newb help

[peautstrain]

hi,my schools just starting up lacrosse this year and tryouts are soon.
ive never played an official game just screwed around with freinds.
i just bought a finalizer with hardmesh and i have no clue whether it will be a good faceoff head
the pockets not formed very welll but im trying to break it in
is a finalizer any good for faceoffs?
and also if anyoen has any time on their hands mind explaining how to do a faceoff....like clamps and plungers and counter clamps and powrclamps....w/e i heard all those on here?
it would be greatly appreciated
sorry for redoing one of the most frequent posts but i just needed specifics
-peace out

[ex-lax]

u may just want to be a wing if this is ur first season then later move to center

[wildcat8213]

center is probably one of the hardes possitions to play, (in my opinoin) u have to run the O and be able to play righty and lefty really well. (for feeds shots ect.) as for as the finilizer is for face offs i dk (i prefer a blade). if ur really set on playing center u need to work non stop prety much. ok well the basics on the face offs. good stance feet underneth u. a lot of newbs think u put u weight on ur hands DONT it slows ur reaction time. make sure u can lift ur hands off the ground and not fall over. now the basics. the clamp is the bread and butter. its simple rotate ur stick downward ontop of the ball. (ur pocket should be pushed in so u can get as close to the ball ask possible. the clam is beaten with a jump. this is when u life ur stick over the ball and meet the other players stick mid clamp then u can rake the ball backward to ur team. a jump is beat with a push. this is a simple move. all u do is turn ur stick downward (oposite of the clamp) and sweep the ball under the other guys head. the plunger i really wouldnt worry about but ill explain it anyways. u start with a clamp how ever instead of raking it out u pull up on the butt end. (this should bend the head and pinch the ball between the sidewalls) from there flick it up to urself or back to one of ur players. u need a flexable head to do this other wise u might snap it. this move is also one of the hardest to pull off. i have known it for a little less the a year. probably played in about 30 lacrosse games since and taken about 100 face offs and have never gotten it off. it takes a lot of practice and lightning fast movements. ull need to work on this for a couple hours before u should even think about using it in a game. another trick u might want to learn is the 2 fingure. (this is completely illegal) but a lot of illegal s*** happens in face offs its just what the refs can see. simply stick ur pointer and middle fingure out and catch the other guys head in them. then pull up on his head and sweep the ball out. make sure u cover ur hands (block them from the refs view) b/c its completely cheating. this is best used when u know the guy can beat u to the ball (2nd time arround) but watch it if the guy has seen it before and knows whats going on he can break ur fingures. and it does happen. the main thing is ur reaction time for every face. this can be improved my jumping the wistle anticipate when the ref is going to blow the wistle and start moving before u hear it. this is also illegal and if u move too soon they ref will award possetion to the other team which isnt that bad b/c u get time to set up ur D. there are a million tricks and 2 million counters. a tip to improve reaction itme invest in a weighted shaft (warrior powermaster is great) and practice face offs with 2 friends have 1 blow a wistle and the other face off against u. ur weighted shaft will slow u down but if u can stalemate him for a while in a game with ur normal shaft u will toast the guy. and the biggest time for a face off middi that anyone can give is CHANGE IT UP. dont do the same thing every time ie. clamp. b/c then they will jump it and win the face off (not what u want) work on everything start with a clamp (the basic face off move and by far the most popular) once u are good at that and i mean really good u can start with pushes and jumps. dont start on the plunger until u have the others down and can do them in ur sleep. i know there are other posts for this kind of stuff. that are way better then the adive then i gave so look around.

[ShsAttack18]

Good post wildcat, use of paragraphs wouldn't hurt though.go here for additional help (http://www.lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?t=4556)