Worst lacrosse heads. Top Attack Lacrosse Heads of 2018: Revolutionizing the Game

Which lacrosse heads are dominating the attack position in 2018. How do new technologies enhance player performance. What features should attackmen look for when choosing a lacrosse head.

The Evolution of Lacrosse Head Technology

Lacrosse head technology has advanced significantly in recent years, revolutionizing how attackmen approach the game. Modern heads are designed to optimize performance across various playing styles, from feeding and finishing to outside shooting and creative playmaking. Let’s explore the top attack heads of 2018 and the innovative features that set them apart.

Maverik Kinetik: Precision and Power Combined

Taking the top spot on our list is the Maverik Kinetik, a head that has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the attack position. What makes the Kinetik stand out?

• Tension Lock technology for creating the perfect shooting channel
• Level 4 bottom rail enabling a mid-high pocket for increased power and hold
• Aggressive face shape for enhanced control and accuracy
• Optimal release point for maximum energy transfer while shooting

The Kinetik is particularly well-suited for players who excel at outside shooting, making it a goalie’s worst nightmare from long range. Its design allows for pinpoint accuracy and devastating power, giving attackmen a significant edge on the field.

ECD Mirage: Versatility Meets Performance

The ECD Mirage has earned its place as a staple in the offensive world, catering to elite players who demand versatility and performance. What features make the Mirage a top choice for attackmen?

• Balanced design offering both durability and lightweight construction
• Narrow face shape and aggressive flare for superior ball control
• Ample stringing holes for customizable pocket designs
• Ability to withstand aggressive checks while maintaining speed and finesse

ECD’s commitment to keeping stringers in mind is evident in the Mirage’s design, allowing players to easily customize their pocket to match their unique playing style. This adaptability makes the Mirage an excellent choice for attackmen who pride themselves on their versatility.

STX Surgeon 700: Precision Engineering for Elite Performance

The STX Surgeon 700 brings medical-grade precision to the lacrosse field, offering a design tailored for elite players. What cutting-edge features does the Surgeon 700 offer?

• Channel Lock technology for a tighter channel and increased accuracy
• Suspension rail system allowing for greater stringing freedom
• Shorter throat design for improved ball control
• Enduraform construction for enhanced stiffness and durability

With its focus on accuracy and customization, the Surgeon 700 is ideal for attackmen who prioritize precision in their game. The head’s durability ensures it can withstand the rigors of intense play, making it a reliable choice for competitive players.

Warrior EVO 5: A Time-Tested Favorite with Modern Upgrades

The Warrior EVO line has long been a favorite among offensive players, and the EVO 5 continues this tradition with some notable improvements. What makes the EVO 5 a top contender for attackmen?

• Tilt-Tech sidewall holes for consistent pocket hold
• Symrail sidewall design reducing weight without compromising stiffness
• Mid to low pocket design for quick release and ultimate ball control
• Loc-throat technology to reduce head rattle and improve stability

The EVO 5’s versatility makes it an excellent “do everything” type of offensive head, suitable for a wide range of attacking styles. Its balance of traditional design elements with modern enhancements appeals to players who appreciate a blend of familiarity and innovation.

Nike Lakota U: Lightweight Performance for Agile Play

Rounding out our top five is the Nike Lakota U, a popular choice among NCAA players on Nike-sponsored teams. What sets the Lakota U apart in the competitive world of attack heads?

• Ultralight design at just 4.8 ounces
• Narrow pinch for increased hold and ball control
• Mid-high pocket design for quick release and added power
• Short round throat allowing closer hand placement to the ball

The Lakota U’s lightweight construction and focus on ball control make it an excellent choice for agile attackmen who prioritize quick movements and precise handling. Its popularity at the collegiate level is a testament to its performance capabilities.

Choosing the Right Attack Head: Factors to Consider

When selecting an attack head, players should consider several factors to ensure they choose the best option for their playing style. What key elements should attackmen evaluate?

• Pocket placement and depth
• Face shape and pinch
• Stringing options and customization potential
• Weight and durability
• Release point and shooting characteristics

By carefully considering these factors and understanding their own strengths and preferences, attackmen can select a head that complements their skills and enhances their performance on the field.

The Impact of Head Technology on Attacking Play

The advancements in lacrosse head technology have significantly impacted how attackmen approach the game. How have these innovations changed offensive strategies?

• Increased shooting accuracy and power
• Improved ball retention and control during dodges
• Enhanced ability to maintain possession under pressure
• Greater customization options to suit individual playing styles
• Reduced weight allowing for quicker stick movements and faster shots

These technological improvements have allowed attackmen to push the boundaries of their skills, resulting in more dynamic and explosive offensive play across all levels of the sport.

The Future of Attack Head Design

As lacrosse continues to evolve, what can we expect from future attack head designs? Manufacturers are likely to focus on:

• Advanced materials for even lighter and more durable heads
• Improved aerodynamics for faster shot speeds
• Smart technology integration for performance tracking
• Enhanced customization options for truly personalized play

The ongoing innovation in lacrosse head technology promises to further revolutionize the attack position, providing players with ever-more sophisticated tools to elevate their game.

Maintenance and Care for High-Performance Attack Heads

To ensure that your attack head maintains its performance over time, proper care and maintenance are essential. What steps should players take to protect their investment?

• Regular cleaning to remove dirt and debris
• Proper storage to prevent warping or damage
• Periodic re-stringing to maintain optimal pocket performance
• Inspection for cracks or weak points after intense games or practices
• Following manufacturer guidelines for care and use

By treating their attack heads with care, players can extend the life of their equipment and ensure consistent performance throughout the season.

The Role of String Jobs in Attack Head Performance

While the head itself is crucial, the string job plays an equally important role in an attack head’s performance. How does stringing affect play, and what should attackmen consider?

• Pocket depth and placement for optimal ball control
• Channel width for accuracy and consistency
• Whip and hold characteristics for desired release points
• Mesh type and tension for weather resistance and feel

A well-strung attack head can significantly enhance a player’s abilities, making it essential for attackmen to work with skilled stringers or develop their own stringing expertise.

Adapting to New Attack Head Technology

As lacrosse head technology continues to advance, players must adapt their skills and techniques to fully leverage these innovations. How can attackmen best transition to new head designs?

• Gradual transition periods to become accustomed to new features
• Focused practice sessions to exploit technological advantages
• Experimenting with different stringing patterns to find the optimal setup
• Seeking feedback from coaches and teammates on performance changes

By approaching new technology with an open mind and a willingness to adapt, attackmen can significantly enhance their game and stay ahead of the competition.

The Importance of Personal Preference in Head Selection

While technological advancements and expert recommendations are valuable, personal preference remains a crucial factor in selecting an attack head. Why is individual comfort so important?

• Confidence in equipment translates to better on-field performance
• Playing style variations require different head characteristics
• Hand size and grip preferences affect head choice
• Psychological factors can influence a player’s connection with their equipment

Ultimately, the best attack head for any player is one that feels natural in their hands and allows them to play their best game without second-guessing their equipment.

Balancing Cost and Performance in Attack Head Selection

High-performance attack heads often come with a premium price tag. How can players balance cost considerations with the desire for top-tier equipment?

• Evaluating long-term durability versus initial cost
• Considering the level of play and performance requirements
• Looking for sales or discounts on previous year models
• Investing in versatile heads that can adapt to evolving playing styles

By carefully weighing the cost-benefit ratio of different attack heads, players can make informed decisions that align with both their performance goals and budget constraints.

The Role of Brand Loyalty in Attack Head Choices

Brand loyalty can significantly influence a player’s equipment choices. What factors contribute to brand loyalty in lacrosse, and how does it impact attack head selection?

• Familiarity with a brand’s design philosophy and characteristics
• Positive experiences with previous models from the same manufacturer
• Brand reputation within the lacrosse community
• Sponsorship and endorsement by favorite players or teams

While brand loyalty can provide a sense of consistency and trust, players should remain open to innovations from various manufacturers to ensure they’re not missing out on potentially game-changing technology.

Environmental Considerations in Attack Head Performance

Environmental factors can significantly impact the performance of lacrosse equipment. How do different conditions affect attack heads, and what should players consider?

• Temperature variations affecting head flexibility and durability
• Humidity levels influencing string tension and pocket consistency
• Playing surface characteristics (turf vs. grass) impacting ground ball pickup
• Wet conditions affecting grip and ball control

Understanding how environmental factors interact with attack head performance allows players to make informed decisions about equipment selection and maintenance based on their typical playing conditions.

Adapting Attack Heads for Specialized Roles

While versatility is valuable, some attackmen may benefit from heads tailored to specific roles within the offense. What specialized modifications might be considered?

• Extra-stiff construction for dominant outside shooters
• Wider face shape for primary feeders to improve catch radius
• Deeper pockets for players who frequently drive through traffic
• Lighter designs for speed-dependent creators and dodgers

By fine-tuning their equipment to their primary on-field responsibilities, attackmen can maximize their effectiveness within their team’s offensive system.

The Psychological Impact of Equipment Choice on Attackmen

The equipment a player uses can have a significant psychological impact on their performance. How does an attackman’s choice of head affect their mental game?

• Confidence boost from using top-tier equipment
• Placebo effect of believing in the technology’s benefits
• Reduced anxiety about equipment failure during crucial moments
• Sense of identity and belonging associated with specific brands or models

Recognizing the psychological aspects of equipment choice can help attackmen select heads that not only perform well technically but also provide the mental edge needed for peak performance.

The Role of Attack Heads in Player Development

As players progress through their lacrosse careers, their equipment needs may evolve. How do attack heads factor into player development at different stages?

• Beginner-friendly designs to encourage proper technique formation
• Intermediate heads that balance forgiveness with performance
• Advanced models that reward refined skills and offer maximum customization
• Professional-grade heads that push the limits of technology and rules

By matching attack head characteristics to a player’s skill level and development goals, coaches and players can create a equipment progression plan that supports continuous improvement and skill refinement.

The Global Influence on Attack Head Design

As lacrosse continues to grow internationally, how are global playing styles influencing attack head design?

• Incorporation of box lacrosse elements for improved close-quarters performance
• Adaptations for various climate conditions found in emerging lacrosse markets
• Design influences from other stick sports popular in different regions
• Consideration of different physicalities and playing styles across cultures

The globalization of lacrosse is leading to a cross-pollination of ideas in equipment design, potentially resulting in more versatile and innovative attack heads that cater to a wider range of playing styles and conditions.

Top Attack Heads of 2018

Every year lacrosse heads get more advanced. We’ve complied a list of the top attack heads of 2018 to make all the new science and technology seem a lot less complicated. Here at Universal, we took a look at all the top heads and ran our tests. Attack is a position where you can succeed in many ways. You can be a feeder, inside finisher, outside shooter, or creator. It is important to find the right head that will help amplify how you like to play the game. This is our list for the top attack heads of 2018. Not an attackmen? We have a list for the top overall heads, as well as, a list for top midfield and defense heads.

Top 5 Attack Heads of 2018

#1 – Maverik Kinetik

No surprise here that the Maverik Kinetik sits atop our list. Since release, the Kinetik has been a force to be reckon with at the attack position. The Maverik Kinetik has Tension Lock technology that allows a stringer to place the perfect shooting channel for more accuracy. The level 4 bottom rail allows for a mid-high pocket that delivers added power and increased hold. An optimal release point an aggressive face shape increases control and accuracy while allowing maximum energy transfer while shooting. This head is made for the guy looking to step in from the outside and let one fly. The Maverik Kinetik is a goalie’s worst nightmare from the outside.

#2 – ECD Mirage

The ECD Mirage is a staple in the offensive world. Designed for the elite offensive player, the ECD Mirage has enough support to handle some of the most vicious checks, but is lightweight enough for fast shots, and superior ball control. ECD is known for keeping the stringer in mind, and that really shows in the Mirage with a bunch of stringing holes, a narrow face shape, an aggressive flair. All of these, make stringing the ECD Mirage the way you like it a breeze.

#3 – STX Surgeon 700

You don’t need to go to school for 8 years if you want to be be a surgeon. All you need is the STX Surgeon 700. The Surgeon 700 offers a design that is perfect for the elite player. New technologies like Channel Lock, allow the player to string a tighter channel, which creates more consistency, and even more accuracy. The new suspension rail allows for even more freedom when stringing a pocket, so you can get it just the way you like it. The STX Surgeon 700 has a shorter throat giving you the ability to get closer to the ball for better control and a built in support for reduced head rattle. The STX Surgeon 700 is made with Enduraform which is up to 25% more stiff and up to 15% more durable, so you know it’s going to hold up in the worst conditions.

#4 – Warrior EVO 5

You can’t have a top attack heads list without including the Warrior EVO 5. The Evo line has stood the test of time, being a staple in the offensive game for years. Now the EVO 5 has even more features that make it perfect for anyone looking for a “do everything” type of offensive head. Tilt-Tech sidewall holes are angled ensuring that your sidewall string stays tight for a consistent pocket with improved hold. The Warrior EVO 5 has Symrail sidewall design which reduces weight without losing stiffness. Designed for a mid to low pocket in mid for a quicker release and ultimate ball control. Last of all, like most Warrior heads the EVO 5 comes with the Loc-throat which secures the head better and reduces head rattle.

#5 – Nike Lakota U

Last but not least, we have the Nike Lakota U. Easily one of Nike’s most popular heads, the Lakota U has been used by most players in the NCAA that have a Nike sponsored team. Coming in at 4.8 ounces, the Nike Lakota U is one of the lightest heads out there. The narrower pinch increases the hold and adds ball control. The Lakota U bottom rail is designed for a mid-high pocket which creates a quick release and added power. Plus, the Lakota U utilizes short round throat, which allows the player to get their hand closer to the ball, perfect for the one handed cradler.

Best Women’s Lacrosse Complete Sticks for 2021 Lacrosse Video

Our top picks for the best women’s complete lacrosse sticks for 2021. The women’s game is changing rapidly and major advancements in pocket technology have made it easier than ever for advancing youth players to get their game to the next level quickly. If your player wants to advance in the game, she should not be playing with a starter stick, because of the advanced technology that is now available in complete sticks.  With the introduction of mesh pockets, younger players can now learn how to catch and shoot quicker and more precise. Also, the introduction of degree technology allows for higher powered shots, more accurate passes, and a superior draw control.

Here is our Pro’s list of the top women’s complete lacrosse sticks for 2021:

1. STX Crux Pro Elite Womens Lacrosse Stick

    

   The newly released STX Crux Pro Elite women’s complete lacrosse stick has a new minimal design for the lightest Crux head in history. Our Pro’s love how light this stick is, and the way the Crux Mesh Pro holds the ball in the sweet spot. STX updated the best selling Crux to feature EnduraForm to decrease warping and provide a stiffer feel. Our Pro’s love the way the Speed Scoop gobbles up balls. You will absolutely see this stick in some of the most elite women’s players in the game.

   • Features EnduraForm – a new, proprietary formulation for improved toughness in a wider array of temperatures
   • DropRail technology minimizes sidewall design for superior ball retention and a wider range of motion
   • Speed Scoop enhances ground ball play with integrated top string protection
   • STX-exclusive Offset Techology naturally drives the ball to the sweet spot
   • Lightweight, 7/8″ Crux Pro handle features Shaft Lock and integrated end cap
   • Strung by STX with Crux Mesh Pro

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2. Maverik Ascent Complete Stick With Mesh 

    

   The Maverik Ascent Women’s Complete Stick has a 22 Degree Release AngleTM which allows for high-powered shots, accurate passes and superior draw control. The highest in degree technology, to date. With enhanced stiffness and a Ground Control scoop, the Ascent is tenacious in unsettled situations. Our Pro’s threw around with it in the back and think the consistent channel puts the ball in the sweet spot every time for a quick release. Little, to no, break in for the mesh and leather runner pocket systems. We also love the new rose gold color accents, and the 7/8″ shaft which features a new molded butt end design. The sidewall geometry design for the draw allows the Ascent to slide easily into the opponent’s head for better placement on the draw. The shielded sidewall protects stringing from wear and tear. We think this is a perfect stick for the power shooting midfielder and for the Draw. The head was proudly strung in Syracuse, NY.

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3. Gait Whip Complete Stick

    

   The Gait Whip is one of the most anticipated releases of the Gait brand. Our pros think the Curved Offset is one of the key features that sets this stick apart. The ball drops faster into the sweet spot than any other head, providing incredible feel, control, and power. The double-wall feature, debuted on the Gait Draw, keeps the channel narrow further adding additional control. You will leave the competition in the dust on ground balls with the new scoop shape and angle.

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4. Nike Lunar Fly Complete Stick

    

   The Nike Lunar Fly women’s complete lacrosse stick is one of the best complete sticks in the game that is strung with mesh. Our Pros think this is the best stick that Nike has to date.

• This stick really holds the ball in the pocket for accurate passing and catching
• Beginners will enjoy the high sweet spot and the soft mesh
• Elite level attackers will love the lightweight feel of this composite shaft
• Strung with a high mesh pocket and the actual head geometry forces a high pocket for increased hold
• This head is strung with channel tabs that help guide the ball straight up to the sweet spot
• 10 degree Technology which provides a quicker release and enhanced ball feel

CUSTON STRINGING FOR WOMEN’S LACROSSE HEADS

The best women’s lacrosse rail pockets and custom mesh stringing in the game is done at Lax.com. For two decades, the best high school and collegiate players in the nation have trusted us to custom string their sticks. We look at other companies’ backward knots, low pockets, and terrible release points and are amazed at how little these stringers know. If you are looking for the best and most experienced pockets and stringing in the game, trust Lax.com to deliver. 

These are just a few of our picks. LAX.com offers a wide variety of women’s lacrosse complete sticks for every player’s ability. If you have any questions about what might be right for you or your player, feel free to give our Pro’s a call at 855-255-5294. We will be able to tell you what we think is right based on your age, ability, and position.

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Best Lacrosse Brands
– SportStop.com

If you are looking for the top brands for lacrosse equipment, you have come to the right place. We carry all of the highest quality products from top names in the industry, including STX, Brine, Warrior, Cascade, and Maverik. These are names with decades of experience in producing top of the line gear that is used on fields of every skill level, from schools to amateurs to professionals.

View Some Of Our Other Brands

Whether you are a professional athlete looking to up your game at the highest level of competition, or a hobbyist who simply wants to have the most fun possible, we have the best selection of lacrosse equipment that will help you find the perfect match for you.

There are numerous advantages to ensuring you have the best technology in the sport in your gear. The top lacrosse brands actively work in close contact with top athletes to ensure that their equipment can withstand the rigors of intense play, as well as boost performance to the highest level. You will get more protection from your pads with a more comfortable fit, better control and accuracy from your stick, and a better game overall. Not only will this help you train harder and compete stronger, you will simply have more fun playing the sport you love every day.

Browse the largest selection of high quality lacrosse gear around. We have protective pads to fit players of all ages and sizes, including youth, men’s and women’s gear, to help guarantee you find the perfect match for you so that you can stay protected and comfortable on the field. We also carry shafts and heads to help you customize the best stick, or whole sticks if you are looking for something already built. If you need to elevate your training and practice sessions, shop for a variety of equipment including rebounders, goals, balls, and more. With our selection of equipment, you will find everything you need this season at one place, quick and easy!

When you shop with SportStop, you know you are getting the best selection of the top lacrosse brands on the market. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality gear to players around the world, so you can maximize your game and have more fun every day.

Best 5 Lacrosse Attack Heads Reviews (2021)

Not all lacrosse heads are the same. Some are specifically designed for the defenders whereas some are made for attackers. Lacrosse attack heads usually have these following features –

• Most lacrosse attack heads tend to have either low or mid pocket for greater ball control and easier retention of the ball.
• Lacrosse attacking players focus more on passing and shooting accuracy and therefore, it is no wonder that lacrosse players who play in the attacking positions prefer to use lacrosse head that has got tight throats. Tight throats help to increase the precision of the shots.
• Most attacking lacrosse players want to have a high level of control over the lacrosse ball in an order to score more goals and to add more firepower to their shots. This is the reason why a vast majority of these lacrosse attacking players tend to opt for narrow heads.

If you aspire to be great lacrosse attacking player, you will have to possess these following skills – accurate passing of balls, ability to handle the lacrosse stick steady and a penchant for perfection. Now, as obvious, in order to improve your game, you will need to have quick access to the best lacrosse equipment. Therefore, it is no wonder why people don’t hesitate a bit to loosen their purse string when it comes to selecting the best lacrosse head for attacking position.

As an attacking player, you will have to find a lacrosse head that will help you pick up the groundball easily and effortlessly.

Best 5 Attacking Lacrosse Heads

Affiliate Disclaimer: This site is reader-supported and we earn commissions (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase products from retailers after clicking on a link from our site.

Here is a list of the best lacrosse heads that are designed specifically for lacrosse players who play in the attacking position –

1. STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head

STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head is designed for those players who are just trying to improve their skills. Made from premium quality materials, STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head will help you bring out the best in you. Designed for attacking players, STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head features a minimal side design and is specifically designed to help women lacrosse players to add more thrust to their attacking abilities.

Wide catching area and tight pinch are the two unique features of this STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head. To improve the accuracy of the passes and shots, STX Lacrosse Crux 600 Girls Strung Lacrosse Head has got a pointed scoop. With this attacking lacrosse head, you will enjoy better ball retention.

2. Warrior Rabil Unstrung Lacrosse Head

Warrior Rabil Unstrung Lacrosse Head is designed with the only thing in mind and that is to help attackers dominate the field. This particular lacrosse head is designed by MLL superstar Paul Rabil. This is the perfect weapon that an attacking lacrosse player can aspire to have. Perfect for making wicked takeaway checks.  Warrior Rabil Unstrung Lacrosse Head will also help you improve the accuracy of your passes.

Some of the conspicuous features of this Warrior Rabil Unstrung Lacrosse Head are – longer sidewall transition, deeper pocket, and Truoffset design. Available in 9 different color combinations, Warrior Rabil Unstrung Lacrosse Head is the ultimate lacrosse head out there. G grab it before it is too late.

3. Brine Clutch Lacrosse Head

Brine is a familiar name in the lacrosse circle and they are known for manufacturing top quality lacrosse equipment. Brine Clutch Lacrosse Head is another awesome product from the house of Brine and it does not need any introduction. This lacrosse head looks strong and study and thus making it ideal for attacking players. Brine Clutch Lacrosse Head has earned a reputation for being durable. It has got all the qualities that a standard attacking lacrosse stick should have.

Brine Clutch Lacrosse Head features a patented TruOffset design that makes it easier for the lacrosse players to maximize the depth of the pocket as it has a direct impact on the shot power. If you are looking for an attacking lacrosse head that offers smooth release and has got multiple pocket positions, look no farther than Brine Clutch Lacrosse Head.

4. String King Men’s Mark 2V Midfield Head Strung

String King Men’s Mark 2V Midfield Head is a perfect combination of accuracy, control, and strength. It is touted as one of the best lacrosse attacking heads available in the market. The designers of this String King Men’s Mark 2V Midfield Head have done an incredible job by identifying the low-stress areas so that excess materials can be removed from that parts without making any kind of sacrifice on its strength.

This attacking lacrosse head is extremely lightweight and stiff. String King Men’s Mark 2V Midfield Head allows easier scooping of balls. It also has got rounded edges. It has got 29 stringing holes that means, you will have enough options to customize the head the way you like.

5. Warrior Evo Warp Pro Mid-Low Pocket Whip 3 Lacrosse Head

Warrior Evo Warp Pro Mid-Low Pocket Whip 3 Lacrosse Head allows you to release the balls fast and offers superior ball control. If you are an attacker and wants to pass balls quickly and effortlessly, you should always opt for Warrior Evo Warp Pro Mid-Low Pocket Whip 3 Lacrosse Head.

The design and the structure of the pocket of this Warrior Evo Warp Pro Mid-Low Pocket Whip 3 Lacrosse Head are done after taking into consideration the feedbacks of top players. Consistent performance is somewhat guaranteed thanks to its built-in EVO Specific WARP pocket. This lacrosse attack head is a perfect game-ready off the shelf. It does not rattle and provides superior performance no matter how bad the conditions are.

Characteristics of An Attacking

Lacrosse Heads

1. Lightweight

Contour and arch are the two factors that you need to carefully consider while selecting the right attacking lacrosse head. Traditionally, attacking lacrosse heads are lightweight because a heavy lacrosse head can slow an attacker down and this can have a devastating impact on the overall performance of the player.

2. Narrow Pocket

Narrow pocket allows players to have better control over the lacrosse ball while carrying it. Accurate shooting is made possible thanks to the narrow pocket of most attacking lacrosse heads. The meeting point of the shaft and throat of these lacrosse heads tends to have a slight curve. This curve helps attacking lacrosse players to add more power to their shots.

3. Flexibility

An attacking lacrosse head should be flexible otherwise you will find it really hard to make lighting fast shots. It also needs to be durable otherwise you will find it hard to deal with rough checks. A lightly pinched head is ideal for attacking position in lacrosse. To ensure better ball control, you need to opt for an attacking lacrosse head that flaunts an offset design.

4. Fabrics of the Pockets

Pockets of lacrosse attacking head are available in different shapes and sizes. Traditional attacking lacrosse heads usually have 4 leather pieces that go vertically from the head to the throat. However, there is a major downside to this and that is leather laces are almost impossible to restring and they lose their stability and flexibility as they age.

Synthetic pockets, on the other hand, are easy to maintain; however, it is another story that you might need some time to get used to it. Some lacrosse attacking heads use synthetic fabric in place of leather strips and they seem to work just fine.

Last modified: March 2, 2021

This Head Sucks: The Warrior Stiffi

Welcome to “This Head Sucks”, a series on the worst lacrosse heads ever made. Friends, you have no idea how easy you have it. The stick you have right next to you, or in your car, is the culmination of decades of research and development. It’s also the result of dozens of experiments that were complete and abject failures the likes of which the lacrosse world will likely never see again. However, those who do not respect their history are doomed to repeat it. So, in that spirit, I am here to educate you on some of the most egregious failures of design, execution, and effort to ever sully our great game.

Today’s pariah is the Warrior Stiffi.

Who is it For: Allegedly designed for defensemen and/or people who love boner jokes, the Stiffi came out at near the height of Warrior’s popularity in the 2007/08 season. It was advertised as the flagship of the next generation of Warrior’s “Titanium” series heads. It retailed for over 130 dollars (or $150.00 factory strung) which was an even more astronomical price then than it would be now. There are so many levels of despicable that this head represents that the price tag is the most overlooked. This was one of the first “super heads” that lacrosse companies tried to push on the public with a gimmick that had, at best, a placebo effect or, at worst, snapped in twain like the patience of an American citizen during a Presidential debate.

What happens first, your current head gets warped or your new metal-infused head shatters and stabs an opponent? The question is moot because one of those things is annoying and the other is actually dangerous. The Stiffi enjoyed a production run that was a season (or three) too long. Which is to say that too many of them were made because it was expected to be an explosive hit when it was actually more like a bunch of firecrackers being set off inside of a garbage can. This head hung around for so many years that they all turned that sickly yellow color that every lacrosse company thinks is cool and calls “bone white” like they’re comparing business cards in “American Psycho”.

Why it Sucks: Oh, besides the fact that the “Stiffi” sounds like a bunch of aggro Mountain Dew Code Red swilling bros on a hang gliding trip created after they completed systematic sexual harassment of every waitress in a lonesome mountain town? Besides that? Well, it’s probably the idiotic idea of placing a U-shaped metal rod in the front of the face of the head. There is a reason that no other company even tried to do this and that reason is related to dangerous breakage. Have you ever seen the kind of cut that can be caused by a broken or cracked metal shaft on bare skin? It is actually horrific.

Back when I was coaching one of my assistants was running a drill where he pushed out ball carriers with a [light] crosscheck. On the last run of the drill, his shaft (a 7075 alloy of unknown origin) snapped and opened up the deltoid muscle of one of our starting defensemen. He left, got stitches, came back to practice…and then we got an earful from his mom and the AD. Lacrosse, by its very nature, is unsafe. That’s why every handle has a sticker on the side of it that has that very phrase on it. But at least the warning is there on the sticker.

Now, imagine placing actual metal (albeit titanium alloy, not some chintzy 7075 aluminum) inside the face of a head that was marketed as the next big thing in lacrosse. In many ways, we should all be thankful that the price and the utility of the Stiffi flopped so aggressively.

One Good Thing: It, uh, was actually pretty rigid? I mean, until it eventually shattered into harmful nylon and metal particles that didn’t turn you into Ironman or require a tetanus shot.

Scale of Trash: Performance-wise, it’s a full-on miss. It’s actually a lot like another Warrior head that had a cult following (see below) which also fails to meet any modern standards for stringability or practical use. However, in terms of nomenclature…there is no more despicable piece of equipment this side of the “Warrior Pinup” shaft.

(Yeah. They made that too. Thankfully, that didn’t sell well either.)

The thing is, it’s less about being “woke” when it comes to the clear and obvious reference here and more about seeing it as unnecessarily crass. One can look back at movies or media from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and see thousands of examples of questionable innuendo. It’s often dismissed as a byproduct of what was acceptable – or worse “edgy” – at the time. The thing about the Stiffi is that it came out in a time where the sport was really beginning to expand in a meaningful way across the country, so it could have been much more damaging were it to actually be the hit Warrior expected it to be. Calling a sporting goods product the same word that is slang for an erect penis is not only foolhardy by any decade’s standards, but it’s also downright loathsome in retrospect. And yes, I am aware that saying “This head sucks” is tenuously similar in tone, but I’m not selling this product to kids and also do not have millions/any of dollars to spend on marketing experts.

Usability: You could still use a Stiffi today and it probably wouldn’t be horrible if you locked it in a room with a top tier stringer and the promise of gross monetary compensation. Still, the offset is very minimal, the face shape is pedestrian even by the standards at the time, and it has that sharp mid-aughts Warrior scoop that everyone hated. The head was also criticized for being derivative of the Warrior Helix – a head championed by the legendary Ryan Boyle during his time as the Patchouli Prince of Warrior – because it absolutely was. If you put the Helix and the Stiffi side by side they were almost indistinguishable (save for the weirdly circular back sidewall of the Helix). So, wait – the Stiffi is not only low on functionality but it’s also lazy? Yes. Yes, it is.

Overall Rating: The titanium horseshoe technology went on to sully the greatness of the Warrior Evolution line and for that, I shall condemn the Stiffi even further. Not only did the metal infusion stunt the design of the Evolution series for the worse (something that was thankfully corrected with the Evo 4) it doubled down on the Ti-infused technology that no one liked. This head is atrocious, the marketing behind the head is disgusting and I’m thankful that Warrior’s parent company New Balance is dictating their direction as a company away from crap like this.

5 Best Lacrosse Sticks – Fun-Attic

In the game of lacrosse, every member of the team is important. However, the goalie is perhaps one of the most important players. It is the goalie that can make or break a game. If an experienced goalie were to play the perfect game, the worst the team can do is tie the game. The goalie is the one that blocks the opposing team from scoring. That is why it is important for the goalie to have a shaft and head combination that is capable of getting the job done and the STX Lacrosse Eclipse Complete Goalie Stick can do just that.

For years, STX has dominated in the field of lacrosse equipment, which includes the production of some of the best lacrosse sticks money can buy. Part of what makes the STX Lacrosse Eclipse Complete Goalie Stick such a formidable stick for any goalie player is the fact that it is made by a company that has a history of providing highly recommended heads and shafts. The Eclipse offers visual appeal as well as improved playability. If you’re going to play good, why not look good doing it, too?

The head that comes with this complete stick setup is one of the most popular selections for lacrosse goalies. In fact, it is perfect for players who are new to the game as well as those who are pros with developed skills and techniques. The head of this complete stick features an open sidewall. In fact, the STX Eclipse head was the first of its kind to have the open sidewall feature. It also has an almost oval shape to it, which provides one of the largest surface areas for any legal NCAA stick. The larger surface area is beneficial to you because it translates into the potential for more saves.

Despite how large the head of the STX Lacrosse Eclipse Complete Goalie Stick is, it is one of the most lightweight heads available on the market. Without the mesh, it weighs just 11.3 ounces. The lighter weight of this stick and head combination allows you to feel when the ball has nestled into the pocket without having to take your eyes off the field to keep an eye on it. Unfortunately, heavier heads and sticks may have you averting your attention to ensure the ball is where it belongs.

Another benefit of this stick is the fact that the head offers a number of holes so that you can customize your stringing options, which is highly recommended for intermediate and advanced players. If you opt for customized stringing, choose a lighter weight string such as 12 diamond mesh to improve ball throwing and wind resistance. Since this stick features a larger head than most, it can make it a bit more challenging to throw the ball when necessary and wind resistance tends to be an issue.

The head has a thinner plastic top which makes scooping balls off the ground rather simple, even from sharp angles. Combine that with the head’s incredible flexibility and you have yourself a lacrosse goalie stick that will make the opposing goalie green with envy. Flexibility allows the head to cradle the ball so that it stays in place. However, you should also be aware of the fact that flexibility may cause you to lose a fast shot as the head is likely to bend and send the ball continuing on its trajectory.

Overall, this complete stick package certainly has its pros and cons, yet it remains one of the best lacrosse sticks available for purchase. In truth, the pros far outweigh the cons, particularly when you consider the fact that the price is far less than some of the other well-known goalie sticks available on the market. That is not to say that this is the cheapest stick for purchase, but it is certainly easier on your wallet than more expensive lacrosse sticks that you can buy.

Hot Pot Of Lax: Youth Sticks Are Holding Back The Game

Beware, today’s Hot Pot of Lax is SERIOUS!

This week’s Hot Pot victim: The Pockets That Lacrosse Manufacturers Put In Youth Sticks

Youth lacrosse sticks get a lot of heat from the gear heads out there, but when the rubber hits the road, the plastic isn’t the issue.  It’s true that sticks designed for youth players are usually more flimsy, and noticeably cheaper, than their elite and mid-range counterparts.  And it’s true that an adult player will probably break a youth head very quickly if they were to use it in a competitive game, but again, that’s not the problem.  The single reason that youth sticks are holding back the game are the POCKETS that manufacturers put into these sticks.

Back in the day, you used to get a Brine stick, in either mesh or traditional, that had been strung by a bunch of old ladies sitting in a room about 45 minutes West of Boston.  They weren’t lacrosse players obviously, but when you got a stick, you could see that time had been taken to do it according to the manual, and that corners weren’t cut.  The strings were taught, the pocket was stiff, but with a little wall ball, anyone could have a perfectly acceptable pocket in their first lacrosse stick.

This was true up through the early 2000s.  You could still, for the most part, buy a new stick for beginners and with a little work, go out and use it pretty quickly.  How things have changed!

Nowadays, I have to restring almost ALL of the pockets on the sticks of my 5th and 6th grade players.  And there are two really noticeable differences in the sticks coming out for kids today when compared with sticks of yesteryear: 1) the materials used in the pockets are of a noticeably lower quality and 2) the actual string jobs themselves are just plain AWFUL.

A normal piece of mesh usually bags out in rain.  That’s to be expected.  But the kind of mesh most manufacturers put in sticks today (STX, Brine and Reebok are great examples here) is of the absolute lowest quality.  So when it rains, the pockets on most of the kids out there bag out to insane proportions.  Kids who had sticks that were legal by half a ball’s width played for 5 minutes in the rain, and then had sticks that were ILLEGAL by half a ball’s width.  This is simply unacceptable.

The sidewalls, topstring and even the shooters are also of a low quality and fray and break quickly.  The strings in beginners’ sticks are also often quite thick, but still cheap, and this results in poorly string pockets.  Knots don’t hold well with cheap string.  Stringing holes that could usually accommodate 2 passes through can only handle one, and many stringing techniques are therefore eliminated.

The heads cost the companies DOLLARS to make (like $4 per head or something ridiculous like that) and then sell them for $40, which is affordable for most people.  But they increase their profit margin by using lower quality mesh, and strings, and this hurts their product, and the players using it, much more than using a cheaper plastic ever would.  These pockets are unreliable, change with the weather like crazy and wear out very quickly.  So while the head and shaft are fine, the pocket falls apart.  It’s almost as if the sticks are actually DESIGNED to fail!!!!  One Brand that stands out to me as putting a higher quality pocket in their sticks is Warrior.  Their youth heads are not elite heads, but the plastic is thick, they are strong and stiff and the pocket is usually pretty decent as long as one stays away from the soft mesh.  But one should never buy beginner’s soft mesh.  It’s the worst stuff in the world.  Talk about bag city!  But I digress.

Youth lax wands in action.

Now maybe I’m way off with my math and it costs more than I know it does to product a head.  Ok.  We’ll give the manufacturers the benefit of the doubt here.  And we’ll just assume that they HAVE to use the materials they use to stay profitable.  Fine.  But that still doesn’t explain why the actual stringing in most youth sticks is still SO bad.

The mesh is almost NEVER pulled tight across the top of the heads.  So almost every youth stick develops a lip in the rain or if the kids loosen any strings, which they often do.  The sidealls are a joke. Mesh holes are rarely tied down to the plastic, so the whole piece of mesh usually slides up and down the side of the stick, which gives kids a lot of whip when they’re only just starting, and makes it very difficult to teach them how to throw and catch properly.

The shooting strings being 3 across or 2 across and a V is immaterial, but the fact that shooters are almost never attached to the plastic IS a huge issue, and leads to even more problems with kids throwing off of the plastic lip of the scoop.  Most youth sticks also leave off the nylon shooter and rely solely on hockey laces, which is a stringing 101 mistake.  Come on, guys!  These are the basics here!

Fianlly, it’s rare that sticks come with company stringing manuals anymore.  And I find this more bizarre than anything.  The plastic and metal of a stick DOES NOT REALLY MATTER.  The Pocket is the most important thing.  But now companies don’t even show you how to maintain or create a pocket in a lacrosse stick?  Wow.  And this is what makes me think that the crappy pockets are on purpose.  This stick is just the beginning, and sooner rather than later, the kids will move on to better heads.  But what if the manufacturers have gone too far?  What if we’re turning kids off to the sport because the entry level equipment makes it so hard to be good?

I see a lot of kids that can catch and then run with the ball.  But they can’t really cradle, or dodge.  They just keep the ball in their stick with the soft mesh and bag pocket.  When they go to shoot or pass, not only are they unsure of themselves, but they are unsure of their stick.  And if this is all being done in the name of profit, I think the manufacturers may be hurting themselves more than they are helping.

The manufacturer that sits atop the pile is Warrior.  They make a stiff head that lasts and put a decent pocket in it.  Maverik’s Bazooka was a great head, but they never promoted it, and again, the stringing was abysmal.  Embarrassing, really.  The same is true for the STX AV8 and all of Brine’s beginner heads, and Reeboks are no better.  I had to restring an entire 3K yesterday because it simply fell apart after the kid used it 3 times.

So maybe the companies involved with lacrosse can afford to put better materials in their sticks, and maybe they can’t.  But there is NO excuse for the bad stringing and absence of a stringing manual.  Those should really be considered the basics.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

– Two Lacrosse Players suspended, one take away in cuffs, for a pen knife and lighter in their lacrosse bags | CBS Baltimore

– Professional Box Lacrosse is Coming!  Or is it???  SCANDAL already?  Come on, guys. | Wall Street Journal

– 412 has been KILLING it!  We’ll just link to his site.  Go over and check it out.  So much blobbage! | 412 Lax

– Brattleboro (VT) remains undefeated in boy’s lacrosse | Brattleboro Reformer

– Former hockey player tearing it up for Roanoke Lacrosse team | American Chronicle

– Wilton Girls beat Greenwich (CT) | Stamford Advocate

– Military Buddies balance Lacrosse and Life | Wall Street Journal

– 24 Seven Lax joins the LAS Network!  Now we gots Baltimorons on the team.  Uh oh! | 24 Seven Lax

– Jeremy Thompson STILL no traditional. Connor is devastated right now. | Lax All Stars

– Final Captain’s Log before heading to CT to lax with ConnorWilsonLAS! | Thailand Lacrosse

– LRA is giving away gear.  Get in on that ASAP!!!!  Love the IU guys! | LacrosseRoads

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LACROSSE VIDEO OF THE WEEK

This literally NEVER happens. 80 yard long lax goal. Boom. Celebration Time.

[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZosNQs9dAdM?fs=1″ splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZosNQs9dAdM/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”Miracle Shot Amazing Lacrosse Goal (80 Yards)”]

Via reader, Bill, and the Washington Post!

90,000 New Jersey is in crisis, but Gusev has found himself. It is impossible to imagine the starting lineup of the “devils” without him.

The best KHL striker Nikita Gusev, who moved to the NHL in the spring, after the troubles at the start of the season, finally settled into New Jersey.

• 27-year-old Gusev – Olympic champion of the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, winner of the 2017 Gagarin Cup with SKA
• This season Nikita has 15 (5 + 10) points in 30 NHL regular season games

Devils fans rubbed their hands eagerly in anticipation of the new season: in the offseason, the team was joined by three star newcomers – Wayne Simmonds from Philadelphia, Pi Kay Subban from Nashville and Nikita Gusev from Vegas.In addition to the first draft pick for American Jack Hughes. This raised the level of expectations from the team to the maximum. The reality has become even more bitter – in a month since the beginning of the regular season, New Jersey won only two victories, and two and a half later it is still in the top three worst teams in the Eastern Conference.

Along with the crisis of the “devils”, Gusev also had a game crisis: at the end of October, for no apparent reason, he remained out of the application and missed three matches in a row. The official version of the suspension sounded not very convincing: the head coach of the Devils, John Hines, said that the forward needs to see the NHL games from the side in order to better adapt to the game.Soslav Guseva to the stands before the meeting with Tampa on October 30, Hines seems to have forgotten about the Russian.

The start of the season for Gusev was contradictory: on the one hand, he scored quite vigorous 4 (3 + 1) points in nine matches with a rather small amount of playing time. Then he suddenly began to wander from one link to another until he found himself in the third three, where, without demonstrating a confident game in hockey with an emphasis on defense, he disappointed the coach.

Nikita Gusev / Photo: © Bruce Bennett / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Although many fans see him as an offensive striker, Hines gave Gusev a place in the triples, where defensive play takes up a significant part of his time. Finding himself in the fourth link with Jesper Bratt and Kevin Rooney and going on the ice for 10 minutes per match, the Russian questioned the question of a successful adaptation to the NHL.

It seemed that Hynes simply disliked Gusev, but several hockey specialists immediately agreed that the forward had something to work on.

“Gusev is an old player, a newcomer to the NHL and has never played small rinks, he is not used to such speed,” wrote analyst for the Canadian TV channel TSN Craig Button on his Twitter page.”Action without achieving a result is nothing.”

Such problems against the background of the language barrier – Gusev does not know English – almost threatened to return to Russia. But the likelihood of this enraged the fans: they did not really see the game of the best KHL hockey player, they did not want to part with him:

“It’s just a shame: it turns out that Gusev is not talented enough to get playing time on the worst team in the NHL.”

“Gusev must play in a position where he will be good! And not in an idiotic link in defense. “

In November, Hines, who has been shuffling links from match to match throughout the beginning of the season, found the perfect combination for Gusev, placing him in the top three with Blake Coleman and Travis Zajack, who also gravitate towards attacking more than playing defense. The Russian’s playing time has grown, he began to shoot more at goal, taking the lead in the team by this indicator, and got the opportunity to go to the second brigade of the majority. In mid-November, Gusev played two of the best matches in his overseas career – against Montreal and Boston.He played 15 and 16 minutes, respectively, scored against the Canadiens and gave a spectacular pass to Coleman against the Bruins.

“There is probably no one else in the league with whom I would like to be in a two-on-one situation,” Coleman said of Gusev. “He’s very talented and you can see it when you play side by side.”

Although the Devils narrowly escaped defeat in the match against overclocked Boston, New Jersey almost for the first time in the season did not look pathetic – thanks to the efforts of Gusev, including who scored the most shots on goal of Tuukki Ruska.A week later, he established himself as a Montreal specialist with three assists in his second game against the Canadiens for the first time in his career.

Even Hynes noted the progress of the Russian.

“I can see his confidence and progress,” he said. “Of course, his good offensive moves are noticed by everyone, but now he is acting at a higher pace, skillfully playing without the puck and winning playing time.”

Hines did not have time to come up with something better than the Coleman – Zeyjack – Gusev trio, which received recognition from the fans of the “devils” – at the beginning of December he was dismissed.His duties are now performed by Alain Nasreddin, who was previously part of the team’s coaching staff.

The new coach did not make serious adjustments to the starting lineup – Gusev kept his place in the same line with his partners. Although his playing time dropped from 15-19 minutes to 13 minutes, he continued to score assistant points, play in the second majority brigade and deliver shootouts with confidence. But the main thing is that Gusev has real support from the fans. They admire his confident shootout in the “house”, laugh at the strange reactions on the bench during matches and post pictures and gifs of a goose in his honor on social networks.

Of course, the fans of the “devils” keep in their heads the scorer’s successes of the Russian in the NHL and hope that he will succumb to power. Now Gusev is on schedule with 41 points for the championship, which is twice as modest as in his last season for the eternal favorite of the KHL SKA.

But the Devils fans have a sober view of things: the current New Jersey, which has practically said goodbye to hopes of reaching the playoffs, is not a team where a playmaker of Gusev’s caliber could reveal his full potential.

Read also:

90,000 Panarin is the best regular season player, Ovechkin will take the Cup again, and Kovalchuk will be exchanged

Season interim from former NHL player.

February 25
NHL deadline –
after
any exchanges until the end of the season
will be prohibited. Will he go to the club
Stanley Cup challenger, striker
“Montreal” Ilya
Kovalchuk ?
Which club is the favorite in the playoffs? And why
Artemy
Panarin
– the best player of the current season?

Artemy Panarin / photo: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

Answers
the former striker gives these questions
Pittsburgh, Rangers and Anaheim
Expert “BUSINESS Online” Eric Christensen .First we talked to him about Kovalchuk
and deadline, after that we discussed
achievements Alexander
Ovechkin
and made up a symbolic team
season at the moment.

“KOVALCHUKA CAN BE EXCHANGE IN” BOSTON “OR” EDMONTON “

– Eric, n a
who will be most in demand on the deadline?

– I think that for the center forward
“Ottawa” by Jean-Gabriel Pajot.
It
for a long time was the best in the NHL in terms of
usefulness, although played in the worst team
league.In the playoffs, such a player will come in handy
absolutely any team. Yes, he has after
the contract ends this season,
but Ottawa is unlikely to give it away cheaply.
With such a great demand, which is
it is, you can bargain for something
worthwhile.

– Kovalchuk
plays well in Montreal.
How real is his exchange?

– The Canadiens
want to get to the playoffs, but there is every chance
less. Can’t imagine the reason why
which they will refuse to exchange Kovalchuk.He’s running out of summer anyway
contract, and for 700 thousand dollars per season
he won’t subscribe anymore.

– To
may you need it?

– Clubs that want to strengthen
attack. They wrote a lot about the Islanders, but
I don’t believe in this option: Barry Troz
all players should play well
defense, and this is not about Kovalchuk. More
I believe in Boston or Edmonton. They may well exchange him there.

Ilya Kovalchuk / photo: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

– If Edmonton is the next team, Kovalchuk can play in the top three
with McDavid?

– Why
not? Ilya
–
a great
sniper who only needs the right
use.In Los Angeles there was no
opportunities for this, “Montreal”
gave Covey his usual role and everything worked out.

– B
Boston will have more chances for the Cup.

– Sure.
At Edmonton, it’s all about McDavid.
and Dreiseitle, the composition has no depth.
Boston may well win the Cup,
although personally I have another favorite.

– Who
right?

– “Washington”.
Have
teams have a huge margin of safety,
in some matches Ovechkin is turned off,
Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Oshi, but the team is not
falls through.

– C
who will they meet in the final, on your
sight?

– On the
I have two favorites in the West –
St. Louis
and Colorado. Given the problems of the latter
with the goalkeeper, I bet on the Blues. They should
return Tarasenko, with him the team
will become much stronger. Let the last
time “St. Louis” is not impressive, but according to
the game is absolutely the same team that
won the Stanley Cup last season.

“THIS IS ALREADY NOT THE OVECHKIN WHO CRASHES EVERYTHING IN A ROW”

–
Ovechkin
in the last matches just enchanting.therefore
bet on Washington?

– It
one of the reasons.
Me
a little embarrassing that Kuznetsov is unstable,
but it was so in the championship season.

–
Ovechkin
break Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals
in the NHL?

– Not
I see something impossible in this. Ovi still has a year
the current contract, and then he, as
and Backstrom will probably sign a new one.
I am sure that Ovechkin wants to enter
history as a player who will beat one
from Gretzky’s great records.And there already
and 1000 will want to knock out!

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: Scott Taetsch, Getty Images

– For
what Ovechkin manages to keep
effectiveness, because this year he
will be 35 already?

– It
incredibly gifted physically. Remember: he almost never missed
matches. Plus he started spending a little less
energy for unnecessary actions, and where
you can slow down, he does it.
This is not the same Ovi that flies on
site and destroys everything.

– Yes
in the NHL is a player who, in the future, can
become the same super sniper?

– Not,
sure! How many times has Ovechkin become
the best sniper of the season? Eight? Same
incredible! Pastrnyak scores a lot,
but I don’t think he can keep up with this pace
for at least five years. Lot
scored by Matthews, Dreiseitl, but they
it depends too much on the environment.

– How much
will Ovechkin score goals this season?

– Not
less than 60.

– After
this season with the main goalkeeper
Braden Holtby’s Capitals Ending
Contract. This is Ovechkin’s last chance
win the Cup again?

– Until
Ilya Samsonov is not as good as Holtby,
it must be admitted. He is talented
goalkeeper, but unstable so far. Sure,
It makes no sense for “Washington” to overpay
Holtby when there is such a young goalkeeper.
When it becomes the main one, then for sure
will play better.

“PANARIN CREATES A LOT OF MOMENTS, BUT THERE IS SOMEONE TO REALIZE”

– Despite
to the magnificent game of Artemy Panarin,
The Rangers seem to be left without
playoffs …

– It
very unfair to
Panarin. I think this is generally the best
player of the current season.

– A
what about McDavid or Dreiseitl?

– They are
scored a lot of points in the majority with
gears to each other.If Panarin
the Rangers had a partner of the level
Dreiseitl, then Artemy would lead in
the list of scorers by a wide margin.

Here we go. # LGR pic.twitter.com/kEr32F8tSh
– New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 4, 2020

– Panarin
– the best in the NHL in terms of points scored in
equal compositions.

– And
this confirms that he is the best.
The Rangers do not have a player with a good
implementation of throws, but just with a strong
and an accurate one-timer for the majority.Panarin creates a lot of moments
but there is no one to implement them.

– What
Are the Rangers still having problems?

– Team
plays badly without a puck. Well, with the goalkeepers
need to figure it out. Georgiev seems to want
change, but almost do not give to play. Clear,
that he already has a good reputation,
but who needs a goalkeeper without a game
practice?

– Shesterkin
stronger than Georgiev?

– Straight
now – no, but in the future it is very
strong goalkeeper.In addition, he still has
year of the newbie’s contract, and Georgiev has it
ends after this season.
It would be ideal to leave a couple of Russian
goalkeepers, but Lundqvist can not be put anywhere.

– Georgieva
will be exchanged before the deadline? And where?

– Should
exchange. I think that Toronto, Calgary,
even “Colorado” he certainly will not interfere.

–
What
happened to New Jersey? Before the beginning
of the season you judged their chances of the playoffs
optimistic, and Gusev was called the new Panarin.

– It seems that he overestimated Gusev a little, he should have come to the NHL early. He got used to North American hockey for almost half a season, and when he got used to it, nothing was left of the team. Hall was traded, Subban gave up badly, and Hughes is not yet ready for the NHL at all.

“MANAGERS OF THE NHL CLUBS WILL BE ANOTHER WATCHING FOR THE KHL”

– Who,
besides Panarin, I would have entered your
the symbolic team of the season?

– Among
attackers, everything is simple – Ovechkin and
McDavid.Goalkeeper can also quickly
name – Ben Bishop from Dallas. FROM
defenders are more difficult. Perhaps John
Carlson from “Washington” and … Second
defensive player is the hardest to choose,
I will name three – Zach Verensky (“Columbus”),
Roman Yossi (Nashville) and Dougie Hamilton
(“Caroline”).

Ben Bishop / Photo: Sean M. Haffey, Getty Images

– you
it is not surprising that “Carolina”, which
plays very brightly, may not fall into
playoffs?

– IN
Eastern Conference is too big
competition: Toronto may not be included,
and Florida.Hope that “Carolina”
will still be in the playoffs: you can’t help but
cheer for the team that shows
such an attacking, power hockey.

– Svechnikov
– NHL superstar?

– Two
lacrosse heads aren’t enough to be a star. Svechnikov –
smart player with good dimensions and
technique, but so far it is unstable. Will add
in this – will definitely be in the top 10 players
NHL.

– C
how do you associate Bobrovsky’s failures in
Florida? He misses more than three
pucks per match.

– It turned out
what is it in “Columbus” he had such
strong defense. Just kidding, but really
Bobrovsky plays not much worse than
before. It’s just that Florida is playing
attacking style, and failures in defense
she has more.

– It turns out,
that for “Columbus” Bobrovsky and Panarin
weren’t that important? Team without stars
confidently goes to the playoff zone.

– FROM
it would probably be even better with them.Tortorella does not change his game, in matches
against Columbus, the rivals are still
can’t raise their heads. Plus they have
excellent defenders: Verensky, Jones,
Savar and Russian Gavrikov, who
pleasantly surprised.

– Than
right?

– It
very sure. And at their gates, on a patch,
and when it connects forward. A plus
Gavrikov sees partners very well
and starts attacks well. Now
club managers will be even closer
watch the KHL, since you can bring
such cool players.

Kovalchuk is in Montreal, Trenin is entrenched in Nashville. All Russians who play in the NHL

90,000 Harvard Business Review Russia

I grew up in a well-to-do town; my parents divorced when I was still a child. My father almost did not participate in my destiny, and we lived very poorly. Many boys I know have played baseball and football for the Little League and Pop Warner teams, and I was mowing lawns at the age of eight to make money.

In high school, I realized that being a member of a sports team automatically puts you in the party.I was a strong teenager, but I did not work out with team sports – I tried basketball, baseball, and football, but nothing came of it. In our school, the boys did not practice lacrosse, and I decided: since no one knows how to play it, everyone will be on a par with me. I convinced the director to create a team if I can find a coach and recruit enough guys. And I succeeded. Eventually I learned to play lacrosse well and became the team captain.

A valuable lesson can be learned from this story that applies, by the way, to business.For some people, an opportunity is a set of circumstances conducive to the accomplishment of something (this is the definition given in the dictionary). They believe that opportunity comes naturally. You “notice” her or wait for her to “knock” on you.

I look at it differently. I am convinced that we ourselves must create circumstances and that opportunities are what we build, not what we expect. Looking back over the first 40 years of my life, I see that I was constantly generating opportunities, instead of standing and waiting for them to turn up.This was the case at the very beginning of my career, and later, when my friends and I created Twitter, and now with my latest projects. Entrepreneurship is essentially about creating your own capabilities. Especially when it comes to a startup. You simply designate yourself as a director and start planning.

Here’s how I got my first permanent job, for example. At that time, I was studying at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, receiving a scholarship, but I didn’t really like it all. I did a part-time job at Little, Brown – they were moving and I was carrying boxes.There I met people who made book covers. They had just switched from paper to computers. As a child, a friend of mine had a Macintosh, so I was able to work in Photoshop and Quark for a long time.

Once, when no one was in the office, I came across a technical assignment for the design of a cover for a book. I quickly completed it on the computer, and then put it in a pile of ready-made sketches – and did not tell anyone. A few days later, the publisher’s chief artist began to look for the author of this cover: both the editors and the sales department considered it the best.When he found out that the loader had invented it, he was very surprised. Since I knew design programs, he offered me a permanent job. I thought: since people are getting university education in order to get such a job, then I will leave the university, accept the offer, and I will also consider my activity as a study. The main artist became my mentor and close friend, and I learned a lot about design and creativity.

Create culture, transfer power

Eventually I left Little, Brown and started my own design bureau, but then it turned out that there were not so many orders for the development of book covers.It was the late 1990s – a time of active development of the Internet, so when someone asked me to make a website for it, I quickly got up to speed. Over the next few years, I learned a lot more. I moved to New York and co-founded a social media startup, but I didn’t like the way things were going there and returned to Boston.

In 2003, Google announced the purchase of Blogger, one of the first online diary services. I read the blog of the site’s founder, Evan Williams, and wrote to him that I think we need to work together.On Evan’s recommendation, I should have been taken to Google. I drove to California thinking the job was in my pocket, but instead ended up in an interview that lasted all day. The people I spoke to didn’t understand why they should hire a guy with no education, because Google hired mostly graduate programmers. But Evan convinced them. I really enjoyed working with him, and after the company went public, my options went up significantly. If I had stayed there, I would have become a millionaire, which is very cool for someone who grew up on welfare.But Evan left to start a new company, and I had to ask myself: why did I come to California – to work at Google or to work with Evan? I chose the latter.

Evan named his company “Odeo”. We tried to create something like podcasting. The venture not only failed, but was not crowned with success, in part due to the fact that Apple, with the growing popularity of the iPod, began to actively develop podcasts. By early 2006, it became clear that our business model would not work. Then Evan invited us to pair up and come up with a new product in two weeks.

Jack Dorsey was my best friend in the company – and of course I chose him as my partner. At the time, he was using the AOL messenger, where he could update his status when he went offline – for example, write “Out for lunch.” “Maybe we can beat the short status updates somehow?” Jack suggested.

We started with mobile phones – updates had to come to them in the form of SMS messages. Having made a prototype, we presented it to the company two weeks later. No one was particularly impressed, but Evan asked us not to give up this venture.Over time, things went smoothly. When we came up with the name of the project, we asked colleagues to write their proposals on a piece of paper. One of them wrote “Twitter” and I really liked it. Then I drew a bird that became the site’s logo. I also developed basic terms – for example, “read” someone (initially they wanted to make a “Listen” button). Jack and I jointly patented Twitter technology. As a child, I wanted to become an inventor, so I am very proud of this patent.

Everyone who worked on Twitter was a programmer or computer scientist – except me.I began to think about what contribution I could make to the common cause. I am a designer. My job is to bring humanity to technology. I focused on the product and suggested a few changes. I also figured out how to tell the world about us. At first, everyone asked how many users we have: always give engineers numbers. I convinced everyone that the answer to such a question should be: “It doesn’t matter” and that you need to strive to develop the brand. Shortly before that, a friend from Google asked me: “How would you like to see Twitter in five years?”I insisted that this is what I should think about.

Another challenge I saw in the creation of a special culture. Whether you like it or not, every organization has its own culture, and if you do it, it can significantly strengthen the company. One of the paths I took was the daily blog posting on our site. I wanted to show that we are ordinary people with our weaknesses. I think many companies should admit it. At the beginning, our site often “crashed”, and I honestly said about it: “We broke down.The reason is this. There will be no more such breakdowns – at least, I’m sure of that. ”

In addition, I have formulated our public position. I am totally for freedom of speech. We shouldn’t remove content just because we don’t like it. We have identified a very short list of reasons – mostly legal – for the removal of content. I insisted that Twitter should be politically neutral. This was very important when activists of the Arab Spring and participants in other political events began to use it.Later, when reports of NSA surveillance in the US were released, Twitter was the only tech company that refused to help the government track its users. I was very proud of that.

I never wanted to run a company and never did. I’ve always considered myself a supporting actor. I did not strive for power – I admired my fellow leaders and tried to support them and strengthen their rear.This was especially important when the leadership was changing on Twitter: I thought my job was to smooth corners. Initially, the company was headed by Jack Dorsey, but at some point the board of directors decided to replace him with a more experienced person – and chose Evan for this role. There were people who wanted to get rid of Jack immediately, but I persuaded them to leave him in the company to ensure a smooth transition of power.

Then Evan and I hired Dick Costolo as director of operations.He’s very product-savvy, smart and incredibly funny – we hung out a lot. When the board of directors decided to make Dick CEO, I persuaded them to keep Evan on Twitter for another position, and in the end they agreed. Every time we changed a leader, I tried to help employees shift their eyes from the old leader to the new one and explain to them how important it is to think about the good of the whole company, and not just the people working in it.

It is unfortunate that boards of directors tend to fire executives so often.In fact, this is the only thing that they can do. They cannot improve the company’s product. They cannot improve its key indicators. So if things don’t go well, they change leadership. Now that I myself sit on boards of directors, I try to counteract this impulse. I usually say: “Let’s not fire the CEO, let’s help him. Let’s find out where his weakness is and make him stronger. ” Even when a change of leader is indispensable, it can be carried out much more elegantly than usual.

Gain access to world knowledge

The idea that formed the basis of my last venture, Jelly Industries, came to my mind, one might say, by accident. I like to walk and talk at the same time – I often make appointments with smart, cheerful people during long walks. In 2012, I took a walk with Ben Finkel, a Twitter colleague. We talked about how search engines work and what we would do if we needed to build a new one.I remembered how Google’s VP of Search said, “There is a wealth of information on the Internet, and yet much of the world’s knowledge is still locked in people’s heads.” How to create a system that will fit into their heads? We have developed an application that links all social networks together and allows users to ask questions. We named it “Jelly”. It is built on the idea that people want to help each other out and therefore love to answer questions. The app turned out to be good, but nothing more.Even if we had fought over it for four years, the success would have been marginal. I wanted to create something more prominent.

In 2014 we made a new app, “Super” – short for “superlative” (superlative). By and large, it appeared as a result of work on “Jelly”: we tried to determine the “advantages” of that program. “Super” gives users the start of a phrase, “Best …” or “Worst …” or “I like …” and prompts them to finish it. This encourages people to share thoughts that they would not have expressed on other platforms.This application, based on the culture of remix and mashup, allows users to write emotional and expressive posts.

This is my first time at Jelly as CEO. Having watched other executives work for years, I realized that startup failure is usually due to a lack of communication. In our company now there are only seven people, we are sitting in one room, so it can be assumed that we have a complete understanding. But this is not so, and my task is to achieve this, even if I have to spend half the time on communication.

The same applies to the board of directors. If he does not receive information from you, then he decides that things are bad. If you tell him, “Things are bad,” he at least thinks, “Great, he understands this – he knows that things are bad.” I send a letter to the board of directors every week. I reply to messages from all users. I constantly communicate, because I know that this is the most important task of a leader.

Top-5 transfers of the week. Prokhorkin is the first violin of Magnitka: News: Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)

CSKA parted ways with Sekach and Kalinin, Granlund and Samorukov came from Edmonton, and Prokhorkin signed a contract with Magnitka.KHL.ru – about the most notable transitions of the past week.

Nikolay Prokhorkin

Los Angeles (NHL) to Metallurg

The fact that Nikolay Prokhorkin will continue his career in Magnitogorsk became known back in early June, when Metallurg, SKA and Traktor carried out a grandiose three-way exchange. Signing a contract with the center striker was a matter of time and rested on the observance of legal formalities. Now it is quite possible to say: “steelworkers” have got a player who can take the position of the first center for years to come.Prokhorkin was trusted with such a role only at the dawn of his career at CSKA, but he still remained in the shadows Alexander Radulov . In Salavat Yulaev, with generally good statistics, Nikolai was also overshadowed by the combination Umark – Hartikainen , as well as Igor Grigorenko , who had not yet completed his career . So in SKA, from where he left for the NHL, the first violin was Pavel Datsyuk . Now, having moved from sunny California to the Southern Urals, the 26-year-old center-forward will be able to breathe deeply.Whether it will become the center for Sergei Mozyakin or Ilya Vorobyov will select other partners for him (for example, former teammates Sergei Plotnikov and Maxim Karpov ), on paper Prokhorkin looks like almost the main star of the current Magnitka. After a season almost entirely on the outskirts of the Kings, his hunger for combination hockey is assured. And the artist, as you know, must be hungry.

Markus Granlund

From Edmonton (NHL) to Salavat Yulaev

Nikolai Prokhorkin’s peer and his colleague, , Markus Granlund , are moving to the city adjacent to Magnitogorsk.Finn, whose older brother once landed on postage stamps with a lacrosse goal against Konstantin Barulin’s goal , even spent last season in a status similar to the newcomer of Magnitka. That Prokhorkin, that Granlund did not have a solid place at the heart of the NHL team, every now and then dropping into the farm club. Now everything has to change. A mountain of playing time, an almost guaranteed spot in the majority and, quite possibly, adoration from the fans. But if Nikolai comes to a team that has almost completely changed over the offseason, then Markus will have a much harder time.It, whatever one may say, will be compared with Linus Umark . With our heads, all of us, like the fans of Salavat Yulaev, understand that the Swedish magician cannot be replaced. His play style is painfully exclusive. Granlund Jr. also does not have a breathtaking speed, in defense it is a little more reliable than Umark, in terms of the strength and accuracy of the throw he will definitely not yield to the Swede, but in terms of hockey ingenuity, the red-bearded legend of Salavat cannot be found equal. With all his talent and 300+ games in the NHL, Markus will need to jump over his head to be accepted in Ufa as the new Umark.Or you can just play hockey honestly and be yourself.

Dmitry Samorukov

From Edmonton (NHL) to CSKA

Together with Granlund Jr. , his teammate Dmitry Samorukov goes to the KHL. For more than half of last season, they played together for the Edmonton farm club. But the son of the goalkeeper of football “Rotor” is more appropriate to compare not with the Finnish striker, but with Alexander Khovanov . The newcomers of CSKA and Ak Bars are united by the fact that they were allowed to go home on loan.Previously, NHL clubs rarely practiced such schemes in relation to Russian players. I remember Nikolai Goldobin’s loan , but San Jose six years ago sent the striker not to CSKA, but to the Finnish league. Now, when the season in the AHL is in a thick fog, the question of playing practice for players with borderline status has become an edge. Samorukov managed to make his debut at the adult level, and after the season he even got a family, having played a wedding with his sister Vitaly Kravtsov .However, the pupil of CSKA is still a young player, for whom a simple one is extremely undesirable. Dmitry will have to progress under the guidance of Igor Nikitin – a coach with whom the defenders will not be spoiled too much. Most recently, the CSKA mentor launched his career Alexander Romanov . And it is Romanov, with whom Samorukov played in the same team at the MFM-2019, that Edmonton Avenue should be replaced in the upcoming season.

Sergey Kalinin

From CSKA to Traktor

For one newcomer, Samorukov had two players, with whom CSKA parted ways.The first to leave the Moscow club was Sergey Kalinin – the Olympic champion who won the Gagarin Cup with the army team. When two years ago SKA and CSKA made the exchange Kuzmenko – Kalinin , it seemed that the Petersburgers won from him. However, Kalinin , as a player with a high work ethic and a longtime acquaintance of Igor Nikitin’s , fits perfectly into the Muscovites’ system. Yes, only a hard ceiling on salaries from now on does not allow keeping eminent and expensive performers in the third or fourth link.It is more appropriate to entrust this role in the new realities to the youth, of which there is enough in the CSKA system. Kalinin went to Chelyabinsk, where a somewhat forgotten role awaits him. From time to time Sergei and SKA appeared in the top 6, but the real leading player of the team was in his native Avangard, even before the North American trip. Now the matured Kalinin goes to Traktor in the status of almost the most experienced player in the team. Not even in terms of the numbers in the passport. He just saw as many leagues, tournaments, teams and coaches as his new teammates did not see.And if the first link in Chelyabinsk will almost certainly consist entirely of legionnaires, then in the second there will be a place for Sergei.

Jiri Sekach

From CSKA to Avangard

Shortly after the termination of the contract with Kalinin CSKA did a similar procedure with Jiri Sekach . True, before that, the Muscovites tried to part with the Czech striker without losses for the budget, placing him on the list of refusals. The cleaver, in contrast to a number of “army men” who remained in the club, did not agree to a salary cut.But in the neighboring city of Balashikha, the legionnaire was issued a contract that suited him. The signing of Cleaver became possible only after Avangard officially parted ways with Sven Andrighetto . In general, in order for this multi-move to become a reality, the stars had to converge. Whom did Bob Hartley get at his disposal? Jiri may not be the most subtle player, but much more versatile than the Swiss returning home. And most importantly, Sekach is not only adapted to the KHL, but also went through the cup hardening with such a specific coach as Zinetula Bilyaletdinov .Last season, the Czech frankly did not ask: according to statistics, he became the worst, except for the very first in the line-up of “Lev”. This is partly due to the fact that Nikitin never found a permanent place in the composition for the legionnaire. While the success of Sekach in Ak Bars is largely due to stability. Link Sekach – Lander – Azevedo in Kazan was broken extremely rarely. In a new place for Jiri, a foreign combination with Corban Knight and Reid Boucher is already looming.Why not take the Gagarin Cup in alliance with two Canadians?

90,000 Most Dangerous Sports – RATE1

02/23/2018

Life without hobbies is boring. Therefore, everyone chooses an occupation to their liking: computer games, cars or sports. A healthy lifestyle has been very popular in recent years, but not all sports are harmless. Some of them can cause injury or even death.

Experts have compiled a rating of the most dangerous sports.

Horse riding

Equestrian sport is one of the most traumatic and extreme sports. More than 40 thousand injuries, including death, are recorded annually. This is due not only to the fact that it is physically difficult to stay on the horse, but also to the emotional component.

A person who is professionally engaged in horse riding must establish contact with the horse, otherwise it is fraught with serious injuries and falls.

Bull Riding

Rodeo is an amazing sport in which, in addition to the risks similar to horse riding, much more is added.For example, severe injuries when the athlete tries to stay on the bull, as well as the possibility of getting hit by the hooves of an angry animal after falling.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics, despite its seeming lightness and airiness, requires great concentration. This sport brings not only the joy of victories, but also numerous injuries. Even in specially equipped halls, no one can be protected from falls and bruises.

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is one of the most dangerous types of dancing.It requires the participants to be in perfect physical condition and acrobatic skills. According to statistics, over 25,000 serious injuries to the head, neck, collarbone, arms and legs occur in the United States every year. When practicing cheerleading, a large number of muscles are involved, so the slightest missteps entail unpleasant consequences.

Football

The most popular sport in the world is also one of the most dangerous. In terms of the number of sports injuries, football players are significantly ahead of all other athletes.The statistics of this sport are such that every professional footballer receives up to 200 injuries annually.

Hockey

The level of injury risk in hockey is incredibly high, because athletes risk their lives and health every minute they are on the ice. Almost every professional player has faced the problem of knocked out teeth and head injuries.

Boxing

The most violent and very traumatic sport. In addition to maxillofacial injuries, athletes often injure muscles and ligaments.

Wrestling

Wrestling is one of the most extreme contact sports. The main task of athletes is to unbalance the opponent with the help of certain techniques. In most cases, the fight is carried out without the use of protective equipment and technical equipment.

Rugby

The most dangerous team sport is rugby. He is known all over the world for his uncompromising and traumatic nature.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a tough contact sport that dates back to 1100.The game involves two teams that seek to hit the opponent’s goal with a rubber ball using a special stick called a stick. To do this, they can hit the ball with a club and push their opponents.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief read online by Rick Riordan (Page 15)

Grover freed himself from the grizzly with a groan. He had a hefty scar on his head. A green cap dangled from one of the little horns, and the fake legs fell off their hooves. The magic shoes flapped helplessly around his head.

– Well, you and the ace! Directly the Red Baron [This refers to Manfred von Richthofen, the famous pilot during the First World War, nicknamed the Red Baron.], – I said. – Well done, lad.

Satyr forced a forced smile.

– Well, it’s not enough fun. Of course, bludgeoning her with a branch was fun. But getting into the clutches of a concrete bear is not too much fun. It’s not funny anymore.

He caught his winged shoe. I put the cap on the sword.Then the three of us staggered to the warehouse.

Behind the counter, we found old plastic bags and wrapped them around Medusa’s head twice. Then they threw her on the dinner table and sat around, too exhausted to speak.

– So what, for this monster, we should thank Athena? I finally asked.

– Actually – your daddy. Annabeth glared at me. – What, don’t you remember? Medusa was Poseidon’s girlfriend. They decided to meet at my mother’s temple.That’s why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who helped her get into the temple became three gorgons. That is why Medusa was ready to tear me to pieces, but she wanted you to be preserved in the form of beautiful statues. She must still think your daddy is so sweet. Maybe you reminded her of him?

– So it’s my fault that we met Medusa ?! My face was flushed.

Annabeth straightened up.

“Annabeth, this is just a photograph,” she mimicked, mimicking my voice ineptly.- What’s bad about it?

– Come on, – I replied. – You’re just unbearable.

– And you are unbearable.

– And you …

– Hey! Grover chimed in. “The two of you gave me a headache, and satyrs never get migraines. What are we going to do about it?

I stared at the bagged head. One of the snakes protruded through a hole in the cellophane. The package said, “Thank you for your purchase.”

I was angry, but not at Annabeth and her mommy, but at all the gods at once for dragging us into this search and on the very first day they arranged two such fights for us.At this rate, we’ll never get to Los Angeles alive, let alone the summer solstice.

What did Medusa say?

“Don’t be a pawn in the hands of the gods, dear. You will be much more suited to being a statue. ”

– I’ll be right back. – I got up and went to the exit.

“Percy,” Annabeth called after me, “what are you up to?”

I reached the back of the warehouse where I found Medusa’s office.

In her ledger were the six last parcels – by sea to the kingdom of the dead, to decorate the garden of Persephone and Hades.Based on the charter account, the Underworld financial office was located at: Recording Studio DOA [Dead on arrival (English) – Delivered dead (to hospital).], West Hollywood, California. I folded the bill and dropped it into my pocket.

At the checkout I found twenty dollars, a few gold drachmas, and packages for the Hermes Night Express, each with a small leather pouch for coins. I searched the entire office until I came across a box of the right size.

Back at the picnic table, I packed Medusa’s head in a box and filled out the parcel form:

…

Gods

Mount Olympus

Floor 600 Empire State Building

New York

Best wishes from Percy Jackson

“They won’t like this,” Grover warned. “They’ll think you’re too arrogant.

I put some gold drachmas in the bag. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like the click of a cash register. Then my package hovered over the table and disappeared, as if it had disappeared into thin air.

“I’m actually arrogant,” I said.

And looked at Annabeth, provoking her critical remark.

She said nothing. Apparently, she resigned herself to the fact that I am better than her at being able to “hook” the Olympians.

“Come on,” Annabeth muttered. “We need to make a new plan.

Chapter Twelve

We accept help from the poodle

We looked miserable that night.

We camped in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a swampy clearing that the local teenagers apparently used for picnics. The ground was soiled with cola cans and instant food wrappers.

We grabbed some food and blankets from Aunt Em, but did not dare to make a fire to dry our clothes. Furies and Medusa in one day – this is already too much.We didn’t want to get anyone’s attention anymore.

They decided to sleep in turn. I volunteered to be on the first watch.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and began to snore as soon as her head touched the ground. Grover, in his winged shoes, soared up one of the lower branches of the tree, leaned against the trunk and stared into the night sky.

“Go to sleep,” I told him. – If anything happens, I’ll wake you up.

Grover nodded, but never closed his eyes.

“I’m sad, Percy,” he sighed.

– Why? I asked. – Because you signed up for this stupid search?

– No. Here is from which makes me sad. He pointed to the littered ground. – And the sky. You can’t even see the stars. They even stained the sky itself. Terrible times for satyrs.

– Oh yes. I always suspected you were an avid environmentalist.

Grover gave me a sizzling look.

– Only people do not want to protect the environment. Your sight pollutes the world so quickly … oh, never mind.It makes no sense to lecture to a person. If things keep going at the same pace, I will never find Pan.

– “Pama”? Is this a kind of dishwashing spray?

– Pan! Grover shouted indignantly. – P-A-N. Great god Pan! Why do you think I need the right to search?

A gust of strange breeze whispered through the clearing, temporarily drowning out the stench of decaying scraps. It was saturated with the scent of berries, wild flowers and clear rainwater – everything that once was in this forest.Suddenly I felt a pang of longing for something I never knew.

“Tell me about your search,” I asked.

Grover looked at me cautiously, as if afraid I wanted to laugh at him.

“The Wildlife God disappeared two thousand years ago,” he said. – The sailor from Ephesus heard a mysterious voice calling to him from the shore: “Tell them that the great god Pan is dead!” When people heard this news, they believed it. They have plundered the kingdom of Pan since time immemorial.But for the satyrs, Pan was a master and teacher. He protected us and wildlife all over the earth. We refused to believe that he was dead. The most courageous satyrs – generation after generation – vow to devote their lives to the search for Pan. They are looking for him all over the earth, exploring all the untouched corners, hoping to find the place where he hid, and awaken him from his sleep.

– And you also want to embark on this search?

“This has been my lifelong dream,” Grover replied. – My father took part in them.And Uncle Ferdinand … whose sculpture you saw there …

– Yes, I’m sorry.

– Uncle Ferdinand knew the risk he was putting himself at risk. Grover shook his head mournfully. – And father too. But success awaits me. I will be the first to go searching and come back alive.

– Well you and yap … Wait, how is the first?

Grover took out his reed pipes from his pocket.

– None of those who went in search returned. As soon as they left, they disappeared.And no one else saw them alive.

– Not once in two thousand years?

– No.

– And your father? Do you have any idea what could have happened to him?

– I have no idea.

“And yet you want to follow him,” I stated in amazement. “I mean, do you really think you’ll find Pan?”

– I have to believe it, Percy. Every seeker believes in this. This is the only thing that keeps us from despair when we see what people have turned the world into.I have to believe that Pan can still be awakened.

I stared at the orange haze in the sky for a long time, trying to figure out how Grover could believe in such a hopeless dream. And then I thought: why am I better?

– How do we get into the realm of the dead? I asked. – So what are our chances against God?

“I don’t know,” Grover admitted. – But there, at Medusa, when you were looking for her office, Annabeth told me …

– Yes, I forgot. Annabeth always has a plan ready.

– Don’t judge her harshly, Percy.Her life was not easy, but she is a good person. In the end, she forgave me … – He suddenly fell silent.

– What do you mean? I asked. – Forgiven what?

But Grover raised his pipes to his mouth and focused entirely on the melody.

– Wait! – I think I guessed. “The first time you were assigned to be a keeper was five years ago. Annabeth has been in the camp for five years. Was she really your first mission that you failed …

“I can’t talk about it,” Grover shook his head. I noticed how his lower lip was trembling and I figured he would cry if I tried to press it.“But I want to say that there… at Medusa’s, Annabeth and I decided that this search was somehow strange. Something incomprehensible is going on.

– So. This means that I am still suspected of having stolen the rod that Hades had appropriated.

“That’s not what I meant,” Grover replied. – Fur … our distant relatives … seemed to only want to intimidate us so that we would turn back. Like Mrs. Dodds in Yancy … why did she wait so long to kill you? And on the bus, they were not at all as aggressive as usual.

– They were very aggressive towards me.

Grover shook his head.

– They screamed, “Where is it? Where?”

– They were looking for me.

– Maybe, but Annabeth and I got the feeling they weren’t asking about a person. They screamed, “Where is it?” They seemed to be interested in some subject.

– Some kind of nonsense.

– I agree. But if we misunderstood something about this search and we have only nine days to find the master’s rod … – Grover looked at me, as if expecting an answer, but I did not have one.

I thought about Medusa’s words: the gods are using you. I was in for something worse than turning to stone.

“I wasn’t honest with you,” I told Grover. – The rod of Zeus does not interest me in the least. I agreed to go to the realm of the dead just to find my mother.

– I know, Percy. The satyr blew out a few low, sad notes. “But are you sure that’s the only reason?”

– I’m not doing this to help my father. He doesn’t care about me.So do I.

Grover stared at me from the branch in amazement.

– Look, Percy, I’m not as smart as Annabeth. Not as brave as you. But I am very good at reading feelings. You’re glad your father is alive. And he likes to be proud of you. That’s why you sent Medusa’s head to Olympus. You wanted him to pay attention to what you did.

– Really? Maybe satyrs have emotions that are not at all the same as those of humans. Because you are wrong. I don’t care what he thinks.

– Okay, Percy. So be it. Grover swung his feet off the branch.

– Besides, I have nothing to be proud of. We barely made it out of New York and were stuck here with no money, not knowing how to go west.

Grover looked up at the night sky as if pondering something.

– What if I’m on duty first? Go to sleep.

I was about to resist, but the satyr began to play Mozart, a melody so gentle and euphonious that I turned away and my eyes stung.After the first bars of the Twelfth Piano Concerto, I fell asleep.

In my dream I stood in a dark cave in front of a gaping pit. Gray foggy creatures, whispering wisps of smoke swirled around me, and somehow I realized that these were the souls of the dead.

They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I was determined to go to the very bottom of the crevasse.

When I looked down, my head started spinning.

Yama opened its impenetrable black mouth so that I understood that it was bottomless.And yet I had the feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss – an exorbitantly great embodiment of evil.

“Little hero,” a satisfied voice echoed from the darkness, “so weak, so young, but perhaps you will succeed.”

The voice, chilling and gloomy, belonged to some ancient being. Every word bound my body with a leaden veil.

“They sent you on the wrong track, boy,” something said. “Let’s make a deal and I’ll give what you need.”

An iridescent image hovered over the abyss: it was my mother, frozen at the moment when she dissolved into a golden glow. Mama’s face was twisted in pain, as if the Minotaur was still choking her. The eyes were staring at me, begging: “Go away!”

I tried to shout, but the voice did not obey me.

Dry, cold laughter echoed from the cleft.

An invisible force pushed me forward. She would have dragged me into the hole if I had not been so firmly on my feet.

“Help me up, boy.The voice sounded more and more ferocious. – Bring me the rod. Deal with the insidious gods! ”

“No! Wake up! ” – the souls of the dead whispered around me.

Mother’s image began to fade. The creature from the pit tightened its grip even more.

I realized that it was not trying to pull me inside. On the contrary, with my help it wants to get out of there.

“Okay,” a voice muttered. – Okay”.

“Wake up,” the dead whispered. – Wake up!

Someone was shaking my shoulder.

I opened my eyes and saw sunlight.

“Okay,” Annabeth said, “our zombie is at least alive.

I was trembling all over, remembering my dream. I still felt the paws of a monster from the abyss on my chest.

– How long have I slept?

– Enough for me to make breakfast. Annabeth tossed me a bag of cheese chips that she grabbed from Aunt Em’s diner. “And Grover went on a reconnaissance mission. Look, he found himself a friend.

I had difficulty focusing my gaze.

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket holding an incredibly fluffy and filthy, unnaturally pink stuffed animal in his lap.

No. It was not a stuffed animal, but a pink poodle.

Looking at me, the poodle barked nervously.

“It’s okay,” Grover told the dog.

– Are you … talking to this? I blinked in confusion.

The poodle growled.

– This is , Grover warned. Our ticket to the west. Be nice to him.

– Can you talk to animals?

Grover ignored my question.

– Percy, this is Gladiolus. Gladiolus, this is Percy.

I stared at Annabeth, believing that she would break down and laugh at the joke they made to laugh at me, but Athena’s daughter was deadly serious.

“I don’t say hello to pink poodles,” I snorted. – And that’s enough for that.

“Percy,” Annabeth cut in. “I greeted the poodle.Now it’s your turn.

The poodle growled again.

And I had to say hello to him.

Grover reported that he had bumped into Gladiolus in the woods and had a conversation between them. The poodle escaped from a wealthy local family who promised a $ 200 reward for his return. In fact, Gladiolus didn’t want to go home, but he was willing to do so to help Grover.

– How did Gladiolus know about the reward? I asked.

“He’s reading the ads,” Grover replied.- Here!

– Oh, okay, – I waved it off. – Do not fool me.

“So we’re bringing Gladiolus back,” Annabeth announced in the tone of a supreme strategist, “getting money and buying tickets to Los Angeles. It’s simple.

I remembered my dream – the whispering voices of the dead, the creature in the crevice and the face of my mother, shimmering and fading in a golden glow. All this could await me in the west.

“Just no more buses,” I said apprehensively.

“Okay,” Annabeth agreed.

She pointed down to the foot of the hill, where the train tracks passed, which I could not see in the darkness yesterday.

– Half a mile from here is Amtrak [National Railroad Passenger Corporation of the United States]. Gladiolus reported that the train to the west was leaving at noon.

Chapter Thirteen

I plunge into death

We spent two days on the Amtrak train heading west, leaving behind hills, rivers and amber fields of swaying wheat.

No one has ever attacked us, but I was in constant tension. There was no way to get rid of the feeling that we were being watched – from above, or maybe from below – and something was just waiting for the right opportunity.

I tried to keep my head down because my name and photos were on the editorials of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register News posted a photograph taken by a tourist as I was leaving the Greyhound. My eyes were wandering and wild.The sword gleamed metallic in his hand. It looked like a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick [Native American ball game].

Photo caption read:

…

“Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, who is wanted to testify about his mother’s disappearance two weeks ago in Long Island, was photographed on his escape from a bus where he molested several elderly ladies. The bus exploded on the side of the eastern New Jersey highway shortly after Jackson fled the scene.According to eyewitnesses, the police assume that the boy is traveling with two teenagers – his accomplices. His stepfather Gabe Ulyano offered a cash reward for any information that would lead to the detention of the boy.

“Don’t worry,” Annabeth told me. “Mortal cops will never find us. – But there was no particular confidence in her voice.

I spent the rest of the day walking from end to end of the train (since, to tell the truth, I was already fed up with sitting), then looking out the window.

Once I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows ready, apparently hoping to get themselves some lunch. A centaur boy looking like a second grader riding a pony caught my eye and waved back. I looked around the carriage: no one noticed anything, adult passengers plunged headlong into their laptops or magazines.

Another time in the evening I saw a large animal in the forest thicket. I could have sworn it was a lion (the beast was no smaller than a hummer), but lions are not found in American forests.His fur gleamed bright gold in the dusk light. Then in one leap he disappeared behind the trees and disappeared.

The Gladiolus reward was only enough for us to buy tickets to Denver. There was no money left for the surcharge for seats in the sleeping car, so I had to doze while sitting. My neck is numb. I tried not to drool in my sleep as Annabeth was sitting next to me.

Grover snored, bleated in his sleep and woke me up all the time. One day he kicked up and lost his sham legs.Annabeth and I had to fit them back in before no one noticed.

“So,” Annabeth asked as we put Grover’s boots on, “who wants your help?

– What are you talking about?

– You just muttered in a dream: “I will not help you.” Who did you dream about?

90,000 125 stories about the invention of basketball | JumpBall

Basketball, which Americans consider their national sport no less than baseball or American football, was in fact invented by a Canadian.

Physical education teacher James Naismith, a Scottish Canadian, invented a new sport exactly 125 years ago on December 21, 1891. Basketball is one of the few sports that has an official launch date and can celebrate its birthday. Which we celebrate today, remembering how basketball appeared.

* * *

James Naismith was not supposed to be a physical education teacher at all. His relatives insisted that he become a priest, and the decision to go to study to be an athlete was taken with horror: in the 1800s, sports in the United States were considered by many to be a tool of the devil, distracting young people from church, work and family.“Years later, I asked my sister if she had forgiven me for dropping out to study as a theologian,” Naismith recalled. “No, Jim,” she replied. ”

James Naismith had no middle name. Many sources indicated his full name as “James A. Naismith”, to which Naismith himself joked that “A” means “anonymous.”

James Naismith’s childhood was not easy. His family emigrated to Canada from Scotland, his father worked for a pittance at a sawmill. When he was not even 9 years old, some kind of curse fell on the family: first, James’s grandfather died, the sawmill soon burned down, then his father caught typhus.Little Jim’s uncle took him along with his younger brother and older sister to him so that the children would not get infected. The elder Naismith soon died of illness, and three weeks later his wife, who contracted typhus while caring for her husband, died. So the Naismiths became orphaned, and their uncle and grandmother began to raise them (she will die in two years).

Future professor, doctor and inventor Jimmy Naismith was not a very good student at school. He preferred fresh air to study: working on a farm or logging, swimming in the river or fishing, and in winter – sledding or hockey.Three years before graduation, he announced to relatives that he was leaving school and would work on the farm full time. He returned to school only at the age of 19, when his uncle, having seen enough of James’ poor carpentry skills, advised him to work with his head, not his hands.

There was little entertainment in the countryside, and the children invented their own games. One of these favorite games of James was “Duck on a Stone”. Each player had a pebble, one player (“defender”) put his own on a large stone.Other children got up 5-6 meters from the stone and tried to knock down the defender’s stone with their stones. If they hit, they stayed in the game, but if they missed, they had to find their stone before the defender attacked them. Naismith liked the game so much because it required precision, reaction, and the ability to dodge a defender.

When Naismith returned to school, he quickly adjusted and was promoted to senior class twice during the school year. He was good at mathematics and natural sciences, but he had big problems with languages.However, he overcame them, and once he, still a schoolboy, was called to replace a sick teacher in a rural school. Naismith’s early students performed better in spelling and worse in mathematics. So he found out that it is often easier to teach others what he himself once learned with difficulty than what was given easily.

McGill University, where Naismith entered, was one of the first in North America to introduce physical education into the curriculum. Rugby was especially popular, gradually evolving into American football.

One day Naismith accidentally wandered into rugby training. The center of the team broke his nose, and he needed a replacement from the audience. Naismith never played, but volunteered and replaced the injured one so successfully that he was offered a place on the team. James agreed on the condition that he could use the injured player’s uniform (he had no money for his). For the next six years, he played at the center position in the university rugby team, without missing a single game.

In his penultimate and final year, Naismith was recognized as the best athlete at McGill University.In addition to rugby, he played football and lacrosse, as well as boxing.

Naismith’s motto in college was “Don’t let anyone do more work than you today.”

After completing his bachelor’s degree, Naismith continued his studies at the theological school in McGill, aspiring to become a Presbyterian priest, but did not abandon the sport, the “tool of the devil” – moreover, he was appointed director of sports at the university after the death of his predecessor.

* * *

Soon, Naismith felt that he did not need to become a priest in order to change people’s lives for the better.“I discovered the fact,” he later writes, “that there are other ways to influence young people besides preaching.” One of Naismith’s acquaintances invited him to become an intern at a college in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, where an educational physical education program was developing.

The college sports department was headed by Luther Gulick – now he is recognized as the “father of physical education” in the United States.

The college studied in two programs: one trained physical education teachers, the other – sports administrators.If the former showed interest in gymnastics, athletics and other indoor sports, because they knew that they would someday have to teach it, then there was no enthusiasm in the future administrators when they were each driven into the gym for an hour. … New games didn’t appeal to them either. At a meeting between faculty members, Naismith said that “the problems are not in the people, but in the system that we use.” Gulik reacted to these words like a real leader: he made Naismith responsible for inventing a new game.

So intern Naismith was assigned to find a way to get the students involved in something active in the room. James initially refused this assignment, but soon left his job as a teacher of psychology, theology, wrestling and swimming (such a non-standard set) in order to invent a new sport for apathetic “clerks”.

Before Naismith, these obnoxious students drove two instructors mad. James was Luther Gulick’s third, and most likely last, attempt to introduce winter sports into the educational curriculum.

The new sport would not be needed if it were not for winter. At the end of the 19th century, there was a lack of indoor games – gymnastics and aerobics were popular but not very exciting sports. And in the northern states, like Massachusetts, in winter it was no longer possible to play football, rugby, or baseball, and hockey had not yet become popular on this side of the border and was too dependent on weather conditions.

Another problem was the lack of electrification of the society.Under the artificial light in the hall, it was impossible to play sports, which would only require accuracy. So at Springfield College the challenge was to invent a new sport that could be practiced in a dimly lit hall in winter.

^{In the photo: the hall where Naismith presented his new game to his students}

He had 14 days to invent a new game.

* * *

At first, Naismith tried to modify existing sports.But rugby turned out to be too traumatic even without grabs, football meant too many broken windows and equipment in the hall for other activities, and lacrosse dropped out of candidates after it turned out that several Canadian students played it too well and any related him modifications.

The day before the end of the deadline for inventing a new game, Naismith was in a panic – he never came up with anything. Then he tried to approach the problem from a different angle.Why have attempts to modify the old failed? Because people liked those games the way they were, with no innovation. How is an abstract sports game built in general? It usually has a ball in it. So the future game has a central element around which it is built.

But balls are also different. If the ball is small, you need a lot of inventory for it – clubs, bats, gates, shields, masks, and so on. And the more inventory, the more difficult the rules are, but a simple game is needed. It is also easier to hide a small ball somewhere in a playful way.It’s easier with a big ball.

The second challenge was to define the philosophy of sport. Rugby should not be played in small halls because it would have resulted in a high number of collision injuries. Collisions occur to stop the person running with the ball. “I sat at the table with these thoughts and said out loud:“ If he does not run with the ball, he will not need to be captured. If he is captured, there will be no rudeness in the game. ” I still remember how I snapped my fingers and shouted: “Found it!” – Naismith wrote later.This is how the basic principle of the new game was formed – you cannot run with the ball. Hardly a detailed description, but it was only the first stroke of a sketch of the future of sport.

The third task is to substantiate the goal of the game. At first, Naismith wanted the ball to be thrown into opposite gates, like in lacrosse – a 2-by-2.5-meter net. But if the ball is thrown too hard, it will hit another player and injure him, and this again does not work. And then Naismith remembered his childhood and playing “Duck on a Stone”.She didn’t need strength, but accuracy – exactly the kind of special trait that Naismith was looking for in his new game: “I thought that if the target to be hit was horizontal, not vertical, then the players would have to throw the ball in an arc. Strength, the essence of rudeness, will be useless. ”

Naismith also decided that the target should be hung over the players’ heads to prevent defenders from crowding around it and blocking the ball’s path. We are already feeling for something similar to the familiar basketball, isn’t it?

* * *

On the morning of December 21, 1891, an enthusiastic James Naismith arrived at work.Naismith had two soccer balls to choose from, one for rugby and the other for soccer. The rugby ball is stretched out to be carried in the hands, James concluded, and in a new game it is not necessary. Therefore, a round shell was chosen.

The first version of the basketball basket we were used to was a pair of boxes half a meter by half a meter. True, they existed only in Naismith’s imagination – the college janitor did not find suitable ones and offered two baskets of peaches. This is how the basket ball was born.Remember this name forever – Pop Stebbins – that was the name of the janitor who found baskets of peaches in his closet.

The baskets were secured at a height of 10 feet (305 cm). It was at this height that the lower railings of the balconies above the playing field were located, and it is at this height that basketball hoops are located all over the world today. “If the railings were 11 feet, that’s where I would have fixed them,” Naismith said. But the dynamics of basketball would change if it became more difficult to score from above or shoot from afar.

Naismith wrote the rules for the new game in less than an hour, then gave them to the college stenographer, Miss Lyons, to type.

Rules were only 13. They were attached with a pair of thumbtacks on the bulletin board in the gym – and so they became official.

First rule: The ball can be thrown in any direction with one or both hands . Naismith believed that the rugby rule that the ball can only be passed backwards was not required in his game.

Second rule: The ball can be hit in any direction with one or two hands (but not with a fist) . James didn’t want the ball hitting hard with his fist to hit anyone’s nose, or worse, out the window. It is not allowed to hit the ball in most modern basketball rules.

Third rule: A player cannot run with the ball. He must throw it from the place where he caught it; some movement is acceptable if the ball is caught at a high speed of .At first, they played only this way, you could either pass or roll the ball on the ground. Dribbling was first used by students at Yale University in 1897, and it soon spread. At first, it was possible to make only one blow to the floor, since 1909 the restrictions were removed. In 1903, the players who dribbled the ball were prohibited from throwing – until 1915.

In 1927, the Basketball Rules Committee tried to remove dribbling from basketball rules. In response, basketball coaches, led by Fog Allen, a former student of Naismith, formed the National Basketball Coaches Association.This organization still exists today, and thanks to it were organized the Basketball Hall of Fame, Student Basketball Hall of Fame and the NCAA Basketball Tournament. It all started with a protest against the return to authentic basketball without dribbling.

Fourth rule: the ball can be held in the hands or between them; other parts of the hands or body cannot be used . Naismith didn’t want the ball to be gripped so tightly that it couldn’t be pulled out. Now this rule is not in basketball, but no one really wants to keep the ball with their feet or under the arm.

Fifth rule: it is forbidden to push with the shoulder or arms, grab, trip, or beat the opponent in any way; the first violation is considered a foul; the second will disqualify him until the next hit or, in case of intent to injure the player, until the end of the game without the right to substitute . Naismith had the hardest part with this rule when he later judged women’s matches: “Everything worked out well until I whistled a foul on one of the girls. She asked, “Did you whistle a violation at me?” And then told me what my character is, where I came from and where I should go. “

Sixth Rule: It is a foul to hit the ball with a fist, as well as violations of rules 3, 4 and 5 . Gradually, violations for which fouls were given were added. And some – on the contrary, were removed, instead of a foul, a change of ownership was awarded. For example, until 1922, running with the ball was a foul. Since 1922 – only by improper dribbling. Now in the NBA there are 11 situations that are punished with personal fouls – and almost fifty violations for which you can whistle a technical foul.

Seventh rule: three fouls in a row by one team count as 1 point to their opponent (in a row means that during this time the opponent has not fouled once) .In 1893, a point was awarded for each foul, and in 1894, free throws were introduced for fouls, the rules of execution of which were changed many times.

Rule 8: a point is awarded if the ball is thrown in the air or ricocheted off the ground into the basket and remains there, while the defenders are not allowed to touch the basket. If the ball hangs on the edge of the basket and the opponent moves the basket, it is considered as pocketed by . In 1896, hitting the ball in the basket was counted as two points.

Rule 9: If the ball goes out-of-bounds, it must be thrown into play by the person who first touched it.In case of controversial situations, the referee throws in the ball. Five seconds are given to enter the ball from out-of-bounds. If the ball is not thrown during this time, it is passed to the opponent. If either side continues to drag out the game, the referee shall award them foul . These five seconds to kick the ball out of touch have been preserved in the rules to this day.

Modern rules governing who should throw the ball appeared only in 1914 – and before that they were pushing for the front, trying to catch up with the ball, as if in “Duck on a Stone”. It used to be funnier.According to Naismith’s recollections: “I remember playing in a hall with a balcony. At the beginning of the first half, the ball flew there, and the players of one team immediately rushed in a crowd to the stairs, and there were so many of them that they could not push through. Two players from the other team tried to toss their partner to grab onto the balcony railing, pull himself up and get to the ball first. ”

Tenth rule: The linesman must evaluate the actions of the players, keep a record of the fouls, and inform the head referee when the team has committed three fouls in a row.He has the right to disqualify players based on rule 5 . Even before testing his sport, Naismith realized that one referee was unlikely to be able to cope with the maintenance of the game. Therefore, out of 13 rules, two are dedicated to judges at once.

Rule 11: The referee must watch the ball and determine when it is in play, offside, who is in possession of the ball, keep track of the time. He must determine the hit of the ball in the basket and keep score, as well as perform other duties related to the work of the head referee .

Twelfth rule: the game consists of two halves of 15 minutes with a 5-minute break. Soon the game time was increased to 40 minutes.

Thirteenth Rule: The side that scores the most goals will be named the winners. In the event of a draw, the game may be continued until the decisive ball , as agreed by the team captains.

Now there are 13 rules in the NBA code, but they are all written out in much more detail. In the NCAA and FIBA, there are generally ten rules.But with paragraphs and subparagraphs, their number reaches several hundred.

* * *

^{In the photo: First Team and James Naismith}

The first game was 9v9, simply because there were 18 students in the group. The walls of the hall served as the boundaries of the site, the lighting was poor, and the players were not wearing any special equipment. Naismith placed the players on the court, like in lacrosse – three in defense, three in the center, three in attack, called in two players, tossed the ball – and a new game was born.

Naismith later recalled: “Within a few minutes it became clear to the experimenter that the game was a success. The players seemed to enjoy the ups and downs of the game with all their hearts, in particular the attempts to avoid a collision with an opponent. ” The students were so fascinated by the game that they wanted to continue it after the end of the class.

The hardest thing for the early basketball players was to adapt to a sudden stop after receiving the ball. The natural instinct is to keep moving with the ball.But this was a violation, and according to the rules, a player after a foul was removed from the court until the next hit. “It happened that there were half a team in the penalty area,” Naismith recalled.

Rudeness was also present. The list of injuries in the first game, according to Naismith: several fingals, one dislocated shoulder, one loss of consciousness. Not bad for half an hour of play.

Only one goal was scored in the game. The author of the historic hit was William Chase, who threw the ball into the basket from 8 meters.

At that moment, a new problem emerged – the thrown ball had to be removed from the basket. Stebbins was called with a stepladder.

After the game, it turned out that someone had removed the rules from the bulletin board. It turned out that it was one of the players, Frank Mahan, who wanted to leave a souvenir as a keepsake. But after a couple of weeks, his conscience tortured him and he decided to return them to Naismith.

The same Mahan asked Naismith after Christmas if he had already come up with a name for the new game? Naismith replied that no, then Mahan suggested two options – “Naismith ball” and “basketball ball”, and the humble inventor chose the second, more euphonious option.

Until 1921, it was written in two words – “Basket Ball”, sometimes with a hyphen. And 30 years after the invention of basketball, journalists decided to shorten the name to one word.

Among the 18 participants in the first basketball game, there was even a Japanese – Genzabaro Ishikawa, who would later introduce his homeland to a wonderful new game. Other participants in the first match brought basketball to France, India, Britain and Persia.

* * *

Soon, rumors spread around the school about a new, as yet unnamed game, spectators began to come to the matches.Two weeks later, 100 people turned up at one of the games – including a group of female students from Buckingham Women’s College, returning from lunch and accidentally passing by the hall and hearing a noise. The Buckingham instructors approached Naismith after the game and asked if they could play basketball. Naismith didn’t mind – and so the first women’s basketball team was born. They were opposed by a team made up of Springfield College stenographers.

The very first women’s basketball game, like the men’s one a couple of weeks before, was judged by Naismith himself.And his future wife (married in 1894), Mood Naismith, nee Sherman, also took part in one of the first games. They met thanks to the fact that the future basketball inventor rented a room in the house of the Sherman family – the house was close to the college where Naismith worked.

Two years after basketball was invented, at another college in Massachusetts, Senda Berenson will decide to adapt Naismith’s rules for women. So basketball began to develop in another direction, independent of the mainstream – and turned into “basketball” – a version of basketball 6 on 6, which among women finally gave way to competition with real basketball only by the 1970s.

* * *

Basketball instantly spread across America – and the “fault” of that is the Christmas holidays among the students. Having traveled to their hometowns in the United States and Canada, they enthusiastically talked about the new game and demonstrated it in local branches of the Young Christian Association (YMCA).

Soon, a team of students, with Mahan as captain, began touring the country with exhibition basketball games, often in conjunction with a group of acrobats from the same college.

Naismith’s idea was that basketball could be played by any number of people. But after some experimentation, in which the number of players on the court reached 50, the matches were limited to the standard 9v9, as in the very first match in history. By 1897, the number of players on one team was limited to five.

Pretty soon, Naismith’s students formed a full-fledged team and began challenging other college students and staff to matches. So they defeated both the team of students from another faculty (future physical education teachers), and the team of their teachers.

That game – March 11, 1892 – is recognized as the first public basketball game to be attended by 200 spectators. Naismith himself spoke for the teaching team – one of only two times in his life when he participated in a game that he himself invented. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the future one of the greatest coaches in American football, scored the only goal for the teachers.

A year later, Stagg will go to work as a coach (football, baseball and basketball at the same time) at the University of Chicago, where he will soon popularize 5-on-5 basketball – an option that will become canon.

“If you saw our first matches, you would laugh,” Naismith recalled much later. – Adult men played, most with a mustache, some even had a beard. They wore long pants and short-sleeved shirts. Someone could aim for such a long time with a ball raised above his head that it was simply taken out of his hands. It was an endless source of fun – no matter how often the ball was lost in this way, the player always turned around with raised hands and a bewildered expression on his face – “Who did it?”

* * *

In January 1892, the basketball rules were published in the Springfield College newspaper, The Triangle. Of course, she had nothing to do with the “triangle attack”: the triangle was the emblem of the YMCA, which was once invented by the boss of Naismith at the college, Luther Gulick.

Triangle’s editors received so many requests for a copy of the rules that they published a separate booklet, which also described the equipment needed to play the game.

As early as April 1892, the game was reported in the New York Times under the headline “A New Ball Game, Replacing Football Without Rude.”

The first basketball was made by the Overman Wheel Co., a bicycle factory. from Massachusetts. It was lighter and larger than the previously used soccer ball.

The first balls were brown, and only many years later they began to make them orange – so that the audience could better see the ball from the stands.

In the late 1890s, Naismith asked A.G. Spaulding to design an improved version of the basketball. And 120 years later, Spalding balls are official in the NBA, but earlier they were not very even, not very round and laced, which made dribbling difficult.

^{Pictured: Ball production by Spaulding}

In ten years, Spaulding will launch the first special-purpose basketball shoe.

With the spread of the game, the first inconvenience appeared: climbing a ladder to get the ball out of the basket after each hit was annoying. At Springfield College, a special man was sitting on the balcony, taking the ball out of the basket. Then someone suggested cutting out the bottom of the baskets – alas, history has not preserved the name of the author and the place of this important invention.But even the bottom was not cut out so that the ball would fall through, but so that it could be pushed out of the basket from below with a stick. “Since the stick was often not at hand,” Naismith recalled, “we had to use other items. Fortunately, the inexperience of the players led to the fact that the ball was thrown into the basket very rarely. ”

In 1898 the baskets were changed to rings with a net attached. By 1912, rings with a hole in the bottom of the mesh were already common.

Since most of the halls had balconies, spectators were sitting behind the rings, and some unscrupulous fans could prevent the ball from entering the basket. And the match organizers came up with another important element of basketball – the backboard. True, no one imagined that the shield would make it easier for the ball to hit the basket and increase the effectiveness, and, consequently, the entertainment of the sport.

In 1895, the first match between universities was played by the teams of the Minnesota State School of Agronomy (now the University of Minnesota at St. Paul) and Hamline College (now the University of Hamline).Although the first student team appeared in Vanderbilt in 1893 – they did not play with other colleges.

Basketball spread at such an alarming rate that in some places in the United States the YMCA banned it – basketball games pushed other sports out of gyms. Then basketball players had to move to ballroom dancing halls, arsenals, hangars and other large indoor spaces.

It’s funny, but in Springfield itself, basketball did not take root on the first try – in 1899 the basketball team was disbanded and returned only in 1907.

One of Naismith’s students at Springfield was William Morgan. In 1895, he decided to invent his own game – so in Holyoke, 10 kilometers from Springfield, the “Mintonette” was born. We now know it by the name “volleyball”.

As early as 1896, just five years after the invention of basketball, the first professional basketball game took place. It was held in the ballroom, and so that the ball would not fly away to the audience, the parquet was fenced with a wire mesh. This is how the first term for the name of basketball and basketball players appeared – “Cage Game”, “cagers”, “cell workers”.The wire was easily injured, so it was usually replaced with a net of ropes – and this was how the pros played until the 1940s. In college basketball, the cage was soon banned.

^{In the photo: basketball in a cage}

The first professional league was born in 1898. Six teams made up the National Basketball League – a name (NBL) that will be inherited forty years later by the NBA’s progenitor league. Players earned about $ 10-12 per match.

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In 1898, Amos Alonzo Stagg, already a football coach at the University of Chicago, was asked for advice. The University of Kansas needed a physical education teacher – but this position included the post of chaplain who would gather students for prayer every morning, so there was no way to find the right candidate. Stagg sent an urgent telegram to Kaznas: “I recommend James Naismith, basketball inventor, physician, Presbyterian priest, excellent athlete, does not drink, neither smokes, nor swears.Write to the Denver YMCA ”(this was where Naismith was working at the time). Of course, after such a recommendation, it was impossible not to invite Naismith. James joked for a long time that he got this job only because he knew how to pray.

Naismith wanted to incorporate basketball into his curriculum, although the only gymnasium did not fit the sport’s requirements. It was in the basement, it was only 10 meters wide and 25 meters long, there was a column supporting the ceiling in the center of the hall, and the ceiling itself was just over three meters.This did not stop Naismith and he organized a basketball team from his students, mostly football players. The matches were held at a party, on neutral grounds, in factory premises and even on a skating rink.

The first contender in the history of the University of Kansas basketball team was the YMCA Kansas City team, who won with a score of 16: 5. It was played by Jesse James Jr., the son of a famous bandit.

In Kansas, Naismith continued to invent sports games – but neither the thief-tag, nor the highball, nor the vrill took root.

Naismith never cared if the team he coached lost or won, so he – still a basketball coach at the University of Kansas – was trusted to judge his own team’s games.

From Naismith himself comes the greatest branch of student (and not only) coaches. Under his leadership, the famous Forrest “Fog” Allen played, who later replaced Naismith in Kansas. Allen coached two other future great coaches – Adolph Rapp, who built the basketball program at the University of Kentucky, and Dean Smith, who led the University of North Carolina team and trained many coaches and players, from Larry Brown to Michael Jordan.

^{In the photo: Michael Jordan and Dean Smith}

At the same time, Naismith did not believe that Allen would make a coach, much less a teacher of new coaches. When Baker University invited Allen, still a student, to coach their basketball team, Naismith took it as a joke and told Adolf, “You can’t coach, you’re just a player.” We can say that for Naismith, the work of a trainer was tantamount to the work of a physical education teacher. It took only 16 years from the moment basketball was invented until that incident, but the sport developed rapidly.

Ironically, the first basketball coach in University of Kansas history is also the worst. Naismith remains the only one who has failed to achieve a positive balance of wins in Kansas – 55-60.

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Naismith did not attach importance to his invention for a very long time. For him, it was just a small game, which was inferior to gymnastics and wrestling in its favor.

Naismith once held a class in which he compared his first basketball rules with the new ones.After some time, when he needed those rules again, he found that he had forgotten them then in the audience. The search came to nothing, and soon Naismith lost hope of finding the artifact. But 12 years later, he looked through his documents and found an unmarked envelope, dated 1891. Naismith opened the envelope and two of the most important pages in basketball history fell out.

In 2010, two pages of rules were bought at auction for 4.3 million and deposited in the Museum of the University of Kansas.

After Fogh Allen succeeded Naismith as head coach of the basketball team in Kansas, Naismith was named the university’s sporting director and professor of physical education. But paperwork alone was not enough for him: he wrote books, patrolled the US-Mexican border in 1916, taught sports medicine, traveled to France during the First World War, where he taught hygiene to American soldiers. The main thing in the training was to make sure that the soldiers did not go to brothels.

Naismith became a US citizen only in 1925, almost 35 years later, as he moved from Canada.By this time, professional basketball was flourishing, tough, aggressive, played in cages – not at all like the game that Naismith had invented as a light winter game in which players would not get injured.

^{In the photo: Naismith and his wife in 1928}

John Maclendon was among Naismith’s students in Kansas. He passionately loved basketball, but could not play with Fog Allen – John was dark-skinned, and blacks began to be admitted to the team only in 1951.So Maclendon learned basketball from Naismith. And he became one of the greatest coaches in college sports history. John holds many titles as “the first black coach in …”, but his main achievements are the improvement of pressing tactics and the invention of the “quadrilateral attack”, which would then develop Dean Smith. John McLendon was twice inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame – for his coaching merits and for his contribution to the development of basketball.

In 1932, a meeting of the Council of American Coaches was held.Naismith did not participate in it, but sent several suggestions for improving the game. One of those was the idea of ​​giving the defending team 30 seconds to tackle the ball, and a violation would be punishable by a free throw. In fact, the inventor of basketball could have reinvented basketball once again – his visionary thought outpaced the advent of the 24-second counter in the NBA by 20 years. But he believed that it was more important to motivate the defense to take possession from the attack, rather than the attack – rather to throw the ball into the ring.

In the same letter to the council, Naismith suggested rewarding a hit from a distance with 4 points instead of 2.And again he was ahead of his time – the three-point line first appeared only in 1961 in the ABL (in 1979 – in the NBA).

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In 1936, basketball was introduced to the Olympic Games. Fogh Allen dreamed of seeing 75-year-old James Naismith and his wife in Berlin. Money for tickets for the spouses was collected all over America – many colleges, schools, churches, amateur and even professional teams gave a cent from each ticket sold between February 9 and 15, 1936 – “Naismith Week”.As a result, 5 thousand dollars were collected – much more than was required.

In Berlin, Naismith saw how widely his invention had spread throughout the world. But he considered basketball an international game from the very first match – the same one that took place 125 years ago. Americans and Canadians, as well as an Englishman, a Japanese, and a Frenchman took part in that game. For Naismith, this was confirmation that his game would be understandable and close to anyone on the planet.

Especially for Naismith, a mini-opening ceremony of the Olympics was held – with the participation of the basketball teams of the tournament.20 teams marched in front of Naismith, moved to tears. And then they went to the site – in the open air, without any protection from the rain (the match for gold was played this way – under the downpour), with sand and sawdust instead of parquet.

^{In the photo: Olympic basketball in the open air}

Naismith was also entrusted with the honorable right to be the first to throw the ball into the game – the Olympic tournament opened the match between Estonia and France.

There were 17 (!) Springfield College graduates in the coaching staffs of the first Olympic teams.The college obviously coped with the task of preparing teachers of physical culture.

Naismith also presented the first Olympic medals. All of them went to American teams, and James was a citizen of two countries that played in the pouring rain in the finals – the United States and Canada. The Mexican national team took the bronze.

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Not much was known about the details of the origins of basketball until 2006, when Naismith’s granddaughter Helen, who at that time was already 74 years old, did not decide to sort out five dusty boxes with documents left over from James Naismith.There were letters, photographs, the first rules, Naismith’s own description of the first game, and many other useful artifacts that told the story and invention of basketball.

Naismith never tried to profit from his invention – he did not even register a patent for the game, and also always refused advertising contracts – only at the end of his life, according to friends, he advertised a Rawlings basketball. One day a lawyer came to his office and promised him a share of every ticket sold to a basketball game.Naismith immediately kicked the lawyer out of his office.

Not everyone agrees that Naismith invented basketball. Descendants of Lambert Gill, director of the YMCA in Herkimer Village, New York, claim that it was 19-year-old Gill who invented the sport in 1890, and the first game was played back on February 7, 1891. But the Gill family did not provide any tangible evidence, except for a photograph of Herkimer’s team, in which it is not at all clear what kind of sport the players were involved in.

In honor of Naismith, the NCAA Student Athletic Association is giving out its top honors – Naismith is the name given to the Best Player and Best Coach in Student Basketball.

In 2010, a bronze sculpture was erected at Springfield College in honor of the most famous worker of this university – James Naismith.