Shooting strings lacrosse head. Ultimate Guide to Shooting Strings: Mastering Lacrosse Head Stringing Techniques

How do lacrosse shooting strings affect performance. What are the best methods for stringing a lacrosse head. Which materials are ideal for shooting strings. How can players optimize their pocket for improved accuracy and power.

The Art of Lacrosse Head Stringing: Enhancing Performance with Shooting Strings

Lacrosse players know that the key to optimal performance lies in the intricate details of their equipment. Among these, the shooting strings on a lacrosse head play a crucial role in determining ball control, release, and overall shooting accuracy. This comprehensive guide delves into the world of shooting strings, exploring techniques, materials, and strategies to elevate your game.

Braided Top Shooter: A Game-Changing Technique

One innovative approach to shooting string configuration is the braided top shooter. This technique, popularized by lacrosse enthusiasts, offers a unique feel and performance benefits that set it apart from traditional methods.

Why Choose a Braided Top Shooter?

• Tighter nylon configuration for enhanced ball control
• Plays similar to a dropped top string
• Potential to improve release point on your pocket
• Distinctive “nylony twang” feel upon ball contact

Is the braided top shooter right for every player? While personal preference plays a significant role, players who enjoy a pronounced feel of the ball hitting the nylon often gravitate towards this style. It’s an excellent option for those looking to experiment with their shooting string setup and potentially gain an edge in their shooting technique.

Step-by-Step Guide to Stringing a Braided Top Shooter

Mastering the braided top shooter technique requires attention to detail and practice. Follow these steps to create your own:

1. Select two nylon strings, each about an arm’s length
2. Fold the first nylon in half and insert both ends through a sidewall hole
3. Weave the ends over and under across the stick
4. Fold the second nylon and wrap it around the ends of the first
5. Weave the second nylon, alternating outside and inside the first
6. Continue weaving across the head
7. Secure ends through initial loops
8. Tie looped knots on both sides, ensuring tightness

When executing this technique, how tight should the nylons be? The key is to pull them taut enough that the initial loops become too small for the knots to pull through, ensuring stability and consistent performance.

Optimizing Lacrosse Head Stringing for Peak Performance

Beyond shooting strings, the overall stringing of a lacrosse head significantly impacts a player’s capabilities on the field. Understanding the fundamentals of head stringing is essential for any serious lacrosse player or enthusiast.

Essential Tools for Lacrosse Head Stringing

• Mesh piece
• Top string
• Sidewall string
• Scissors
• Patience and dexterity

How does proper stringing affect lacrosse performance? A well-strung head can improve ball retention, accuracy, and the overall feel of the stick. It allows players to customize their pocket depth and shape to suit their playing style and position.

The Fundamentals of Stringing a Lacrosse Head

While the braided top shooter offers advanced customization, understanding the basics of head stringing is crucial. Here’s a simplified overview of the process:

1. Prepare the mesh by stretching and folding
2. Secure the top string to the head and mesh
3. Weave the top string through the head and mesh holes
4. Attach and weave the sidewall string
5. Adjust tension and pocket depth as needed

What’s the most common mistake in lacrosse head stringing? Often, beginners pull the strings too tight, resulting in a shallow pocket that compromises ball control. Striking the right balance between tension and pocket depth is crucial for optimal performance.

Customizing Your Pocket: Tailoring Your Lacrosse Head to Your Style

The beauty of lacrosse head stringing lies in its customization potential. Players can fine-tune their pocket to complement their playing style, position, and personal preferences.

Factors to Consider When Customizing Your Pocket

• Playing position (attack, midfield, defense)
• Desired release point
• Ball retention needs
• Shooting style (overhand, sidearm, underhand)
• League regulations on pocket depth

How does pocket customization affect shooting accuracy? A well-tailored pocket can significantly improve shooting consistency by providing a predictable release point and optimal hold on the ball. Attackmen might prefer a deeper pocket for ball retention, while midfielders might opt for a medium pocket for versatility in both passing and shooting.

Advanced Stringing Techniques for Competitive Edge

As players progress in their lacrosse journey, exploring advanced stringing techniques can provide a competitive advantage. These methods often involve intricate patterns and specialized materials to achieve specific performance characteristics.

Innovative Stringing Techniques to Explore

• Channel pockets for enhanced accuracy
• U-string setups for increased whip
• Barreled pockets for improved ball retention
• Multi-color string patterns for visual appeal and functionality

Can advanced stringing techniques significantly impact playing style? Absolutely. These techniques allow players to fine-tune their stick’s performance to match their evolving skills and playing strategies. However, it’s crucial to ensure that any advanced stringing complies with league regulations to avoid penalties.

Maintenance and Care: Preserving Your Lacrosse Head’s Performance

Proper maintenance of your lacrosse head and strings is essential for consistent performance and longevity. Regular care can prevent premature wear and maintain the pocket’s shape and responsiveness.

Tips for Lacrosse Head Maintenance

• Regularly check for loose or fraying strings
• Clean your mesh and strings after each use
• Store your stick in a cool, dry place
• Avoid leaving your stick in extreme temperatures
• Re-string your head periodically, especially before important games or seasons

How often should a lacrosse head be re-strung? While it depends on usage and care, most players benefit from re-stringing their heads every 3-6 months or at the start of each new season. This ensures optimal performance and allows for adjustments as playing style evolves.

The Future of Lacrosse Head Stringing: Innovations and Trends

As lacrosse continues to grow in popularity, innovations in head design and stringing techniques are constantly emerging. Staying informed about these trends can help players stay ahead of the curve and potentially improve their game.

Emerging Trends in Lacrosse Head Technology

• 3D-printed custom heads for personalized performance
• Advanced synthetic materials for improved durability and weather resistance
• Smart strings with embedded sensors for performance tracking
• Eco-friendly and sustainable stringing materials

How might these innovations shape the future of lacrosse? As technology advances, we may see more personalized equipment tailored to individual players’ biomechanics and playing styles. This could lead to enhanced performance across all skill levels and potentially change how the game is played at the highest levels.

In conclusion, mastering the art of lacrosse head stringing, from basic techniques to advanced methods like the braided top shooter, can significantly enhance a player’s performance on the field. By understanding the nuances of pocket customization, exploring innovative stringing patterns, and staying attuned to emerging trends, players can continually refine their equipment to match their evolving skills and strategies. Remember, the perfect stringing job is a blend of science and art, requiring both technical knowledge and a feel for the game. As you experiment with different techniques, always prioritize what feels right for your playing style while staying within the rules of the game. With practice and patience, you’ll develop a stringing style that not only complements your skills but also gives you that extra edge on the lacrosse field.

Top String Tuesday: Braided Top Shooter

This week I thought I would mix it up a bit and throw together a top shooter tutorial. I got a lot of positive feedback on last week’s photo tutorial so I’m sticking to it this week with a new one for a braided top shooting string.  This shooter was introduced to me by the one and only Jeff Brunelle, and what I love about it is that the braided top shooter plays a lot like a dropped top string.

The braided nylons are tighter than your average single nylon shooter.  The tightness of the nylons, if done right, can help cut the release point on your pocket.  Like this top shooter, I am going to keep this tutorial short and sweet, but I will say that the braided nylons generate quite a bit of nylony twang.  If you like the feeling of the ball hitting the nylon I suggest you give this a try.  If not, check in next week for another edition of Top String Tuesday.

Step 1: The braided top shooter requires two nylons.  I went with orange and blue to help make the stringing easier to see (and let’s be honest, they look good together).  The strings should each be about an arms length – I went end of my hand to the middle of my chest.

I chose orange and blue.

Step 2: Fold your first nylon in half and stick both ends of the nylon through a sidewall hole near the top of the head.  I went third from the top because I knew I wanted to string a lower pocket with a quick release.

Two ends of the first nylon through the sidewall.

Step 3: Weave the two ends of the nylon like you would a typical woven shooting string – over and under, over and under – across the stick.

Over, under, over, under.

Make sure that the loop, created by sticking the two ends of the folded nylon, does not get pulled through the head.  Also, be sure that your nylon does not get twisted.  The end that started on top needs to stay on top, the one on the bottom stays on the bottoms, just like mine in the picture above.

All the way across.

Step 4: Fold your second nylon in half and wrap it around the ends of the first.

Loop two wrapped around the ends of nylon 1.

Step 5: Weave your second nylon (my blue nylon), this time weaving around the outside of the first nylon (my orange nylon) and then through the inside of the first nylon, outside and then inside, across the stick.

Outside.Inside.

Step 6: Continue weaving across the head.

Almost done.

Step 7: Stick the ends of both folded nylons through the loops that were created initially (this should already be done for the ends of your first nylon).

Blue through orange.Ends of the orange should already be through the blue.

Step 8: Tie a looped knot on both sides using the two ends of each nylon.  It is important here that your nylons are pulled tight.  When the nylons are pulled tight the loop created by the fold in the nylon will be too small for the knot you are about to tie to pull through.

Knot 1.Knot 2.

Step 9: Ball so hard.

The final product.

How to String a Lacrosse Head | Live Healthy

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports worldwide. Whether you are a seasoned lacrosse pro or just starting out, from time to time, you’ll need to do some gear maintenance. Knowing how to string a lacrosse stick is a skill that can come in handy. While the process seems a bit involved and tedious, stringing a lacrosse head doesn’t require much more than patience and dexterity. Avoid making a mistake by taking your time to do the job right.

Stretch out the mesh piece width-wise. Fold the bottom of the mesh piece so that the holes in the first and third rows line up.

Tie a knot at the end of one of the top strings. Push the end of the top string without the knot through the first top stringing hole on the outer side of the lacrosse head. Then push it through the first hole in the folded edge of the mesh piece. Finally, bring it through the first hole on the outer side of the lacrosse head again and through the first hole in the folded edge of the mesh piece. Pull it tight.

Push the top string through second hole on the inner side of the lacrosse head. Then push it through the second hole in the mesh piece. Make sure that the loose end of the top string is in the middle of the loop that you just created. Pull it tight.

Continue looping the top string through the rest of the holes on the lacrosse head. Loop the top string through the last hole in the lacrosse head and the mesh piece again. Tie a knot tightly next to the last hole on the lacrosse head. Cut off the remaining pieces of the top string with scissors.

Tie a knot at the end of the sidewall string and push the opposite end of the sidewall string through the top sidewall hole on the outer edge of the lacrosse stick. Then push it through the first hole in the mesh piece. Bring the sidewall string back through the first sidewall string hole on the outer side of the lacrosse head and through the first hole in the mesh piece.

Push the sidewall string through the next hole in the mesh piece from underneath and up through the hole. Then push the sidewall string through the second sidewall hole on the outer side of the lacrosse stick. Keep looping the sidewall string in the same manner until you reach the last sidewall hole.

Loop the sidewall string through the last sidewall hole and tie a knot close to the lacrosse head. Cut off the excess sidewall string. Repeat the entire sidewall string process again on the other side of the lacrosse head.

Tie a knot on one end of the bottom string. Push the opposite end of the bottom string through the second hole along the bottom, outer edge of the lacrosse head. Push it through the first hole on the bottom, inner edge of the lacrosse head.

Locate the row on the mesh piece that is directly below the last row used by the sidewall strings. Push the bottom string through the first hole in this row, pushing it from underneath the mesh piece and up through the top. Push the bottom string through each hole in this row of the mesh piece.

Push the mesh piece through the fourth hole, pushing it through the outer edge of the lacrosse head. Then push it through the third hole, pushing it through the inner edge of the lacrosse head. Tie a knot and cut off the excess bottom string.

Push the nylon shooting string through the first sidewall hole on the right side of the lacrosse head. Fold the nylon shooting string in half. Weave half of the nylon shooting string through the row on the mesh piece that is next to the first sidewall hole. Weave the other half of the nylon shooting string through the same row, but push it through the holes in the opposite direction. Tie the ends of the nylon shooting string together. Cut off the excess pieces.

Find the row in the mesh piece that is directly below the row used by the nylon shooting string. Push the shooter lace through the first hole in this row. Fold the shooter lace in half. Weave one end of the shooter lace through the entire row of the mesh piece. Weave the other end of the shooter lace through the same row of the mesh piece, but push it in the opposite direction. Cut off the excess pieces.

Take the other shooter lace and push it through the first hole in the mesh on the lower right side of the lacrosse head. Fold the shooter lace in half. Weave the shooter lace through the mesh piece diagonally upward and then downward. Count the holes in the mesh so that the shooter lace is even. Weave the other half of the shooter lace in the same manner, but pushing it in the opposite direction. Cut off the excess pieces.

Burn the ends of the nylon shooting string and the two shooter laces with a lighter to prevent fraying.

References

Writer Bio

Though constantly traveling the world, Julia Williams is based in Chicago and has been writing since 2006. Williams holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting. She is also a licensed fitness instructor, specializing in Pilates since 2003 and has written hundreds of articles on exercise and health.

Colgate’s Peter Baum and lacrosse shooting stars deal with shooting strings rule changes

Tewaaraton Trophy winner Peter Baum of Colgate holds his lacrosse stick containing NCAA mandated changes with the shooting strings
Frank Ordoñez/The Post-Standard

At a Lake Placid tournament in early August, Peter Baum decided it was time to vent. He took to his Twitter account and punched in a startling threat.
Baum wrote that if the NCAA followed through with its plan to change how players weave shooting strings into their sticks, he was leaving Colgate for his final year and turning pro early.
The declaration, even if it was blasted in joking outrage, carried some weight. On May 31, Baum was named winner of the Tewaaraton Trophy, presented annually to college lacrosse’s best player. The junior attackman had 67 goals and 30 assists this past season in leading Colgate into the NCAA Tournament, where it promptly knocked off No. 1-ranked Massachusetts.
The tweet, however harmless, got around.
“My coach didn’t love that one,” Baum said.
The NCAA followed through with its plan and approved the rule. It eliminates the placement of shooting strings, which are essentially hockey laces woven into the crosse, from being below 4 inches from the top of the head. The intent was to rid the sticks of U- and V-shaped shooting strings that gave the ball greater hold in the stick.
Cortland coach Steve Beville said the advancement of heads along with the U- and V-shaped shooting strings was making it next to impossible for defenders to check the ball out of the sticks of midfielders and attackmen.
“In a nutshell, it was getting pretty tough and it was kind of like an unfair advantage,” said Syracuse All-American defenseman Brian Megill. “You’d even see, you’d get a great check on a stick and even the defender would go to get the ground ball and he’s still running with the ball and you’re just like, ‘How did that happen when I had your stick upside down? How does that work?’ In some aspects, the stringing was just getting out of hand.”
Baum said the committee that voted for the rule believes the ball is going to be dislodged more, which will create more ground balls and fast breaks.

For a player like Baum, it’s a big deal. He called a lacrosse stick a player’s “livelihood.” Now, he said, every one in the game must learn not only a new way to string up a stick, but figure out all of the nuances of how the ball comes out of the stick when it’s passed or shot.
Baum said the ball now sits higher in the pocket, making it harder to get as much whip or power into a shot.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” Baum said. “It’s a lot less control. It’s something you’ve got to get used to.”
Baum said the sport went down this same road a few years ago when the plastic heads that hold the netting were widened. He said if the intent was to create more ground balls, it never happened.
What he sees in fall ball with the new shooting string requirements is sloppier stick work.
Colgate assistant coach Mike Abbott personally strings Baum’s stick. He’s been in the stick-stringing business for more than two decades and strings up sticks for about a dozen Colgate players.
The former Cortland star said it initially took him about 90 minutes to string up a new stick under the new NCAA guidelines. He said that once players get the feel of the new stick, he’s not so sure it’s going to make as big a difference as people anticipate.

The lacrosse stick on the left has the outlawed U shooting string; stick on the right meets new NCAA guidelines in which no part of the shooting string is lower than 4 inches from the top of the head of the crosse.
Frank Ordoñez/The Post-Standard

Abbott said the U- and V-shooting strings allowed a channel for the ball to fit into snuggly. He said it prevented a ball from wiggling laterally. When a player released the ball with a shot or pass, it came out more accurately and, “in some cases, made it harder to get out of the stick.”
For a major scorer like Baum, any change to his lightsaber is a big deal. But not insurmountable. Abbott said players can get the same effect with the new guidelines. It took some tinkering, Abbott said, but players like Baum are finding they can still wield control with the change of stringing.
“The best players are still going to be the best players and be able to make the best adjustments,” said Abbott, a graduate of Syracuse’s Nottingham High School. “It’s like anything — you put a lot of hours into practicing something, you’re going to figure it out. It’s about putting the time in to hone your craft. At the highest levels of college lacrosse, guys are doing it all ready. They’re getting used to something that’s a little different and something new. By the time spring rolls around, you won’t see much difference.”
Cornell All-America attackman Rob Pannell, who returns next spring after being granted a medical hardship waiver, is shrugging his shoulders over the technical change with stringing up a stick.
“I don’t know what that whole thing’s about,” Pannell said. “It doesn’t really affect me. I know some guys are really worried about stick changes. I could care less. They changed the heads a couple of years ago and it didn’t really matter. They can do what they want. If they think that’s going to work, good for them, good for the game. I hope it does work.”

Donnie Webb can be reached at 470-2149 or [email protected]

How to String a Lacrosse Head? Beginner Tips You Need to Know

Let’s face it. You won’t always have another player or the coach to string the lacrosse head for you. You NEED to learn it eventually. It may seem like something you can’t grasp, but trust me. All you need is practice, and you are halfway there.

Quite frankly, there are many styles, holes, and loops you will learn about, but for now, let’s start from the basis. I am going to teach you the basic style of how to string a lacrosse head.

Feel free to practice it in your spare time, and slowly, you can move your way up to an advanced level.

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What You Will Need

Depending on which lacrosse head you opt for, you will need the following:

• Top Head String around 36 inches long
• Two Sidewall Strings ( 30 inches long each)
• One Bottom String ( around 8 inches long)

Preparations First!

Before you even attempt to sting, you need to get to know the mesh. If this is your first time, let’s sum it up. So, the mesh is the netted material you will be attaching to the inside of the lacrosse head.

Lacrosse mesh has a top, bottom, front, and backside. It is essential to identify the parts before you get started.

When you stretch the mesh up, you can locate the top part by noticing it has nine diamonds across the top edge. The bottom side has ten diamonds across. The front side is going to be rougher, while the backside is much smoother.

Why is this important?

Well, if you want your performance to be top-notch, you want the rough side (front) to be the one touching the ball.

Keep the string as tight as possible. 

You can use pliers to ensure there is maximum tightness. You want the string to be as tight as possible in certain areas to optimize your performance level.

Do you want the string to come undone when you are in the middle of the game? Didn’t think so.

How to: Top Head Stringing

• Step 1: Stretching The Mesh
  Believe it or not, this is a common mistake among beginners. A lot of them skip this step and go straight into the shooter string. Don’t be one of those guys.
  You need to stretch the mesh fully and have a better idea of what you’re working with. If you don’t, your lacrosse mesh will look a whole lot different at the end and result in poor performance.
• Step 2: Fold the mesh’s topside to the “nine diamond row” right under it. You should line them evenly and see right through the diamonds once they are folded.
• Step 3: Then, you are going to start with the top string. Start by creating an anchor knot on the sidewall. Pull the unknotted side of the string through the outside of the first hole. Through the front to the ten diamond mesh hole’s backside, pull the string back to the sidewall hole to create a loop. In this way, you are securing the mesh and creating a stable knot. Fully complete the loop by again going from the front to the back through the mesh.
• Step 4: Now, you aim for the first hole at the top of the lacrosse stick. Run the string through the scoop’s back and then through the mesh, over the string, and tighten the loop. Pull the string through the mesh’s back and the front of the scoop and under the string.
• Step 5: This is crucial now. SKIP the third top hole. Repeat step 4 in the fourth mesh diamond.
• Step 6: Skip the middle mesh hole and repeat step four in the next scoop.
• Step 7: Skip one more diamond and pull the string in the second to last diamond.
• Step 8: To finish off, pull the string out of the top head scoop and into the sidewall hole. Ensure the sidewall holes on both sides are aligned, and you are stringing in adequate direction. Tie it up as you did in the beginning and finish with a tight knot.

When you are done with the top string, it should be perfectly symmetrical with the middle diamond straight in the middle of the head.

Here is a helpful video demonstration:

Now you are ready for the sidewall stringing.

How to: Sidewall Stringing

• Step 1: Just like you did with the top head stringing, start with a knot through the third sidewall scoop and loop in the first hole of mesh through the hole.
• Step 2: Skip two holes in the sidewall. By creating a knot, pull the string through the mesh’s second hole and down to the next sidewall hole.
  *Fun Fact: The purpose of skipping holes in stringing is to create a tighter mesh channel. Eventually, a tight channel results in release delays, adds hold and precision to your passing and shooting.
• Step 3: Skip another sidewall hole and knot the third mesh hole down to the next sidewall hole.
  
• Step 4: This time, you are not skipping the next hole. Knot the fourth mesh hole in the sidewall hole.
• Step 5: Now, we are creating a pocket. As you work your way down, you will notice a bump in formation. This is the so-called pocket. Before you start planning out the pocket depth, make sure both sides of the sidewall are aligned and symmetrical.
• Step 6:
  Start by pulling the string up and under the 5th hole mesh and through the outside of the sidewall.
  1. Do the same without skipping a sidewall whole.
  2. Repeat with the next two holes but only pull the string through the mesh-not back into the sidewall.
  3. When you pull the string through the second mesh, bring it back through the sidewall scoop. 
• Step 7: Again, pull the string through the mesh diamond, skip one sidewall hole, and pull the string in the next sidewall hole.
• Step 8: Do the same as you did with the previous step. This time, bring the string from the back of the mash first and through the inside of the sidewall and tie the knot at the end. You should have one sidewall hole left on the bottom once you are done.

How to: Bottom String

• Step 1: Pull the knotted string in the last sidewall hole you left and through the bottom string hole.
• Step 2: Go up through the bottom of the outside hole of the nine-diamond row, right under the ten diamond row you already used for sidewall stringing.
• Step 3: Skip three bottom rows of mesh. Go through the middle diamond and back around through the outside of the second bottom string hole.
• Step 4: From the bottom, go into the fourth bottom string hole and pull the string through the same diamond mesh you ended with previously.
• Step 5: Pull the string to the end, skipping another three mesh diamonds. Bring the string to the last bottom string hole. Tie off the knot on the last sidewall hole on the other side.

And that’s a wrap. Your lacrosse head is complete. Make sure the tension is equal and firm.

How Long Does It Take String the Lacrosse Head?

Assuming you are a beginner, it will probably take you around 30-45 minutes if you follow the steps above correctly.

Take your time with the task. It can be quite perplexing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will be a piece of cake.

Testing Out the Finished Product

Congrats! You have finished stringing, and now comes the fun part. Putting it to test.

You want to make sure everything is in place, and you have achieved the desired depth and the placement of string.

Call your buddy up, and practice passes and catches. 

I would also recommend you take notes of what you think needs improvement. In this way, you’re going to be prepared for your next stringing attempt.

Additional Tips

If you feel like you need to increase the whip, loosen the bottom string. If the situation is opposite, tighten the string. You get the point.

*Bonus tip: You can add more whip If you replace the cotton string with a nylon one.

Final Words

I hope this tutorial on how to string a lacrosse head was helpful for every beginner out there.

Like I said in the intro, it can be confusing to many, but I bet you will master the technique in no time!

Every player has a different style of stinging, but you should stick to the basics and work your way up for now.

Stick stringing plays a hidden key role for Syracuse

Sergio Salcido expected a regular day shagging balls and handing out water bottles as Winter Park (Florida) High School’s ball boy, but 10 minutes before a rivalry game a defender, Mike McKeever, called on the then-middle schooler for a skill far more valuable.

The sidewall stringing in McKeever’s stick had ripped, and he didn’t know how to fix it. So, he ran to the eighth grader.

“I’m sitting there,” Salcido said, “cranking this thing out a minute before the game starts.”

McKeever guarded one of the best midfielders in the state and scored a goal later in the game. Salcido helped make it possible. The redshirt senior is one of several players who strings sticks on No. 2 Syracuse (7-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast), continuing a long SU tradition. But as lacrosse continues its rapid growth and equipment trickles into sporting goods stores nationwide, standardized sticks and strings have pushed out elements of nuance.

“It’s a lost art,” SU head coach John Desko said. “It’s a real niche, if you know how to do it.”

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Syracuse, a school sponsored by Nike and STX, is lucky to have a number of stringers. Tyson and Brendan Bomberry, Nick Mariano, Salcido, Ben Williams and David Lipka each string differently: The Bomberry cousins know a traditional leather style taught in their Native American upbringing. Mariano aligns his strings so the ball smacks off the plastic head when he shoots. Salcido likes his pocket in the middle of his stick so the ball doesn’t jiggle around. Williams uses a softer mesh and doesn’t have a “channel” — the pinching of the mesh that causes more direct throws — so it’s easier for him to scoop the ball on faceoffs. Williams doesn’t use a head made by STX or Nike because his position requires one with particular flex points. Upperclassmen who care less about the netting usually assign the task to Lipka, a freshman who had to learn to string SU sponsors’ sticks because he hadn’t previously specialized with them.

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Each of the stringers understands the importance of his job. It’s a facet of the game rarely discussed outside of lacrosse circles and almost invisible to the fan, but stick prep is key.

“It’s a huge deal the way your stick is strung,” Lipka said. “… I can’t even express how big of a deal a string job is.”

Typically, attacks play with a pocket lower down in the head to better carry the ball. Midfielders often use a mid-to-high pocket while defenders tend to use a high pocket. But based on a player’s style, a stringer can identify the most suitable pocket per player. Lipka noticed redshirt freshman attack Stephen Rehfuss passed with a quick release and an over-the-top motion, as well as carry the ball high in his stick. So, when Lipka strung Rehfuss’ stick, he wound a high pocket with a smooth release and no “whip,” which describes the angle the ball leaves the head. More whip and the ball will travel downward when thrown — less whip and it’ll sail.

Derek DeJoe, a Syracuse midfielder from 2013-16, had a similar reputation as Lipka his freshman year. He wanted to keep his stringing skills a secret “because you don’t want to be the guy.” Once word got out, DeJoe strung as many as six sticks a night. By the time he was a senior, he started telling people he no longer strung sticks.

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DeJoe learned how to string from his dad. Salcido, from a knowledgeable neighbor and an STX stringing manual. Lipka, by constantly copying patterns from teammates’ sticks. He’s settled on the same style as Mariano. They can all complete a stringing job in about 20 minutes, down from hours when they began learning.

“You can tell who strings sticks and who doesn’t string sticks based on how they treat their stick. It’s a lot of people’s baby,” DeJoe said. “… It’s a piece of art. The people that don’t string their sticks, they’ll hang it in their locker and go on with their day.”

Some Syracuse players, freshman Logan Wisnauskas said, place their sticks upright in their locker only because upside down sticks would cause the future goals to drop out overnight. Others refuse to put it underneath the team bus because they want an eye on it at all times.

Lipka has experimented with others’ sticks throughout the year as he’s emerged as the Orange’s go-to stringer. Lipka plans on redshirting this season, so he’s found another way to contribute. Wisnauskas, the “test bunny,” gives Lipka feedback. When redshirt senior Joe Gillis scored on March 25, Lipka knew he played a small role in the goal.

“Usually you find a freshman who does it,” Salcido said of non-stick stringers. “‘You got nothing better to do, here you go.’”

The hardest part of stringing for others, players said, is learning their tendencies. Stringing for yourself is easy because you already know. But, especially for a freshman like Lipka, it’s hard to know who wants what.

“There’s no other sport where the gear differs so drastically from person to person,” said Greg Kenneally, president and co-founder of East Coast Dyes, a company that sells stringing equipment. “There literally isn’t a stick that’s identical to another … It just adds an extra element of customization.”

Two years ago, an NCAA rule change eliminated the use of the “U” shaped shooting strings, forcing every player to use horizontal shooting strings. The new stringing decreased the sticks’ hold on the ball and increased turnovers. The struggle only worsened in the elements, which also alter sticks and add another challenge for stringers.

During an outdoor practice last week, Lipka didn’t bring his main stick because he feared rain would damage its condition. He didn’t want the pocket to “bag out.” When the pocket stretches, it loses its grip on the ball while cradling and throwing accuracy is diminished because of the lack of control. Lipka instead used his rain stick, one of his three or four backups. Many of his teammates have a similar arsenal.

Emma Comtois | Digital Design Editor

Lipka’s rain stick has less of a pocket and less of a channel for the ball to hook when the mesh gets heavy. He tightens the nylon string at the top of the head so the ball rolls off easier. With a regular string job, the pocket would expand and likely get crusty once inside. It’s a cost of playing in the wet conditions made tolerable by playing with a secondary stick. While rain expands mesh, cold weather contracts it.

“You have to adapt to those elements,” DeJoe said. “You’re playing a game where it’s sunny in Virginia and then you come home in early February at Cornell, your stick’s definitely going to be tightened up. It’s definitely going to be different.”

As lacrosse spreads from traditional hotbeds, fewer lacrosse-specific stores are in places where the game is being played. And, in turn, fewer people with strong stick-stringing skills. At the youth level, Desko and Salcido pointed out, poorly strung sticks can lead to poor fundamentals. At the same time, online stringing manuals and YouTube tutorials have helped educate aspiring stick stringers.

“Some people relate it to tying your shoe,” Kenneally said. “It’s definitely not that easy. You’re basically taking a rectangular piece of mesh and trying to fit it into a circle frame and create a pocket all at the same time. It’s not perfectly intuitive.”

Still, a stick doesn’t make a player. There’s a common phrase among lacrosse players: “It’s not the wand, it’s the magician.”

But a magician isn’t a magician without his wand.

Published on April 3, 2017 at 11:03 pm

Contact Paul: [email protected] | @pschweds

90,000 Origin stories of famous sports games

Whether you play them or just watch as a spectator, sports games are a significant part of many people’s lives. In addition to being a sight to behold, sports games are also linked to the national identity of many countries, being a billion dollar industry.

Have you ever wondered how these sports games originated? Even if you think you know, the most interesting thing is that the origin stories of sports games are filled with myths and legends.Here are the true stories of how these favorite games came to be:

10. Lacrosse

Lacrosse is the oldest team sports game in North America, originating among the Native Americans of East Woodland and some of the Indian tribes of the Great Plains. The game was played by the warriors of the tribe to keep fit. Many of the rules were different from modern lacrosse.

In addition to keeping the warriors in good shape, this game was also important to society, helping to strengthen diplomatic alliances and maintaining social conformity.In addition, they used it as a form of worshiping the gods.

In the 1840s, Europeans became interested in the game, and in August 1844 the first match between a team from Europe and the Mohawk took place.

In 1856, the Montreal Lacrosse Club was formed in Quebec, Canada. After a visit to Montreal by the Prince of Wales in August 1860, the popularity of lacrosse increased even more.

A month after the Prince’s visit, a dentist named William George Beers wrote the first official rules of the game and instructions and replaced the buckskin ball with a rubber version.Since then, the game has grown in popularity and there are currently two professional lacrosse leagues in North America.

9. Golf

The origins of golf are a matter of heated debate. All the credit is attributed to themselves by the Scots and, I must say, they have a certain right to this. The modern education of the game began in the middle of the 15th century in Scotland. The rules of the time included swinging the club over the ball and moving it from point A to point B using as few moves as possible.

However, there is evidence that the roots of the game go back to the small town of Loenen aan de Vecht in the Netherlands when the game was played there in 1297. This year was the start of an annual tradition where, on Boxing Day (December 26), the townspeople played a game called “colf”. The game consisted of two teams of 4 people who took turns hitting a wooden ball with a wooden stick in the direction of several consecutive targets.

In addition to the 1927 mention of “colph”, there is other evidence of golf-like games played throughout the Netherlands centuries before the first mention of golf in Scottish literature in 1636. However, as stated earlier, there is a heated debate on this issue, and many Scots do not believe that this is true.

8. Ice Hockey

Canadians are generally regarded as polite and humble people. However, there is one thing that many Canadians can proudly and emotionally boast of – that ice hockey is their national heritage.According to them, this is their game. They are the best at it, and they came up with it.

However, according to one book published in 2014, hockey probably originated in England. There are references to this game dating back to the early 1790s, and furthermore, it remains unclear who exactly invented the game. The game is known to have been popular in England for centuries. Famous people who played hockey include King Edward VII and Charles Darwin.

With regard to why the game was named that way, there is a theory that a cork plug was originally used as a puck.Corks were commonly used as stoppers for beer kegs, and the popular drink of the time was hock ale.

The reason Canada is often associated with hockey is because the first public match was staged in Montreal on March 3, 1875. Before that, this game was just played on the occasion.

7. Rugby

Rugby allegedly got its start in 1876 when 16-year-old William Webb Ellis played football at Rugby School in Warwickshire , England, took the ball in hand and ran with him.Unfortunately, this story cannot be true, because Ellis died in 1872, that is, 4 years before the events that are attributed to him.

In reality, the game actually originated in a school in the city of Rugby, and this was facilitated by the headmaster Thomas Arnold. The rules were first written in 1845 and the game is believed to have grown out of football, but it remains unclear who was the first person to pick up the ball and run with it.

After graduating from school, students who learned the game wanted to continue playing it as adults.This was how the first inter-county games were organized, leading to the formation of the first clubs, which in turn led to the formation of the International Rugby Football Board in 1884.

6. Cricket

For many North Americans, cricket is a bit mysterious and seems like a rather complicated game. However, cricket is loved in many other countries around the world, attracting billions of spectators. In fact, it is the second most popular sport in the world.

Cricket is believed to have originated in the 13th century in the English countryside, where it was played by shepherds. The goal was the gate of a sheep pen, and a ball made of rags or wool was driven into the target. The opposing player had to use a curved shepherd’s cane to hit the ball and prevent it from hitting the target.

The game gained popularity throughout the region and continued to be played for centuries. The first recorded cricket match (with 11 players on each team) took place in 1697 in Sussex.His prize fund was 50 guineas.

Eight years later, the first inter-counties match took place with the teams of Kent and Surrey. Probably, the rules already existed at that time, but the oldest rules of the game known to experts date back to 1744.

5. Tennis

It is believed that even the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans played a peculiar form of tennis. However, the origins of modern tennis date back to around 1000 BC.AD, when in one French monastery monks began to play it. They played with their hands and a wooden ball, so the game was more like volleyball.

The netting was usually a rope stretched across the yard. This is also where the name of this sports game was born. During the game, the monks shouted “shadows” (“tenez”), which in French means “hold!”, While throwing the ball.

Over the next two centuries, the game gained popularity throughout Europe, and by the 13th century there were already 1,800 indoor courts.By 1500, wooden racket frames tied with strings made from sheep’s intestines, as well as balls made of cork, became widespread.

However, this game was significantly different from modern tennis, which appeared in 1873, when the rules of the game were first published. In 1877, the first tennis tournament was held in Wimbledon, at which a decision was made on the form of refereeing and the tennis method of scoring was adopted.

4. Basketball

We bet it came as no surprise to you that Canadians claim to be the inventors of hockey.However, did you know that Canadians actually invented one of America’s most beloved sports games, basketball?

Dr. James Naismith of Almonte, Ontario, was born in 1861. After several years as a lumberjack, he earned a degree in physical education from McGill University in Montreal. After graduation, he moved to the United States, where he got a job at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

There he was instructed to find a suitable occupation for a group of “irreparable”. Winters in New England were chilly and the boys were forced to stay indoors: they quickly got bored with indoor games they played all day. Naismith developed basketball from a game called “Duck on a Rock”, which he played as a child. Naismith took two fruit baskets from the janitor, which he hung on opposite sides of the gym, and used a soccer ball.

The first game took place on December 21, 1891 and ended 1-0. In the end, holes were cut at the bottom of the baskets, because the janitor was tired of going up the stairs every time to take out the ball.

Since then, the game has grown in popularity and Naismith lived to see basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936 in Berlin. The creator of this sports game passed away on November 28, 1939.

3. Baseball

The most widespread legend about the origin of baseball is that it was invented in Cooperstown, New York, in the summer of 1839 by Abner Doubleday.Having come up with the game, Doubleday went further and became a hero of the American Civil War. The only problem is that this is not true. In 1839, a man with that name and surname lived in West Point (West Point).

Baseball probably evolved from two English games. The first game, called English rounders, was a children’s game that came to New England with the colonists, and the second was cricket.

The founding year of modern baseball is 1845, when a group of New Yorkers formed the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club.The most influential member of the club was a bank clerk named Alexander Joy Cartwright, who came up with many of the rules that became the foundation of baseball.

2. American Football

The first game, which eventually became American football, was played between Princeton and Rutgers on November 6, 1869. However, it was more of a football match. After the game, the Yale people developed their own sports game and called it “The Boston Game”.

It was a bit like football, but if a player was chased by an opponent, he could pick up an oval ball and run with it, or throw it away, or pass it. If a player from the opposing team did not run after him, then he should have kicked the ball.

On May 14 and 15, 1874, the Yale hosted the McGill University team from Montreal, which also had their own set of rules for football. On the first day, they played the Boston Game. On the second day, they played a “McGill version” of football, which had more rugby elements.Each team had 11 players, they played with an oval ball, and the player could pick up the ball and run with it at any moment.

After two games, the Yale team decided they liked the McGill University version better and accepted the rules. Yes, you read that correctly: the fundamentals of American football were developed by a Canadian university.

1. Football

Football is the most popular sports game in the world today, and perhaps because it is an innate part of human life.Games like soccer can be dated back to 2500 BC, when people in ancient Egypt kicked a ball during a fertility festival.

In China from 476 to 221 BC people played a game called jichu, which roughly translates to kick the ball. The idea of ​​the game was to throw a leather ball stuffed with feathers through a cloth hung between two posts. Players could use any part of their body, except for the hands. Warriors played this game to keep fit.

A similar game was also played in Ancient Rome. Each team had 27 players, and all they had to do was get the ball into the other team’s goal. And since the action took place in ancient Rome, people were often injured and killed while playing, which sounds much more exciting than watching modern football.

Football-like games continued to be played until the Middle Ages, and the modern era of football began in 1863. Then rugby football and football split from each other, and the Football Association was formed in England.This governing body has developed most of the rules and guidelines that gave birth to modern football.

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ARTILLERY: DEVELOPMENT OF ARTILLERY – Collier’s Dictionary – Russian language

To article ARTILLERY

The first period (1200-1600). Early chronicles mention that in the defense of Seville in 1247, artillery pieces were used to throw stones, and in France a cannon was found with the date of manufacture of 1258.The fourteenth century can be considered the beginning of the era of gunpowder artillery. Written documents of that time indicate, for example, that in 1308 Ferdinand of Castile used bombards in the siege of Gibraltar; in 1314, Belgian artisans from Ghent made a cannon and sent it, along with charges of gunpowder, to England; the English king Edward III used bombards against the Scots in 1327; in 1331, artillery was used during the siege of Cividale in Italy; the English fleet defeated the French in the naval battle of Slays in 1340 with artillery; at the Battle of Crecy in August 1346, the British fired three bombards at the French.

In the first period of the development of artillery, guns were made of strips of iron rolled along their length and fastened with hot iron hoops stuffed on them. They were called bombards (from the Italian bombo et ardore – thunder and fire), had a short barrel and sometimes reached a very large caliber. Bombards fired stone cannonballs, pieces of iron, and arrows, although there is evidence that iron cannonballs were also used in 1391. In 1378 in Augsburg, the bombards were cast in bronze. Wrought iron guns were used, loaded from the breech using a wedge bolt.The first guns did not have trunnions and carriages, the barrel was placed in a wooden block (frame) and attached to it like a musket barrel.

At the end of the 14th century. were created multi-barreled guns – “organs” – to repel cavalry attacks. Barrels (up to 144) were located in several rows on a special shaft or frames, the shot was fired simultaneously from all barrels of the same row. Such tools fell out of use in the 16th century. with the advent of more effective musket fire.

V 15 c. artillery became widespread.Mortars appeared. With the development of foundry, the armies received bombards of a caliber unsurpassed in subsequent centuries. Among them – the famous Ghent bombard “Dulle Grite” weighing 13.2 tons, which had a barrel 5 m long and a barrel bore with a diameter of 63.5 cm and fired granite cannonballs weighing 317 kg; a huge Russian cannon with a barrel 2.4 m long and a canal 89 cm in diameter; cannon “Mons Meg”, manufactured in Edinburgh in 1460 and firing stone cannonballs weighing 158 kg.

The most significant concentration of artillery in the hostilities of that period was created by the Turkish Sultan Mohammed II during the siege of Constantinople in 1453.Most of the 68 guns brought to the city walls fired 90 kg stone cannonballs. Eleven guns threw cannonballs weighing from 226 to 552 kg. The largest weapon was the 76 cm Basilica bombardment made by the Hungarian master Urban. For her movement, 60 oxen and 200 people were required. Loading with a stone cannonball weighing 725 kg took 2 hours. The firing range was approx. 1600 m. These guns were combined into 14 batteries. Two months later, the city fell. When in 1807 English ships approached Constantinople, a hail of stone cannonballs weighing 300 kg fell on them – the Turks fired from bombards that had survived the siege of 1453.

In the second half of the 15th century. the main achievements in the development of artillery belong to the French king Charles VIII. He opened artillery schools, organized the casting of bronze cannons with improved characteristics, switched to firing with cast-iron cannonballs, classified artillery guns by size and type, separating mortars into a separate category. The first examples of mortars (invented in Germany) had a short large-caliber barrel and an attached firing trajectory. In appearance they resembled a stupa, hence the name (lat.mortarium – stupa). The artillery was given mobility – the guns were installed on wheeled carriages, and for battle the guns could be removed from the front ends. During the campaign in Italy in 1495, the French artillery had 136 guns. She moved relatively quickly on the roads and could turn around for battle in a short time.

The quality of the gunpowder improved – the powder pulp was replaced by granular powder, which increased the ballistic properties of the guns. Improvement of metallurgical production techniques made it possible to improve the quality of tool casting.Heavy bombards made of iron were replaced by lighter weapons made of bronze and cast iron.

Many innovations in the design of tools and their use were brought by the 16th century. Tools with balancing trunnions were cast everywhere for mounting on wheeled platforms. All armies carried out a classification of artillery systems, which became an integral part of combat assets. Nevertheless, in many cases, the guns were the private property of craftsmen who leased them to kings, and some military leaders of the time considered artillery to be an unreliable and ineffective weapon, frightening with its roar of horses.

However, the role of artillery continued to grow. German inventor Cotter invented a special check for securing the barrel and breech. In 1525 the world’s largest “Tsar Cannon” was cast in Russia; its caliber is 91 cm, the barrel length is more than 5 m, and its weight is 40 tons. It was intended for firing stone cannonballs weighing 1 ton.

that the trajectory of the shot is a curve in the vertical plane of the shot.Then he invented a quadrant for setting the barrel elevation angle when firing and proved that with an elevation angle of 45? the maximum firing range is reached. Another mathematician, the Spaniard Collado, calculated the firing tables needed to set sights depending on the range to the target. See also BALLISTICS.

Around 1550, the French invented the front end of the gun – an axle with wheels – which serves as a support for the trunk (pivot paw) of a gun on a campaign. Then a charging box was attached to the gun front end.Buckshot was invented – an artillery shell in the form of round bullets stacked in a tin cylinder. When fired, bullets tore apart the cylinder under the action of inertial and centrifugal forces and flew in a sheaf over the muzzle, striking the attacking infantry or cavalry at a distance of up to 300 m.

In the middle of the 16th century. in the Netherlands, an explosive projectile was invented, which was initially used only in mortars.

Second period (1600-1850). This period is characterized by the reformatory activities of the Swedish king and commander Gustav II Adolf.He developed between 1620 and 1630 the principles of using light and medium field artillery in cooperation with the infantry, which did not change over the next 100 years. Combining the powder charge with the cannon ball reduced the loading time and significantly increased the rate of fire, while the lighter design of the guns and carriages increased the mobility of the guns on the battlefield.

After Sweden, the leading role in the development of artillery belonged alternately to Germany, France and Austria. In 1671, Louis XIV was the first in the world to form an artillery regiment and open artillery schools.

In 1693 the Dutch created a howitzer. Its barrel is shorter and lighter than that of a cannon, with the same caliber, and its firing range is about half that. The howitzer is very effective for flat and mounted shooting at short distances.

In 1740, Maritz in Switzerland used a method for drilling a bore in a cast billet, which increased its quality. In 1742 B. Robins published in England the work New Principles of Gunnery (New principles of shooting) with the latest achievements in the theory of ballistics.In the middle of the century, significant innovations in the design of weapons and their use were made by the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great. In 1759 he introduced horse artillery. This allowed the artillery to accompany the cavalry. Frederick was the first to use massive howitzer fire.

A few years later, other armies reformed their artillery. In 1776, a reorganization of the artillery was carried out in France. According to French tactics, artillery batteries were supposed to arrive at a gallop on the battlefield, quickly prepare for battle and destroy enemy batteries with dense fire.

In North America, artillery pieces appeared in 1565 with French troops landing in Florida. In 1745, American artillery supported the British in the capture of a French fort in Louisburg (Canada). By 1775, the production of bronze and cast iron tools was established in Philadelphia. The army of Washington was armed with cannons on mobile machines that fired cannonballs weighing from 1.5 to 11 kg. They were combined into batteries of 6 guns each.

In 1803, a shrapnel shell was adopted by the British artillery, invented 19 years earlier by Lieutenant G.Shrapnel. Initially, the projectile was a spherical sleeve, inside which was placed a charge of black powder, separated by a diaphragm from the striking elements – spherical lead elements. A remote fuse, inserted into the gunpowder, provided a burst of shrapnel in the air above the heads of enemy soldiers.

In subsequent years, explosive shells of various types became the main ammunition for artillery, and solid cast cores were used only to destroy special targets.For example, the cannonballs were heated red-hot in small stoves and fired at wooden ships and powder magazines in order to cause fires and explosions. Ship and ground guns were developed, specially designed for firing explosive shells.

Napoleon Bonaparte, an artilleryman by military profession, brilliantly used the capabilities of the new ammunition. He concentrated the bulk of the artillery in the main direction, setting the guns “wheel to wheel,” and opened destructive canister and shrapnel fire on the approaching enemy columns.The rate of fire of his guns was twice that of the enemy’s muskets, and they fired several hundred meters farther than muskets.

During the Anglo-American War of 1812-1814, US artillery consisted mainly of cannons firing 2.7 kg of cannonballs. But already in the war with Mexico of 1846-1848, the US Army was armed with 24 types of various guns, mortars and siege weapons. In both wars, the role of artillery proved to be decisive. In the next quarter of a century, the caliber of naval and siege weapons was increased to 508 mm.However, their firing range did not exceed 2700 m, and the aiming range was no more than half this value.

Missile weapons. For the first time, the Chinese used rockets in the defense of the Great Wall of China against the Mongol hordes in 1232. With the development of artillery, interest in rockets diminished, but in 1780 they were again used in the struggle of the Indians against the British troops. In 1805, the Englishman W. Kongrev designed a rocket with an incendiary or high-explosive warhead equipped with a shock fuse with a firing range of up to 3200 m.The British Missile Brigade fired them at Boulogne in 1806, Copenhagen in 1807 and Napoleon’s troops in the battles of Leipzig in 1813 and at Waterloo in 1815. The British used their powder rockets in the 1812-1814 war in North America. During the Mexican-American War, the US Army used advanced tail fins. With the advent of rifled guns with more accurate shooting (around 1850), missiles were again forgotten.

Third period (1850-1950). During this period, the development of all types of weapons took place very quickly thanks to scientific and technological progress and the industrial revolution.

Between 1855 and 1860, rifled guns were created, which, in comparison with smooth-bore guns of the same caliber, had twice the firing range and 5 times greater hitting accuracy due to giving the projectile a rotational motion during flight with the help of rifling. Most of the rifled guns of that time were loaded from the muzzle. To guide the projectile along the barrel bore, some of them had protrusions that corresponded in shape to the grooves in the barrel bore, while others had leading belts. Under the action of powder gases, when fired, the leading belt cuts into the rifling of the barrel and protrusions and recesses are formed on it, due to which the projectile moves in the barrel as the rifling guides it.

Various types of fuses have been developed for explosive projectiles. The most common was a remote fuse, which was a wooden or metal tube with a diameter of 2.5 cm and a length of 7-10 cm. Slow-burning gunpowder was pressed into the tube. Before firing, an incision or hole was made in the wall of the tube in the right place and the tube was inserted into the bottom of the projectile. The pressed gunpowder ignited from the outer end of the tube from the explosion of the propellant charge and, after a set time, ignited the explosive charge in the projectile through the hole in the wall of the tube.Some remote fuses had a percussion device, which ensured the rupture of the projectile in the event of an accidental failure of the remote device. Head shock fuses were also used, which worked when they met an obstacle.

There were few breech-loading guns during this period. In some tools of the Whitworth and Lancaster systems, the cross-sections of the barrel bores were not circles, but ovals or polygons. The cross-sections of the shells for these guns were of the same shape.

As before, there were still large-caliber mortars intended for siege operations. Among them, mention should be made of the Malit mortar, cast in 1858. Its barrel was 2.4 m long, its caliber was 914 mm, and its mass was 50 tons. To fire a spherical projectile weighing 1 ton, 32 kg of gunpowder were required.

American Civil War 1861-1865. The artillery of that period was horse-drawn. Field artillery guns had a caliber of 101 and 127 mm, howitzers – up to 203 mm, siege mortars – up to 381 mm, naval artillery – up to 508 mm.The guns were mostly smooth-bore, but there were also many long-barreled rifled guns. The mechanisms of vertical and horizontal guidance were used. During the siege of Petersburg (Virginia) in 1864-1865, the northerners fired at it from the famous “Dictator” mortar, which had a caliber of 330 mm, a firing range of 4 km and a projectile weight of 100 kg. The artillery was divided into divisions of 3-4 batteries each. In defense, it occupied a position that provided a wide sector of fire. Infantry units covered it from the flanks.In the offensive, the artillery was the first to fire at the enemy, after which the infantry went into the attack. Artillery batteries quickly took up new positions on the flanks of the advancing columns or in between them. The range and accuracy of the guns of that time did not allow the infantry to provide direct support and fire over the head of their troops. Shooting was carried out only with direct fire. The sights were primitive.

In the famous battle of Gettysburg, the advancing columns of the fifteen thousandth army of southerners under the command of General J.Pickett, overcoming one and a half kilometers separating the belligerents, came under fire from 173 guns of General W. Hancock and suffered significant losses, not having time to get close to the enemy at the range of musket fire.

Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871. Prussian steel breech-loading guns with a rate of fire of 2 rounds per minute, firing shells that exploded into dozens of fragments, greatly contributed to the defeat of the French army in this war. For example, in the battle of Sedan, 600 guns manufactured at the Krupp factories destroyed almost the entire French army.The losses of the Prussian army amounted to 5% of the French.

Artillery in 1870-1900. After the invention of the metal case and smokeless gunpowder, rapid-fire guns appeared. For the first time, shells with smokeless powder were used in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The smoke no longer interfered with the gunner when aiming the gun at the target. In 1877, the French invented a new remote fuse with mechanical ignition of the powder composition, which made it possible to more accurately set the time of its operation. At about the same time, the first breech-loading guns appeared for unitary cartridges.The invention of mechanisms that absorb recoil energy (recoil brake) and return the barrel to its original position after recoil (recoil), significantly increased the rate of fire of artillery. In many systems, when the barrel moved, the spent cartridge case was automatically ejected. By 1890, black powder was replaced by pyroxylin, which increased the firing range, and the shells were loaded with a new powerful explosive, TNT.

In 1897 the French created the 75 mm cannon. She had a rate of fire of 30 rounds per minute, a firing range of more than 5 km, a projectile mass of 7.2 kg.A recoil device and a telescopic sight for indirect aiming were installed on it. Other armies followed the example of France, but throughout the First World War, the French “seventy-five” remained the best field weapon. During the American-Spanish War of 1898, the Americans improved methods of firing indirect fire and developed a technique for firing over the head of their troops.

First and Second World Wars. The role of artillery in the battles of both world wars was decisive for the victory of the allied armies.In 1914, the Germans destroyed the forts in Liege and Antwerp, subjecting them to shelling with large-caliber howitzers. In 1918, a long-range record was set: German cannons fired 120 kg shells at Paris from a distance of 122 km (the French called them “Big Berts” in honor of Bertha Krupp von Bohlen, head of the Krupp family). In 1918, the artillery of the Allied forces fired more than 152 million shells; for only one four-hour artillery preparation before the Saint-Miyel offensive operation, carried out by American forces, 1 million were spent.shells. The cost of spent artillery ammunition during the entire First World War was approximately $ 30 billion.

The Second World War was fought with approximately the same artillery weapons, but used on a much larger scale. The United States alone produced 1 billion artillery shells. In 1942, the Americans began to use light aircraft as aerial observation posts and to control artillery fire (spotter aircraft). Air defense artillery appeared.After 100 years of oblivion, rocket weapons have revived and become a formidable one. Finally, the explosions of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki alerted the world to the emergence of a new weapon, thousands of times more destructive than artillery shells.

Field artillery. The effectiveness of artillery in the 20th century increased significantly thanks to improved carriages, sighting devices, operational equipment and devices that determine the position of the target. For example, the French “seventy-five” of the First World War had a firing range of almost 7 km, its carriage provided a very small elevation angle, and the speed of movement on horse-drawn traction was about 9.5 km / h.During World War II, after modernization, this gun fired at 12 km, and its carriage with sliding frames allowed to change the elevation angle to 40 °. A truck could tow this cannon with wheels on rubber tires at a speed of 80 km / h. 75 and 105 mm howitzers became the main guns of this period; they could be disassembled and transported on mules (mountain pack howitzer) and airplanes. The muzzle velocity of most field howitzers was 365-460 m / s, field guns – 600 m / s, new anti-tank guns – 1520 m / s.The tanks were equipped with guns with a caliber of up to 90 mm, equipped with a new anti-recoil device – a muzzle brake that absorbed 25-65% of the recoil energy. It was a massive steel part, screwed onto the muzzle of the barrel, with a hole for the projectile to fly out and side windows. When the projectile flew out of the barrel bore, the powder gases following it hit the walls of the windows with force and pushed the muzzle brake along with the barrel forward, reducing the recoil force. On the basis of the French M1918, many options for guns were created, including the 155-mm cannon, which fired 43 kg shells at 23.7 km.

Missiles and rockets. The development of rocket weapons in the interwar period was sporadic. During World War II, Germany focused on the creation of cruise and ballistic missiles (V-1 and V-2), launched from Germany to destroy Belgian and British cities. See also ROCKET; ROCKET WEAPON.

In 1942 the Germans used Nebelwerfer 41 six-barreled mortars on the Eastern Front, firing rockets (152 mm caliber, 1.5 m long, 5.4 km firing range).Later, the caliber was increased to 320 mm. The lack of accuracy of the fire of these systems was compensated for by its high density.

In the USSR, at the same time, the Katyusha multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) was created. She had from 16 to 60 launch guides mounted on a gun carriage. Projectile caliber 808 mm, weight 1.3-7.7 kg, firing range 4.8-9.6 km. The system became a powerful weapon, especially manpower, and had a strong psychological effect on the enemy.

The bazooka, an American 60-mm hand-held anti-tank rocket launcher designed to destroy armored vehicles and light defensive structures, has become widespread.The bazooka grenade had a mass of 1.5 kg, an initial speed of 640 m / s and penetrated armor more than 10 cm thick. Armor penetration was achieved thanks to the cumulative effect discovered by the American explosives specialist Ch. Munro back in 1887 and found application only in World War II war. To obtain such an effect, a cumulative notch (usually conical) is made in the explosive charge, facing towards the target. The effect is significantly increased if the recess is covered with a metal shell, which, during the explosion, is quickly compressed from the top to the bottom, transforming into a directed metal jet at a speed of 12-15 km / s.

The Americans also used 60-barreled rocket launchers mounted on the General Sherman medium tank. Their rockets with a high-explosive warhead with a caliber of 114 mm and a mass of 17.2 kg produced the same destruction as 105-mm howitzer shells. There were also installations with a caliber of 182 mm.

Recoilless guns appeared in the US Army at the end of World War II. The barrel of such a weapon was a thin-walled pipe with grooves. The shutter was equipped with large holes for the outlet of powder gases.A large number of holes are made in the walls of the sleeve body. When fired, part of the gases through the holes in the sleeve, the annular gap in the chamber and the holes in the bolt breaks out back, balancing the recoil force, and therefore the barrel does not roll away. This eliminates the need to make recoil devices and a massive carriage with frames. The gun was mounted on a car or on a light machine-gun tripod type; The 75 mm gun weighed 64.8 kg and had a range of 6.4 km. The gun crew consisted of two people.

Anti-aircraft artillery. The main achievement in this area was the creation of anti-aircraft artillery systems (ZAK), combining automatic anti-aircraft guns of 76-127 mm caliber, fire control devices and radar stations. Guidance and shooting were carried out automatically. The best anti-aircraft gun of the Second World War was considered the 40-mm Swedish Bofors cannon with a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a projectile weight of 0.9 kg.

Mortars and mortars. In the First World War, with its “trench seat”, mortars were used for firing at troops behind cover.On the eve of World War II, the armies had 280-mm (France), 211-, 355- and 420-mm (Germany), 260-mm (Italy) mortars. However, they were too cumbersome to use effectively.

At the same time, the Stokes mortar appeared in the British army – the prototype of all subsequent models of mortars. It was a smooth-bore gun that fired a feathered mine, the propellant charge of which is located in the tail of the mine itself. The mine is lowered into the barrel; at the same time, it is pricked with a primer on the drummer, which is fixed in the breech.The upper part of the barrel rests on a bipedal carriage with a lifting mechanism and a sight, and the lower part rests on the base plate. During World War II, the US Army was armed with a 61-mm mortar weighing 17.6 kg and an 81-mm mortar weighing 60.7 kg (mine mass from 1.3 to 6.3 kg). The firing range was 1.1-2.7 km.

Artillery ammunition. With the invention of smokeless gunpowder and powerful explosives, such as TNT, amatol, melinite, etc., new types of projectiles appeared: fragmentation projectiles with a remote fuse, providing a projectile burst in the air at a certain height to destroy manpower; high-explosive fragmentation – with a delayed-action remote fuse or a remote impact fuse to destroy manpower and equipment located openly or in field-type structures, as well as aircraft; armor-piercing – with a delayed action bottom fuse, a powerful warhead and a small explosive charge; chemical – for setting smoke screens, zeroing, signaling and hitting manpower with chemical warfare agents.

A radio fuse was used in the American anti-aircraft shells during the Second World War. It was a miniature transceiver that emitted radio signals after a shot. Having met a moving target on the way, the radio signal was reflected from it. Strengthening as the target approached, the signal triggered the detonator.

Organization of US artillery until the middle of the 20th century. From colonial times until 1900, US artillery was divided into field artillery batteries that supported infantry and cavalry on the battlefield, and coastal artillery batteries stationed in ports and harbors for their defense.Artillery battalions were formed from batteries, 4 guns in each, and artillery regiments were formed from battalions. By the First World War, artillery regiments were reduced to artillery brigades. Each infantry division had one artillery brigade, consisting of three artillery regiments. Heavy artillery was reduced to the heavy artillery brigades that were part of the corps and armies. In 1921, anti-aircraft artillery was formed as a kind of coastal artillery. In 1935, after the transition to three-regiment divisions, the artillery brigade of the division began to consist of 4 artillery divisions.In 1942, the artillery brigades split into separate artillery divisions, and infantry groups appeared instead of infantry regiments. The artillery divisions were not included in the groups according to the state, but were assigned to them in the amount of 2-6 for the period of the battle. It was believed that such an organization provides the best flexibility in the combat use of artillery.

By 1940, self-propelled artillery was created to provide direct support to armored divisions. Each tank division included three divisions of self-propelled artillery units (ACS).Their batteries included 6 guns, not 4 as in field artillery. The experience of World War II confirmed the correctness of this decision, and field artillery batteries were also formed from 6 guns. By 1950, the division of artillery into two types – field and coastal – was abolished.

The fourth period (second half of the 20th century). After World War II, the development of artillery faded into the background; the creation of missile and nuclear weapons became a priority.

Trends in the development of artillery.With the removal from service of battleships and the appearance of missiles of all types, large-caliber naval and coastal guns, as well as railway artillery, disappeared. Bulky mortars were replaced by universal howitzers. The mobility of light artillery has increased thanks to its transportation by helicopters and improved tractors. Divisional artillery became airborne, capable of dropping by parachute. Artillery battalions received radar stations (radars) for target detection and identification.

In 1953, in Nevada, an “atomic” cannon fired the first shot with a nuclear projectile. Its caliber is 280 mm, firing range is 24 km; she can also fire with conventional ammunition. 203.2- and 155-mm howitzers were modernized for firing nuclear and conventional ammunition. The US ground forces included missile units and formations. The reorganized divisions began to deploy tactical missiles “Onest John”, “Little John” and “Lacrosse” with a firing range of 24 km, and the army corps – operational-tactical missiles “Corporeal”, “Sargent” and “Redstone” with a firing range of 120- 320 km.The effectiveness of air defense increased with the adoption of the 75-mm Skysviper radar-guided cannon and the Nike-Hercules, Nike-Ajax and Hawk anti-aircraft missiles. See also ROCKET WEAPONS; NUCLEAR WEAPON; ANTI-AIR DEFENSE.

Korean War 1950-1953. In this war, the troops used the same artillery weapons as in the Second World War. For the first time, anti-tank grenade launchers and large-caliber recoilless guns were used. Massive artillery fire played a decisive role in the course of this war.

Vietnam conflict 1965-1973. In this war, the 105-mm M101 howitzer from the Second World War and its new lightweight modification M102 were used. The 155-mm howitzer has proven itself well, which led to the decision to replace the 105-mm howitzers that were in service with the mechanized divisions. The largest were 203.2 and 175 mm howitzers with interchangeable self-propelled gun carriages. The 203.2 mm howitzer fires 90 kg shells at a range of 17 km and remains the best gun in the US Army in terms of firing accuracy.The firing range of the 175-mm howitzer was 32 km, the mass of the projectile was 80 kg. The Hugh Cobra helicopters supported the ground forces with 70mm rockets. In defense, 81- and 107-mm mortars were successfully used; during night attacks, they fired flare mines. For the destruction of manpower, the Beehive cluster projectile with eight thousand arrow-shaped lethal elements was used with great efficiency for the first time. The FADAC computer was used to control the fire of the artillery batteries. Although enemy aircraft did not fly over South Vietnam, quad M55 anti-aircraft machine guns, coaxial 40-mm Duster anti-aircraft guns and Hawk anti-aircraft missiles were deployed to repel a possible attack.

Arab-Israeli wars. In these wars, American 105-, 155-, 203.2-, and 175-mm howitzers and some French artillery systems were used. ACS provided support to tank units. In the last of these wars (1967, 1973), Israeli-made artillery was used. In desert conditions, there were difficulties with the replenishment of ammunition. After delivering fire strikes, the batteries quickly changed positions. Much attention was paid to fire control and close interaction with supported troops.Anti-aircraft rapid-fire cannons and Hawk missiles (1973) were actively used to repel Arab air raids. In addition to performing the usual tasks of destroying artillery and tanks, the Israeli field artillery suppressed enemy air defenses. The 1973 war showed the increased intensity of fleeting battles in comparison with previous conflicts and revealed the need for accurate and timely delivery of artillery strikes and reliable control of combined arms groups consisting of infantry, tank and artillery units.

Science Fiction Laboratory

I don’t know what happened to the current debutants. It has happened before, you take your debut novel, read and physically feel the potential. And a warm thought comes – a couple of novels and it will be a master. And now? I take it, read it, and understand – straight into the king. How so?

How can I get you to agree with my assessment? Let’s start with the Blurbs (it’s not for nothing that they are written). Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Kings of the Wyld” is an outstanding debut that will make you laugh, cry and freeze in anticipation.This is a book that has it all. C.J. Parker

Nicholas Eames gives you unbridled pleasure, and the fantasy genre – a feeling of rock and roll. Sebastian de Castell

I’m afraid I won’t be able to say something completely original to those who read reviews in English. Because a very decent number of them (and all laudatory ones) have already been written according to the novel, and it is difficult to find new characteristics without going into a detailed analysis. Therefore, I will try to construct some kind of generalization.

In the first lines, a favorite game: genre boundaries and other wars for the “grimdark”.And then immediately a slip of the tongue – it’s not him. In order not to leave you without a label on the book for a long time, I will quickly confront Bob Milne with his, IMHO, luxurious term maturesmirk. A colleague cites Remick’s “The Iron Wolves” and “The Barrow” Smiley as examples, and deduces their closeness – in contrast to the naked “grimdark”, this is a classic fantasy, but for advanced users. It does not try to get rid of the recognizable tropes and moves of the classics, it uses them generously. Just not in the light and naive form as before. It does not shun blood and brutality, it ironically winks at the reader in the right places.In general, the term is quite self-explanatory. Does this definition suit you? Me – quite, if you use it utilitarian, to indicate a certain trend, to search for related (in spirit?) Books. Yes, somewhere there is more mirk (darkness), somewhere – smirk (smirks), and somewhere there is a perfect balance (as in “Kings”), but I hope you got the message. For example, I would have dragged the same de Castella’s armor here.

But it is quite another matter, if you ask me, to give that term more clarity, and to define “Kings of the Wyld” in a particular subgenre.I confess that I have long since lost their feeling and am wandering in the border posts. After all, the fact is that, in fact, subgenres (the same grimdark, in particular) are trying to be distinguished through generalizing factors, which are often not decisive for works as a whole. But this is not even embarrassing, but the fact that according to the same factors are not only cousins ​​and cousins, but also the ancestors of our books. They tell me – ambivalent, gray characters, and I ask: who will reproach Elric or Kane for black and white. They tell me – a gloomy world, and in Lancmar, how long would you last? After all, there, as you know, evil is found.And so in almost everything. So why are we so happy about the new and trying to remove it from the classical tradition? I propose to approach from the opposite position – fashion is fashion, but inclusionism is our everything. In order not to tire with lengthy speculations, I propose my trademark trick – I will blur out a couple of (contradicting each other and may not be entirely appropriate, as expected) analogies and return to the novel in question.

We’re talking about fashion and trends here? Then the first message – a person who preferred to dress in a jacket between the world wars, and another, now wearing ankle boots and camouflage, standing next to them, would not be very similar, but their military style tells us a lot.He most likely unites them in character. The second message is that the “little black dress” now opens the knees so unloved by Mademoiselle Coco, it may have an elaborate collar and is cut from a different material, but it’s still it. So it is with our book – whatever one may say, but this is the familiar “heroic fantasy” with all the necessary connotations laid down in the genre by the progenitors. As for the newfangled frills, everything is in order with mirc: the heroes are not ideal paladins, and they are now saving not the princess, but those who were earlier, it would be better not… And the world is on the verge of the end … And a lot of everyday tragedy. If fantasy once could be regarded as pure escapism, then heroics were the first to start shifting that edge of the rainbow from the land of pink unicorns. Why then be surprised that in the conditions of the current boom on the cynical wolf’s grin of the grimdark, pure heroics turned that rainbow into a ring – now it does not take the reader somewhere, it brings him home. We have a feeling of nagging realism, but at the same time, by means of fantasy, we get a very bizarre view of our world.More details about smirk below, but for now a summary of the tricks: if you don’t like “clean”, then let it be “new” heroics. Mature gloom and these jokes of yours.

Humor. It is like a counter-scapist canopy – it covers from bright light and does not let flies through. Say what you like, but it becomes more and more difficult to look at our world without him. My very special IMHO, but it cannot be called a good book, in which there is no place for a smile (the degree of curvature of the latter is not discussed). As the classic said: a serious face is not a sign of intelligence.Master Eames is doing well with this case. No, this is not Pratchett for you (although some, to my surprise, compare), but rather the same Parker – substrate humor, but supporting the narrative, not every time subtle, but always appropriate. Well, do not forget that winking with the reader is part of the trend. Plus, the humor comes a lot from the plot format. First, we read a typical “road trip”, in which not only the result of the quest is important, but the process – fees, provisions, transport, difficulties with the arsenal, “jogging” along the most dangerous part of the Wild, a halt, and so on.Humor becomes applied – it adds drive and travel with us with a breeze. Secondly, a group adventure – the greatest gang of all time “Saga”. Five people who have known each other since their youth survived together in the most dangerous alterations. Then their roads parted for twenty years, and when they converged, people who were already pretty battered by life met at the intersection. Naturally, they will make fun of their own shortcomings, of course, they will try to soften the impracticability of their task with “gallows humor.”And what is there to say, that with their old way of life, that with the current circumstances, a high syllable is combined with work. Here either obscenities, or with a grin …

Since we’re talking about heroes. This is where this very news of our “heroic” really works. Have you noticed how subtly the current authors have learned to present the characters? Of course, interaction with non-Philosophy literature, and intersections with other mediums, and the complex of means accumulated over the years of the development of the genre to achieve the necessary images, in the end, in our century, both writers and readers handle information much more freely play a role here.From this, the characters are formed, on the one hand (from the point of view of the variety of instruments), more difficult, and on the other (from the point of view of perception) – easier. This is how, through dialogues, legends, squabbles during the battle, monologues of the “main” character Clay Cooper, value judgments of others and so on, we quietly get five different, but very voluminous personalities:

* Gabriel – frontman, “Golden Gabe”, once graceful, but now beaten, but not broken hero. At the zenith of fame, he could persuade anyone, for anything, and now he is afraid to ask his best friends for help, because he himself hardly believes in the possibility of success.

* Moog is a wizard who knows everything in the world, but, despite the inescapable optimism, practically surrendered to his main enemy;

* Matrick is a thief and a reveler who has become a king. No, not so – became [i] a good [/ i] king and an excellent father.

* Ganelon is an ideal killer, to whom even close friends did not come to the rescue at the right time. Because they believed that he deserved his punishment.

* Clay Cooper – Nicknamed “The Slow Hand” (because he never gets to hit first), a laconic leader who wins his battles with a shield.He just wants to go home, but he will not stray from his path.

And besides them, there are many supporting stars. Ettin alone is worth it – the quintessence of monstrous nobility. And this distinctive complexity of each, this struggle between a man and a monster, both within himself and on the battlefield, makes the characters vivid and deep. Moreover, they are mainly presented through the prism of perception of Cooper – a hero whose not abstract, but pragmatic humanism makes the book very human. Well, and do not forget the main thing: if you want a detachable sleeve – please, but you cannot lower the waistline = Nicholas Eames will not let the gloom of the book and the “dullness” of the characters take away heroism from the “kings”.

Ettin, you say? Uh-huh, he. And also a whole abyss of all kinds of undead and overdose. Yes, we went over to the world and that same Game. First, a little about Wyld. First of all, there is no such word in modern English. But. a hybrid of wild (wild; by the way, in Old Frisian it is still wyld) and wyrd (archaic form weird, strange, strange in modern language) is read clearly. Again, if we turn to the Old English meaning of wyrd, then we will recall those very prophetic sisters, since this is an Anglo-Saxon fate.Well, if we dig deep enough, we can also recall the Old English ge-wyld – domain, power. And you know, Nicholas put all these contexts into the book (my Game, of course, does not reflect this, as best he could) … But let’s start in order. The race of druins (local elves) fled from another dimension, being immortal, they immediately began to rule everything (founding the Dominion), but being sparse from the same moment began to degenerate. And in order not to get rid of themselves in one sitting, they conducted all their merry feuds with the help of the henchmen of the lower creatures.And yet they degenerated. And the creatures blossomed wildly – this zoo is Wyld (excluding the part of them that formed humanity). As a result, mysterious ruins, technological artifacts, a beautiful cosmogonic legend and several lone psychos with revanchist inclinations remained from the Druins. In the center of the world there is a large forest, where all kinds of fabulous or fantasy creatures are found – Heartwyld (Puschedichye, well, this is … I’m not a translator), and on the edges (mostly on the right) of the state of people.And on the left is the goal of our campaign, the “glorious” republic of Castia.

Well, what is original here, you ask? Well, nothing, I will answer you. Because, the author winks with readers pretty much across the world. And he is here for beauty, not originality. At the right moments, suitable monsters get out of it, a political context emerges from it, a humanistic message begins to crystallize out of its complexities. And finally, thanks to him, such a social phenomenon as gangs of mercenaries functions in the book.Do not remember the Black Squad and the like, here it is rather group witchcraft according to Sapkowski crossed (by fire?) With the hunt for the Seeking Beast at White. The orderlies of the forest, so to speak. And twenty years ago, when the Saga was the most glorious of the gang, the threat to humanity from Dichy was an immediate and very urgent problem. Judge for yourself: one English reviewer tried to list all kinds of monsters, but the second paragraph ran out of steam. But Saga and colleagues worked well, so they retired early (albeit prematurely, as it turned out).Now in human lands, monsters are found in menageries and in arenas for battles, and mercenaries prefer the mentioned arenas to tourist trips to the forest – heroism in comfortable conditions. But someone gathers a huge horde, besieges Castia, and among the besieged is Rosa – Gabriel’s daughter … This is where the documentary film from the Wyld Planet channel begins (among other things) about the interesting life of wild animals. And they are … dangerous.

It seems that everything is going well anyway, but the book also needs a cherry on the cake, so I’ll show you this accessory with rivets now.Band, tour, frontman … Everything seemed to be on the surface, but Master Eames caught it more clearly than most. And decided, but not to roll these stones? Come on. Rock and fantasy are very close. It is the kinship of the background, it is the intertwined roots. So why not turn our mercenaries into rock stars? Matty with two knives is reckless, drinking and making a beat. Clay with his bass shield, backbone that leads. The group appears in the arena … Spotlights. The roar of the crowd. And the ragged riffs of the battle with the chimera … Yes, the gangs of these days are not the same, well, look, instead of harsh armor, glamorous glitters, instead of heavy alcohol tours in the wild west, sterility of concert halls.And there is a Woodstock here, and even Yoko Ono, and these are only obvious things, and how many are hidden in the little things (yes, at least check out the album cover). And the feeling of the last two decades from the comebacks of the great sixties and seventies … Nicholas even prepared a soundtrack, however, he does not insist on it – everyone has their own rock and roll. But with the song, go ahead and into battle.

It seems to me that the structural elements alone are enough to suspect a good book, but there is also a connecting nuance. The sum of the skill of the author and the professionalism of the editors led to the fact that the text came out very dense.As if the miraculous elixir of Mug was applied to the book. No plot sagging, no non-fired guns, no jokes for the sake of jokes. There is respect for the classics, elements of modern genre and a very strong book as a result.

Koda: dark and humane, lyrical and rhythmic, driving and fun book about true friendship, about adventures, about people and monsters, about glory that will leave us for centuries. With a straw on the bass. Small book pleasure. I think you will want to read / listen to this book.

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