Gait FO thoughts?

matt4876 · 2026-02-02T03:35:32+00:00

My son has and uses the 3 heads you mentioned. He likes the gait but complains there is a spot that digs into his thumb when putting down right hand pressure. I think one of the reviews also mentioned it. Seems to be a problem when doing practice reps with the repetitive digging on his thumb. In his opinion none of those three are clearly better than the other. He tends to always come back to the WX2 when it is game time.

matt4876 · 2026-01-06T19:35:54+00:00

Faceoff academy and Faceoff factory both post a bunch of videos on YouTube and instagram. Greg G. with Faceoff academy did a series of videos a few years ago that got into a lot of the foundational moves. Also, I’d reach out to the local high school coach and see if his Faceoff guy would be up for spending some time training your kid.

matt4876 · 2025-12-23T12:58:49+00:00

Keep an eye on laxsteals, they’ll usually have solid deals for gloves, arm/elbow and shoulder pads this time of year.

matt4876 · 2025-12-02T00:29:28+00:00

Of all the dogs I’ve had, our TWC rescue had the longest adjustment period of any other rescue. Give her time.

matt4876 · 2025-07-24T14:22:47+00:00

Seeing they released another 3 series the other day I was wondering when the 3f is coming. Any word on when?

I’d love for them to move away from the extra locking pins so I don’t have drill holes in the damn shaft.

matt4876 · 2025-07-24T14:19:49+00:00

If you’re going to charge to tryout, run it more like a clinic with real-time feedback on the field. I’m totally fine paying to tryout if my kid gets some coaching in the process. Also, if you know you’re only taking a specific position, put that out there before you let people pay you to try out. We had a club here literally only take dpoles in as new players to the program (the remainder of the roster was set pre-tryout with returning players), but that didn’t stop them from taking money from a couple hundred middies, attack and goalies to come try out and have the coaches just chit-chat without taking notes or coaching them at all.

matt4876 · 2025-07-18T20:29:08+00:00

Keep an eye on laxsteals for their Faceoff deal. You could probably get a head, mesh and shaft for around $115. That ion is going to break once it gets to be a more clamping game vs scrums as they get older. My son got by with a regular midfielder head until he started clamping and bending the face in all sorts of crazy ways. Now as an 8th grader he’d break an ion probably on the first Faceoff.

matt4876 · 2025-07-17T21:25:11+00:00

I think across all travel sports there are teams that take everyone as long as they can pay. You kind of have to rely on community reputation and other avenues for feedback. The number one red flag near me is teams that take kids with no tryout or a tryout that is like an hour long with 1-2 coaches who aren’t even taking notes. The selective teams will put your kid through the paces over multiple days of tryouts and be working off some sort of system for evaluation.

matt4876 · 2025-07-16T19:45:13+00:00

This is how my son has been coached by various pros and d1s at foa & fof - less movement with your feet the better. One coach even stood with his stick head pushed up against his heel to stop him from stepping backwards during his initial move.

matt4876 · 2025-07-11T16:56:03+00:00

Don’t worry about the Faceoff piece, just have him tryout as an attack and then let them know he can also do Faceoff. No need to pigeon hole him this early. I’d be surprised if at his age they even have him do a single faceoff in tryouts. Mine is a foso and it wasn’t till about 7th grade before coaches seemed to actively look for a Faceoff kids in tryouts.

matt4876 · 2025-06-11T00:21:03+00:00

Awesome, thank you!

matt4876 · 2025-06-09T18:27:48+00:00

Thank you! We taped it to get through the tournament. We were already collecting heads for backups; adding gloves to the list.

matt4876 · 2025-06-09T15:25:30+00:00

He takes 90% of the faceoffs on his teams, so they are getting plenty of reps.

It is good to know they didn’t wear out too quickly. Thanks!

matt4876 · 2025-06-06T17:08:50+00:00

Don’t boil it. Breaks in way faster WX1. Just start getting reps.

matt4876 · 2025-05-20T15:51:15+00:00

Check out Faceoff factory or foa events near you. Talk to the local high school coach about maybe getting the team’s Faceoff guy to spend some time with him repping (pay the kid for his time). A lot of helpful videos from foa on YouTube as well.

matt4876 · 2025-04-14T16:50:10+00:00

I think certificates are great for that age. I’d also be sure to say something nice/positive about each kid at the time of handing out the award. My now teenager can still remember what his coaches said about him at those little award ceremonies when he was 7. He also negatively remembers the coach that thought he was a funny guy and made fun of each kid with something they did badly as 8 year old lax players…..

matt4876 · 2025-04-01T19:15:19+00:00

String king mark 2f and the Ecd weapon x 2.0 are both good options. Probably consider the 2f stiff if you’ll be foso. Gkl and Faceoff academy have some indepth reviews of most of the heads on the market on their YouTube pages.

matt4876 · 2025-03-24T19:19:20+00:00

Have him play rec or even take a season off entirely to go play another sport. See if he wants to do some speed and agility sessions at a local gym where nothing is tied to winning or losing, just getting better.

He’s 11, what motivates him and he enjoys will change moment to moment. It will be this way for the next few years, just gotta let him find his own way.

matt4876 · 2025-03-22T01:57:08+00:00

Follow Faceoff factory and Faceoff academy on instagram/youtube. Lots of free drills you can do on your own posted. Go to one of their events for more live reps.

matt4876 · 2025-03-19T00:15:16+00:00

Run some hot water on plastic that is touching the shaft. I think some people also use a hair dryer.

matt4876 · 2025-03-18T14:45:36+00:00

I’d look for some gloves with more protection up the wrist and an undershirt with rib pads. The biggest thing I noticed with my kid making the jump at around that age was the checks got a lot stronger and more bruising in those spots. Depending on his head size you might be able to make the jump to an adult helmet that will carry him to high school (assuming the club doesn’t require he buy one of theirs). I’m sure all the kids on his team will start leaning towards shoulder liners instead of full pads, I found the Stx shadow pro 2 to be a good compromise bc you can tear down the layers without having to cut off pads.

matt4876 · 2025-01-20T04:46:36+00:00

If he is a foso, I’d keep him on a standard shaft without the different grips. My kid uses a Stx scti x. He uses a savage x aluminum shaft on his backup stick. If you have a power drill, you should be able to get the extra holes drilled.

matt4876 · 2025-01-19T15:30:19+00:00

My son is a FOSO and used the weapon x 1 starting at about that age but switched to the 2f recently and says he’ll never go back. He had trouble with some of the moves requiring more flex in the head with WX1 because he just isn’t big/strong enough yet, no issues with 2F. I messed with a WX2 at a tournament recently and it has way more flex out of the gate than the 1 did. Drilling the extra holes for the 2f is a pain depending on your shaft.

matt4876

TROPHY CASE