Last week’s Traditional Thursday saw Connor Wilson’s take on Jeremy Thompson’s one-twist pita pocket. This week, I bring to you a throwback with my take on Jeremy Thompson’s pocket. When I strung this pocket up earlier this summer, I actually had no idea that Jeremy Thompson was using a similar set up. In fact, I had no idea who Jeremy Thompson even was (just kidding, obviously).
I wanted to try a pita pocket that either had less twists or more twists all the way down the center track. I opted to go with less twists, the least amount of twists being one. I ran into numerous problems with this stick, it took a lot of adjusting but I tuned it up as much as I could and even played some box lacrosse with it… in Oklahoma (shout out to the Oklahoma City Knights).
My tension wasn’t perfect on the center track, the change of pressure from the ball was too drastic causing the release to have way too much drag. Greg and I were joking about the pocket being perfect for players who use just there wrist a lot. We experimented by shooting with alligator arms and just flicking our wrists just picking corners.
I found that the pocket needed a lot more push from the bottom hand, then pull from the top hand. Similar to box lacrosse motion passing, this changes how the pressure from the ball is being applied to the pocket. Another problem was the head itself, the canvas was a Warrior M80. As I was pounding the pocket in, the bottom rail flared inwards and even began to sound like a creaky bed.
There are a lot more variables when it comes to stringing a stick like this, the diamonds on the center track will widen wherever the ball is. I will probably try this pocket again using sidewall as the gut this time instead of cross lace. That way the diamonds won’t stretch out as much. If your looking to string this style pocket, I hope you learn from mine, and Connor’s, traditional pockets.
#stringyourown
