How To String A Lacrosse Head

Setting Up Your Stringing Setup

You need a few things before you start. A stringing plate or J-hooks on a workbench, nylon string (usually 3-4mm for the sidewalls and 4-5mm for the shooting strings), a few inches of rubber or mesh for the channels, a throwing pocket kit with top and bottom pockets, a lighter or heat tool for melting string ends, and ideally a pair of stringing pliers. The whole process takes most people two to three hours the first time and settles down to under thirty minutes after you've done it a dozen times. I used to string heads on my kitchen table with C-clamps holding the J-hooks, then switched to a proper stringing plate. The plate saves your shins from being smashed by the frame edge and keeps tension consistent. Cheap plates wobble. Don't bother with those.

How To String A Lacrosse Head: The Sidewall Start

Start at the lowest side hole on one side of the head, feed your nylon up through the hole from the inside so the knot sits flush against the throat side. Pull it tight enough that it bites but not so tight that the sidewall tube deforms. Leave the long end hanging on the outside for now. Go to the matching hole on the other side and repeat. Your string should be doubled across the bottom of the head now, and both tails are sticking out the outside. Go back to the first side and pull your tail up through the next available hole on the same sidewall, keeping the string on the outside of the frame. Create a ladder pattern: each string goes across the bottom to the opposite side's corresponding hole, then back up the outside. Keep the ladder runs evenly spaced, roughly a quarter inch apart from center to center. Tighten each run individually as you go, not at the end. Here's something nobody tells beginners: if you tighten all the way at the end, your ladder will be loose in the middle and tight at the top. Tighten each individual run as you cross it. This alone fixes maybe sixty percent of the complaints I see about uneven pockets.

Threading the Channel

Once the ladder reaches the top of the head, you thread your channel material through the center of the strings. Most people use a thin rubber strip or a narrow mesh sleeve. Lay it flat across the ladder, centered, and feed your top pocket strings through it. The channel material keeps the sidewall strings from biting into the mesh pocket and creating hot spots where the ball sticks. Run the shooting string through the channel material too, not directly against the ladder strings. A shooting string that drags against nylon ladder runs creates friction inconsistent enough to make your pocket feel different every time you throw from one side of the field to the other. I learned that the hard way during a tournament in 2019 where my pocket felt completely broken by halftime and I couldn't get the release point back. Just swapped the shooting string over to sit on top of a thin silicone sleeve and everything normalized immediately.

Attaching the Pocket and Throwing Strings

Cut your throwing pocket to length. The standard is about eight to ten throwing strings depending on your pocket style. Thread the bottom loop through the lowest channel segment, then weave each subsequent string through the ladder in a figure-eight pattern. Tighten incrementally, moving from the bottom upward, checking the shape against your desired pocket depth after each one. For a deep pocket, leave more throw. For a quick release pocket, use fewer throws. This is obvious but people still buy a pre-made pocket and assume it will work as-is. It won't. Every head is slightly different in sidewall taper and scoop angle, and a pocket that feels right on one head will dump on another. Add your shooting string last. Position it where you want the ball to break—usually two to three inches below the top of the pocket. When it's cinched tight, the ball should break cleanly off the mesh without rolling sideways. If it rolls toward the thong side, your shooting string is too low or too far over. Adjust and retest.

Tying Off and Finishing

When everything is at the tension you want, cut the excess string and melt the ends with a lighter. Don't burn them to ash, just enough to stop fraying and flatten the knot. Trim close to the head surface. A loose melted nub catches on jerseys and nets and makes your head feel rough every time you scoop. Break in the pocket by throwing hundreds of balls through it. A new string job feels loose and dead until the mesh and strings pack down. This isn't optional. Even a properly tensioned pocket will throw inaccurate for the first twenty or thirty throws while the mesh stretches into its final shape. Some players put the head in a pocket stretcher overnight as a shortcut, but that just pre-stretches the mesh unevenly and can warp the channel over time. Throwing it in is cleaner.

Common Mistakes That Waste Time

Starting the ladder with the wrong tension is the biggest one. If you begin too loose, the upper runs compensate by pulling tighter as you go, and your top pocket ends up shallow while the bottom is a swamp. If you start too tight, the bottom runs strangle the mesh and kill your hold. Dial in the tension on the first three cross-ladders and you'll save yourself an hour of ripping it apart. Another thing: don't skip the channel. I've seen players run shooting strings directly against ladder nylon and wonder why the ball dumps inconsistently. The nylon-to-mesh friction changes with humidity and temperature. A channel material acts as a bearing surface and makes the pocket feel the same on a rainy day as it does on a dry one. Most stringing guides online also skip the part about knot direction. When you tie off at the top of the head, make sure the knot faces inward, not outward. An outward-facing knot rubs against your shooting hand every time you catch and creates a pressure point that changes your grip. It sounds minor. It isn't.

If you want a reference sheet to keep near your stringing plate, there are printable diagrams available on most lacrosse equipment forums. The one on InsideThePipes has a good laminated version I've had for years. Some shops sell physical stringing jigs but they're overpriced for what they do. A piece of plywood with a few nails and some rubber bands works just as well for learning.

When Stringing Won't Fix Your Problem

Sometimes a head strings well and still doesn't hold the ball. That's usually a scoop angle issue or a mesh that's too stiff for the head design. If you've gone through a full stringing cycle and the ball still spills out on hard catches, try a softer mesh or a different pocket profile. There's no stringing technique that corrects a fundamentally mismatched head and pocket combo. Also worth noting: nylon stretches over time. A pocket that's perfect on day one will play two inches deeper by month three depending on how hard you throw and what weather you play in. Re-tension the throwing strings and shooting string every four to six weeks during the season. It takes ten minutes and prevents the "my pocket is broken" panic that makes guys buy new heads they don't need.