

Sincerely,

Ryan Harrington #9
True Temper Lacrosse

for more information on True Temper, check out their website