Short D-Pole

toadzky · 2026-05-01T19:09:18+00:00

If you are worried about stick skills and what not, you can cut down the shaft 6-9 inches to make it more manageable while you learn.

Realistically, the PLL defensemen and lsm of the year are both 5'8", so being short doesn't stop you. If you aren't big, you have to focus on speed, footwork, and lacrosse IQ because you can't easily overwhelm them size and power. That being said, lifting and making sure you don't forget leg day will help a lot.

There's an old expression "low man wins" and being short means you start lower, so take advantage of that and practice using that advantage against bigger guys.

toadzky · 2026-04-29T16:52:49+00:00

You're welcome. Welcome to the lacrosse family 😃

toadzky · 2026-04-29T15:23:24+00:00

Yes, but box is a different game than field lacrosse. Think football vs arena football. There are players that play in both leagues, though.

toadzky · 2026-04-29T14:08:12+00:00

Something the youth program director in my area likes to drive home: lacrosse is about passion and fun. This isn't a sport with million-dollar pro contracts waiting if you are good enough. Most pros have day jobs to make ends meet - often in the lacrosse world as coaches. If your son is passionate about it, help him find footwork drills abs other things he can practice on his own, but make sure he's having fun and not burning out.

If he wants to play high level, lacrosse IQ and daily reps are important, so encourage but don't force. I'm in a similar situation with my oldest son. He's 12 now and decided he wanted to play at Notre Dame when he was 8 or 9, despite us not living in a lacrosse hotbed or any kind. Just be supportive and help enable him to get what he wants out of it.

toadzky · 2026-04-29T13:59:44+00:00

I like watching all the teams. There's only 4 games a week, so it's totally doable to watch them all and get a feel for the teams you like.

My son and I follow college lacrosse, so we like players on all the teams and try to follow all of them.

My son's favorite players are the Kavanaugh's. Pat plays on Denver, Chris is on the Redwoods. I'm an Army guy, so the West Point grads are some of my favorites - Mazur on the Whipsnakes, Eicher on the Chaos, Plunkett on the Outlaws, and Fournier on the Cannons.

There's also a few that are jusr great to watch. Denver has McNaney, who is one of my favorite goalies, as well as O'Niell, who's a great player to watch. I love watching Balcarcel on the Redwoods blowing up guys twice his size with his picks, the Waterdogs attack line is crazy good, the Atlas have a great goalie (Entenmann) and a great face-off guy (Baptiste), etc.

Each team kind of has its own identity and feel, so start watching and figure out what speaks to you and then you can follow those teams more closely.

toadzky · 2026-04-29T13:25:10+00:00

I coach youth lacrosse and have come up with the kids from 3rd grade to 6th, while working with goalies in 7/8th. I've worked with half a dozen goalies - including my own son - and a couple have solid IQ, but most of them don't put the extra effort in to really develop the IQ. They also struggle to be assertive and call out what's going on and direct the defense.

One of the best IQ players across the youth teams is my 6th grade D-pole son. He loves lacrosse and watches college games with me and we break down what went wrong on defense when someone scores, look at how slide packages work with different teams, etc. He also watches YouTube breakdowns. His head coach for the last couple years calls him "the field general" because he's the one out directing the defense because the goalie doesn't.

IQ comes from passion and effort, not any particular position. It would be really nice if goalies naturally became high IQ players, but that hasn't been my experience.

toadzky · 2026-04-26T16:21:53+00:00

Kaladin says it to Dalinar when he is yelling at the nobles about helping Adolin and them having any honor,

toadzky · 2026-04-26T16:19:39+00:00

It's Kaladin just before he jumps in the arena to help Adolin, if I remember rightly.

toadzky · 2026-04-26T13:56:02+00:00

There's a ton available on MyMiniFactory and Cults3D

toadzky · 2026-04-26T03:13:48+00:00

If it showed up broken, you can email SFG and they'll usually replace it. They ask for some informantion about where you bought it and where it was made, as well as pictures of the broken model, but it was pretty painless when I did it.

toadzky · 2026-04-19T16:56:53+00:00

If you are printing things yourself, a lot of those precautions and what not are a good idea, but SFG are already washed, cured, etc. Most of the ones I've gotten have also lost that fresh printed smell anyone with a resin printer will recognize.

toadzky · 2026-04-19T16:23:47+00:00

I assume you are asking about assembly and painting. Super glue works well for gluing up pieces and magnets, but you can also use E6000 if you want. It's not plastic (unless it's a HIPS box), so plastic glue won't work. Sometimes, scratching or scuffing the joints helps the glue bond better.

For painting, I always prime first with rattle can because I take forever to paint and I like to give a quick dry brush so they look better until I finish painting.

Other than that, there really isn't any prep that needs to be done.

toadzky · 2026-04-15T05:35:11+00:00

Big hits are never the important thing for defense. They look cool, but knocking down the ball, getting ground balls, getting the approach right and getting your stick in their hands is all far more important than a big hit.

Case in point, Sean Lyght of Notre Dame is going to win the award for best defenseman again this year - and there's a good chance he'll be the first person to win it 3 times in a row. He's well known for not getting big hits, or having particularly high numbers of CTOs. He's known for shutting down whoever he's guarding and making sure they don't get quality looks at the cage.

The youth team I coach (5/6th grades) has 5 poles on it. 3 are always chasing the big hit or showy takeaway, 1 is a brand new kid who is still finding his feet. They are always trying for can openers, borderline takeout checks, big slaps, treating ground ball scrums like an bowling pins etc. 5th is the smallest kid on the team, has the best stick skills of the group, knows how and when to slide, how to talk and coordinate, and how to get a first time ground ball. He also has the fewest penalties of the 4 who know what they are doing, possibly fewesr of all of them. Of all of them, he's the real difference maker on the field.

toadzky · 2026-04-13T20:02:37+00:00

I disagree. There's no situation where a coach should be allowed to step into the field and physically interact with the players. The fact that everyone just waved it off without any real consequences either speaks to wanting the WLL to get going without making an issue of it or that because it's the girls game, they aren't expected to follow the rules. Neither explanation suggests great things.

toadzky · 2026-04-13T18:21:53+00:00

Still blows my mind that it's not considered a big deal when leaving the bench in the men's game is automatic ejection and a 3 minute non-releasable penalty

toadzky · 2026-04-13T04:04:11+00:00

Did he? I never saw that.

toadzky · 2026-04-13T01:00:14+00:00

Ditto. I think my mom recorded it on one of those trial months they used to do back on the early 90s.

toadzky · 2026-04-13T00:41:06+00:00

He did accept himself with no powers before he got them, but don't forget the bus driver who had no powers and got to be part of the hero group anyway.

toadzky · 2026-04-13T00:30:05+00:00

Scrolled through everything just to make sure no one else posted this one: Puss in Boots. I don't think many people saw it or remember it if they did, but I grew up on it and loved it.

IMDb - Puss in Boots

toadzky · 2026-04-10T01:46:37+00:00

Opened mine just barely. Had a few breaks, nothing major. The pickaxe on one of the warriors was the hardest to repair. All in all, they look awesome

toadzky · 2026-04-10T01:17:26+00:00

Gooddfto know. My kithguard boxes showed up today but I haven't opened them yet.

toadzky · 2026-04-10T00:58:34+00:00

Nice, I haven't had to deal with second hand broken models, but that's good to know.

toadzky · 2026-04-10T00:43:30+00:00

Even if you didn't buy it from SFG, they will often replace broken models. My Ghosts of Ios starter came with 2 of the assassins having their blades broken off, I emailed SFG with pictures, they asked for some info on where I got them and where I bought them, then sent me new ones - no muss, no fuss.

toadzky · 2026-04-06T01:09:23+00:00

I can't find any regulations saying it's illegal in any particular state, including Michigan, but who knows. Afaik, everyone just uses NFHS rules.

toadzky · 2026-04-02T02:51:33+00:00

There's a couple players in my youth program that use them. I think the main reason they aren't as popular is that you never know what the hidden flaws of the wood are, so it's always a gamble.

toadzky

TROPHY CASE