The blog started in October 2012 writing about topics of interest for lacrosse players and fans. Thanks to the WordPress.com stats helper’s for preparing a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
Christmas is a vital time for any player to restock or renovate their lacrosse wardrobe. With most gear being quite pricey, especially with import taxes on the latest stuff from the States to the U.K, it is the only time of year when splashing the cash out on a new head or pair of gloves becomes viable. Not to mention family members enthused with Christmas spirit just eager to get you just something you will appreciate. With all this in mind I bring you Gammalax’s Christmas Wish List, a list of gear and product ranges to keep your eyes on and save that Christmas money for.
First up are the offerings from Warrior for the 2013 season. The Evo 3 has been around for a little while now, but never has there been such a range of colour ways to personalize your stick. If you head over to the U.S sites there are a range of 2 Face colour ways as well as unique custom colours saving you from the hassle and peril of dying your gear yourself. Much fresher to the Warrior line up is the Paul Rabil line. This stretches from the Rabil head (in both NFHS and X spec) to shoulder pads and arm guards/pads. These promise to be excellent products, clearly good enoughfor a Paul Rabil endorsement. If you are the kind of player that doesn’t mind flashing Paul Rabil’s personal logo across your gear then these are the pads for you. As for the head, so far it has been acclaimed and credited as being a great head by many users. Suffice to say it most definitely doesn’t disappoint.
Next to the party is Reebok. This company is a big deal in lacrosse yet there influence as of late has been limited to Box lacrosse with few products for the field game. It is not unusual, in this instance, for Reebok to have a large stake in one part of the game and not the other and this can be explained by their highly integral role in ice hockey. However, times are changing, Reebok are branching out and lacrosse is going to benefit from it. They are bringing the forefront of design and intuition to Field lacrosse with their all-new Black range. Although not on general sale yet, it will set the field alight. In addition, Reebok have updated their current lacrosse line. The 10K protection range is designed for the elite. The gloves especially have a premium feel about them. For this season they have taken it to the next level for players looking for a little bit of ‘SHAZAM!’ and something eye catching. I present the 10K neon range. This takes the advantage of the great protection of the 10K and injects some life and colour into their line up and they look sweet.
STX is a big player in the game and they have two new lines for the 2013 season. The Shadow range is aimed to provide ultimate protection with a sleek low profile design. Currently only produced in grey/black scale these gloves, shoulder pads and arm guards look menacing. Many members of Team STX on the LXM Pro tour are using custom versions of these gloves and based on their performance they rock offering all the protection with maximum mobility. Those who aren’t using the Shadow range are probably using the new Cell II line up. This takes the prosperity and success of the original Cellrange and improves upon them by making the gloves more flexible and infuses new technology. STX also have two new heads out. The Shield is a new goalie head; there doesn’t seem to be a plethora of choice in this field so a new offering is a breath of fresh air for all keepers. The second new release is the Hammer. This is a stiff solid head designed for defensemen raining down the hard hitting checks and hammering at the attacks stick.
Following the theme of flexibility and low profile Brine has created its Lo Pro range of shoulder pads and elbow/arm guards. These are designed for the mid level to elite player, to give lightweight protection. They look promising and have a very reasonable and accessible price tag.
Another piece of gear from Brine are the new King IV’s. The King III’s were highly successful and Brine has merely added to their flagship glove. The new glove has a more flexible and breathable protective back panel that flexes away from the mesh. There is no doubt these will be a brilliant purchase for those who are fans of the King III’s.
Easton is a brand to look out for. Their helmet, The Raptor, looked awesome and was adored by many but minor technical faults and Easton’s strict regulations and strive towards perfection meant a mass recall. The near future looks bright with a new style of helmets making their debut appearance at the Lake Placid Summit for the Burnt Orange Team. Also on the horizon is the Easton Core line. With the Easton Stealth Core head featured on Inside Lacrosse and the new Easton Core gloves a whole range looks likely. The new gloves appear to be a further developed version of the Easton Stealth gloves, which were good but seemed to lack something. Hopefully, this new set of gloves will fly off the shelves and on to player’s hands. Easton Lacrosse is a great company producing great products and their new stuff looks set to follow the trend.
My most anticipated set of gear comes from Nike. Nike Lacrosse works closelywith STX to produce few but high quality products. For the 2013 season, there is a whole host of gear new and available for the lax enthusiast. Firstly, is the Nike Vapor head and shaft, the head looks very closely related to the STX Stallion and an inverted Nike Lakota with a similar sidewall and face shape. If this is anything to go by then this head will string up nicely and perform well for a midfielder or attacker. The shaft is a light 9000 alloy. Which should maintain a good strength to weight ratio, it also features a sandblasted grip similar to that of the non-rubber coated Easton shafts. This provides addition grip without the chipping of paint and rubber coating found on the likes of Brine Scandium Swizzles. I, for one, am a fan of the rubber coating but I greatly dislike its lack of permanence, making me eager to get my hands on a Vapor shaft to see if it is a viable alternative.
Following the Nike Vapor line through to gloves now and Nike have provided an extremely sleek looking mid-ranged glove. Reviews are yet to come in, but priced up against the Brine King Superlights these look to be the affordable yet high quality glove for all.
Finally, down to the cleats. I crave for a pair of lacrosse specific cleats to give me more support around my ankle. The new Nike Huarache 3 LX, improved from the last Huaraches these are supposed to be more comfortable, better fitting and featuring the same sole plate as that found on the base of the Vapour Talon Elites. Whilst the Talon Elites are low cut boots, much like football (or soccer) boots, designed for minimal weight and speed the Huaraches provide more support for the foot. Sported by some professionals like Kyle Harrison during the LXM Pro tour, they seem to do the job. There is a multitude of colourways out there but my heart is set on the Black/Anthracite and Volt. These cleats easily make it to my top spot on my Christmas wish list.
Hopefully, this has provided those of you unsure about what they want for Christmas with some clarity of vision. I hope you receive all you wish for these holidays and be ready to suit up in your new gear for the New Year!
I bought this Warrior Evo Pro off laxforums.co.uk for £25. I then applied royal blue rit dye followed by krylon webbing spray, then black rit dye. It gives it a cool marble effect. It looks a bit more classier than the hot glue gun method.
Here are the video tutorials I used to dye this lacrosse head.
Gammalax 