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
68 comments
Hi! I’m from Poland and I’m a bit of a gear junkie ;) I thought that needed to be pointed out beforehand :D
When I first started out here, and met my current coach for the first time, he came out with a banged up STX Laser Lite. I remember him complaining that the shafts of today are so thin. He’s gotten used to them being this thin, but I’ve actually gone the other way. I have a hickory shaft from hikstik. I barely manage to fit the heads on usually. I also have a cut down shaft from an original Brine Edge complete stick. it’s also very thick, no BS octagonal shaped. Really comfortable in the hands. Both of these shafts DON"T feel like a twig in my hands. I bet a larger diameter would do more good than all the fancy grip-finishes. Plus it will make the shafts more durable, right?
Also in my opinion just like electric piano makers try to make their instruments sound like a real wooden grand piano, shaft manufacturers could be looking to make their shafts feel and play more like wood.
Weight isn’t really all that important IMO. Lightweight shafts will always be weaker, but people will use them because it’s the easy way out: you don’t need that much strength to use them (noodle arms as one LPG blogger stated before). A no-grip shaft will also make you use your fingers more because you have to hold the shaft tighter.
All in all, I’d like to see the shafts of yesterday back: large diameter, thick walls, regular octagonal shape (although I do like the butterfly shape) and just plain old 6000 series aluminum, which would hopefully reduce the ridiculous pricing. That’s what I think is needed, at least in developing countries. We’re not going to complain that it’s heavy if it lasts five seasons.
Take Care!
I play Lacrosse in the UK. I’ve been playing for 6 years in close D/LSM, I’m 6’5 and about 220lbs. the UK season runs from October through to April, with a few summer tourneys before a break from July to September. I’ll chop your 5 Q’s into sections to answer them:
– What are the current pains you experience with lacrosse shafts?
– Do they shatter, bend or break prematurely?
The problems I experience with current lacrosse sticks is that most of them seem to be made out of tinfoil, light, shiny and as durable as paper. I’ve used an old (3rd hand from a visiting American 5 years ago) titan classic which I bent into a corkscrew in under 6 months (bent prematurely and repeatedly). I’ve also broken 2 Scorpion genysis shafts in the last 2 seasons, one on and attackers stick(cracked) and another between 3 players (clean snapped). Owing to how hard the sticks are to get in Europe (I’m a student so the import tax is a bit prohibitive to importing frequently from the US) I would like a stick that lasts at least 2 seasons.
– Are they too expensive for the duration of their lifecycle?
In short, yes. If they only last half a season then I wouldn’t buy another one. I would expect at least a full season, preferably 2 or 3. If I knew something was going to last that long I wouldn’t mind dropping $300 dollars on it as it works out as $100/year (~£60/year).
– What kinds of things would you like to see in shaft technology?
– Which shafts out there do you like and why?
I really like the amount of flex and spring in the genysis, I also like how it stays straight, no matter how much you throw at it, until it snaps. I dislike asymmetrical shafts (I started off borrowing a flip grip from the club captain as a freshman) as if it dents in one side and bends, you can’t simply turn the head round and use it for a few games to straighten it out again. I’m not too fussed with the grippy surfaces as unless they were applied by somebody who plays with their hands in exactly the same place as me, they don’t tend to be in the right place/adds weight (bubbles or dimples) or they shred the palms on your gloves(sand blasted), this is probably to do with wanting my kit to last alot longer than a season. I had a quick mess around with a mates Maverick H2 and the shape felt pretty good, along with the bubbled grip felt good when my hand happened to be on it. Could the grip be applied like heat shrink wrap, post purchase, if you supplied them on a sheet? I like the fact that you can remodel titanium sticks, but not the frequency with which they bend.
My ideal shaft would be something like a hybrid between a H2 shape, durability of an Sc-Ti alloy shell around a hammer type, vibration tuned and cross spared, carbon fibre/kevlar core to keep it straight and without the genysis’ ‘windows’ that you can see the carbon fibre through. Also the rules here permit poles to be ’between 52" and 72" ’, please make them the full 62" long (full length minus the length of the head) so that when I repeatedly ding the top 4" of the stick on stick checks I can cut it off and not have something that looks like a tweener in my hands.
sorry about the essay
I like you’re style. We appreciate talking with any lacrosse player, parent, or enthusiast. This is the difference we are able to bring to the industry because we don’t: sell/distribute/market the handles. Our plan is to keep 100% focus on what we’re great at: engineering and manufacturing.
AJ – thanks for your input, I think you raise a number of good points in here.
I used a couple of these down at Hampten-Sydney. I love these things.