Who on the field has the best stick skills

[Tex71]

who do you guys think on average has the best stick skills on the lax team (position) explain your choice

[skip0l]

i'd say middi's need the best stick "control" we need to be able to play d as well as get quick interceptions, groundballs, and keep away from attackers who are super pissed we just robbed em.

[laxattack1616]

What about Defenseman? The have that really long D pole.

[SachemsGoalie40]

everyone can make an arguement for each position

good goalie should have good stick skills and some times have the best skills on the team
middis have to have all around skills like skip0l mentioned because they have to play offense and defense

i'm voting for middis

[Tex71]

i think it might be d or a goalie because they both have to use sticks that have larger parts than the other players on thefield and a goalie who can run the field with a bag and a medium size stick must have some very good stick skills and a d-pole has to catch cradle and if he can run the field without it getting taken away imagine what they can do with 3 less feet of stick on their hands being able to hid it and all. but thats just my opinion that if you have a stick that has a larger head or a further distance between you and the ball you would be able to handle a smaller stick easier. i know this is how it is with me but i wanted to no on average if it was like that on all teams if the d-poles switched to a short stick they would better stick handleing than an attackman or a middie but the same thing does not work the same way there are very few attack that could handle a d-pole or a goalie stick and still have good stick skills

[Tex71]

forgot about LSM's, but ya i agree with that choice now that i think of it. they have to be able protect their stick and lay down some good checks.

[AttackMan17]

I think LSM's, Attackmen, and goalies all have to have good stick skills.

[mustang_lax]

Attackmen ofcourse :D You need serious skill to pick a corner from 10 yards away when there are guys checking you and in your vision of the net. Second to them is the LSM. A LSM with stick skills is the only clearing game you need

[hankooklax]

most good goalies i know used to be attackmen as well. As for me, I play d middie so i dont really have that many good stick skills but pretty good at dodging and taking a lot of hits

[marflax33]

i think attackmen, they have people all around them and have to have very good control and knoledge of how close your stick is to your body, where your defenders are at, and so on.

[LaxBoy92]

I'd say attack. With poor stick skills, you'll get the ball stolen right away from defensemen.

[gigo567]

LSM and Attack. LSM you have to have the skills a middie has and you you need to be able to pull of the same things you can do on a short stick using a long stick.
And Attackmen need to have stick skills with both hands, plus have to have accurate shotsand fast shots.

[ex-lax]

i cant belive that not as many people have said attack we are feeding the ball almost as fast as alot of shots and it is expected that we have the the best passing lefty and righty when most middis dont have that and we also have to have the best stick protection going against d poles

[vikinglax3522]

i think attack does during the game but i think that d-fense would have the best stick skills not necissarly with a d-pole but good with an attack stick so that they r atleast decent with a d-pole

[alexhawk]

LSM...without a doubt. To be a decent LSM in college, you need to be fast, strong, quick, two-handed, great on position D, better with stickchecks, and even better than that with your passing/catching/shooting abilities...not to mention sick stick protection.

I wouldn't trade our LSMs for anything because we have two guys who meet those requirements.


Also, crease attack/mid. It takes a special breed of player to be able to catch sometimes errant feeds while taking 5 violent slap checks to the body while putting a well-placed shot on cage. Not the most fun thing in the world to do.


This may surprise some people that I'm not putting goalie on there but a goalie's best tool is his vision in more than one way. He has to be able to see the clear develop, find an open man, and hit him at just the right moment but also see the ball all the way into his stick on a save.
It is without a doubt LSM in my opinion aswell.
I would love to play that position, my stick skills are pretty good with my shorty, but not as hot with a D pole..

[WHEELAX2]

I do..

It all depends on what level you're talking about..

If you're talking about the MLL, then naturally you could make an argument that every single player from top to bottom has the "best" stick skills.. considering that you have a pool of the best players in the world, obviously they have the best stick skills. I do think however, that the MLL's elite offensive superstars like Millon/Powells/Jalbert/Hubbard/etc... have the best stick skills across the board. they take the absolute hardest skills and make them look easy.. ie shooting on the run, dodging in traffic, passing on a rope, catching in traffic, ground balls in traffic, etc...

If you're talking about the NLL, then you're talking about an entirely different set of skills that are gradually working their way into the field game, but are still pretty unique to the NLL. Shooting through screens, behind the back passes with precision, gathering loose balls with tremendous pressure, catching and shooting on the crease, maintaining posession while being cross-checked from all angles, precision passing, etc... Obviously your key forwards will have the best skills. Grant, Marachek and gaits (of old), boyle, etc...

If you're talking about elite NCAA level play, you're getting into a little bit of a grey area here. some of your top level players can get away with not having the best stick skills in "role" positions. Defenders can get away with being strong with predominantly one hand, and defensive middies can afford the same luxury. If you're talking about who has the best stick skills on the elite NCAA level, your feeding midfielders, crease attackmen, and dodging mids/attackmen will have different styles of play, but will posess the best stick skills.

If you're talking about elite high school play, well, you're going to have a few more positions getting away with using a little less stick skills. Defenders, middies, and even attackmen can get away with less-than-master stick skills. Defenders will often posess good handling skills, but will not generally be able to switch hands readily. Most defensive midfielders will not be your best shooters or cradlers, and a lot of attackmen can get away with being a strong lefty or strong righty.


Overall, from top to bottom, I think the position that requires the most stick skills is any position where you are charged with dodging, shooting, and feeding. this player is most likely an attackman, but can be a midfielder (like the case of the powells and gaits- both sets of brothers spent time at attack and midfield and dominated both positions).. The reason why I believe it will generally be an attackman is by the standards set by Millon. He is super fast, can cradle both right and left, perform any dodge perfectly, shoot with extreme accuracy with both right and left hands, can feed on a rope, and is in my opinion, the best shooter on the run <- and that is a very very difficult skill to master...

[FHSLAX18]

You can't say stick skills cause that would have to go to attack having to weave in and out through defenders with the D poles. the one with the best all around skills would have to be the middi like Sachemsgoalie40 said, offense and defense

[JerseyD540]

and defense relates to skills why? defense is played with your feet, i think some of you are confused. it is obviously the attackman, they have to be able to protect the stick from Dpoles, and are responsible for the most goals and assits on teams. the best feeders? attackman. the best shooters? attackman. who ever said defenseman you are insane, i play D and i only touch the ball much less than an attackman. they are handling it every offensive set, 4 or 5 times. some defenseman are lucky to touch more than five times in a game.

[Tex71]

that would probaly be because you arent a take away defensemen i get the ball on average like 10 times a game because im striping the ball and moving it up the feild with a pas or runing to creat a gap for the offence and then passing to the open guy. i know what you are saying about playing d with your feet because i play d and you do play wiht your feet but you take advantage of the attackman's mistakes too. you take the ball from him if he makes a mistake but if you don't you just ride him with good position so he doesn't get anywhere. but if you are a good defensman you should have at least like 10 takeaways a game because the attack will make mistakes.

[Trilax03]

i'd go with goalies or mid...goalies really step it up and good ones prob. hav better stick skills than most of the team and/or middis b/c they hav to have good stick skills on d and offense and they should b pretty fast which implies good stick skills b/c they have to keep the ball in their pocket at all times and thnk fast.

[rjattack19]

i might be a bit byest (sry i cant spell) but i have to go with attack or LSM...i say that cuz the attack men have only a little room to work with...we have to face deffenders that r usually bigger than us, and use a bigger stick...plus we almost never get a chance to just rip one at the goal un like middies, we usually have to work the goalie

[MeTHLax18]

middies i think because they also play de with a short stick.
LSM uses a long pool which is "easier" in some cases to cover someone
middies also do the clears and faceoffs.

[shiftylax]

This is an easy answer.

Attackmen: catch, release, score. Everyone else just carries the ball.

[sharpshooterFTW]

any player that has played d, or goalie useually has nasty stick skills. i play d, and somtimes go up for mid, and i hav a few attackmen who previously had poles. and they're all pretty insane. so my vote would be for d-men and mid's, we both hav to get the ball up the field w/o a peneltie, and while we're gettin smashed by pissed off ppl, althoe attackemen do get some credit for tht.

[JerseyD540]

that would probaly be because you arent a take away defensemen i get the ball on average like 10 times a game because im striping the ball and moving it up the feild with a pas or runing to creat a gap for the offence and then passing to the open guy. i know what you are saying about playing d with your feet because i play d and you do play wiht your feet but you take advantage of the attackman's mistakes too. you take the ball from him if he makes a mistake but if you don't you just ride him with good position so he doesn't get anywhere. but if you are a good defensman you should have at least like 10 takeaways a game because the attack will make mistakes.
if you play against top caliber players they dont make 10 mistakes in a game.

[AHA lax5]

I think every player on the field should have great stick skills....there is no excuse to not have at least good stick skills, its the easiest to learn and easiest to practice.

[LaxBoy92]

who do you guys think on average has the best stick skills on the lax team
Me, of course.

[Lax1228]

I think that each position on the field has a different definition of "stick skills", so it's hard to compare positions rather than specific players.

[Gaber]

i think that if you looked at forewards in box, it would have to be them because of the lack of space, the ability to shoot over, around and under defensemen, as well as their ability to dodge in the amount of room they have. ex/ Ryan Boyle and Lewis Ratcliff, both played in college and both are now top players in the NLL.

[lax16]

middies by farr...

they have to be able to transition the ball while bein pressured
play defense
get groundballs
dodge from the top against d-poles/defensive middies
be able to feed from anywhere
be able to shoot on the run w/ perfect accuracy
have a hard and accurate time and room shot

i think its really no contest - attack r very skilled but they dont have to do as much and defensemen i think have different type of stick skills

[D-Unit]

Um ask any good coach or expierenced person. It's the defenseman and LSM. Using a long pole is the hardest thing to do on the field. Defenseman and LSM are asked to stop someone from scoring and create transition oppertunities. Keeping a long pole away from other players is damn hard. All you people who say attack/midfield/goalie are wrong. :)

[Tex71]

defensemen i think have different type of stick skills
yea but if you give a defensman or a lsm a short pole they both would have crazy stick skills with it and they would have at least the same if not better stick skills than almost all attack and middies

[HdGLaxWarrior]

What about Defenseman? The have that really long D pole.

I think D guys have the best stick skills. They have what? 3 more feet of stick?

[BioPro29]

Definitely attackman. They have to have the best stick protection, be able to feed well AND, they need to be able to shoot on the run, which is probably the hardest skill to master.

[robi]

I think the best player on the team probably has the best stick skills no matter what his position.

[c0letraiN]

well, i was reading inside lacrosse and i was looking at the article about the USA defenseman tryouts. all the defensemen said you can tell if a defensemen played as a short stick earlier in his life whether it be college or high school or whatever. most of them started out as a short stick or played short stick at one point.
IMO, defensemen probaly have the best "control" over their stick because they are accustom to controlling their stick and not laying slashes and getting it caught or having it hit other players because it is so much bigger than a short stick.
But, for stick skill, i would have to say attackmen. they have to keep a good cradle going while protecting their stick while dodging and running full speed while watching for cuts while getting checked and constantly chases by a guy with a big D pole!!!
But, no position is harder than another. However, all positions are fun, IMO!

[laxpro]

middies by farr...

they have to be able to transition the ball while bein pressured
play defense
get groundballs
dodge from the top against d-poles/defensive middies
be able to feed from anywhere
be able to shoot on the run w/ perfect accuracy
have a hard and accurate time and room shot

i think its really no contest - attack r very skilled but they dont have to do as much and defensemen i think have different type of stick skills
that means you just said LSM, because they do all of that with a pole

[fadetodeeppurpl]

long pole middie. not only do they need to be able to dodge with twice the amount of vulnerable stick, but they have to be fast, and be able to shoot too.

surprisingly, i play LSM.

[CSlax06]

long pole middie. not only do they need to be able to dodge with twice the amount of vulnerable stick, but they have to be fast, and be able to shoot too.

surprisingly, i play LSM.

Agreed, without defence where would the team be? If your D cant pass the ball everyone else is screwed.

[faceofflax15]

Attack, They have a need to have every stick skill defined to a degree which is uncompared.
Middies need a good deal of offense while a good deal of defense.
Defense, needs to know how to throw great checks, get the ball, roll dodge and make a great clear.
Goalies need to be able to save the ball, a pretty hard thing to do.
And then make a great clear.
Its all hard.

[lax4life6]

it depends on who you play for. my teams attack last year had the best stick skills, this year it'll probly be the middies. And when we play Shaker (a school in the capital region) their goalie has the best goalie stick skills ive ever seen.

[Valaxman17]

Middies who are regularly covered with a long pole because you feed as a middie as well as shoot and you must get shots from the utside well thats just my opinion

[dragonlax]

attackmen because we have to crash crease and go through hit after hit and keep the bacll from coming out and after that we have to do a quick shot or pass without that being inerfered with. and after that is LSM because there are times then have to go from a groundball on their end then have to bring it up themselves to the offensive end

[laxfolife24]

I would have to say that the middies have the best stickwork because they need to have the best control for the transition game.

[goalie1215]

goalies. catching is the easiest, but everything else is the hardest.

[BeaverFondu]

and defense relates to skills why? defense is played with your feet, i think some of you are confused. it is obviously the attackman, they have to be able to protect the stick from Dpoles, and are responsible for the most goals and assits on teams. the best feeders? attackman. the best shooters? attackman. who ever said defenseman you are insane, i play D and i only touch the ball much less than an attackman. they are handling it every offensive set, 4 or 5 times. some defenseman are lucky to touch more than five times in a game.


You say defense is played with good footwork. But if it was that way then attackmen wouldn't need to protect their sticks from dpoles. Just drive. It takes just as much skill to accuratly land an over the head, or a wrap or other fancy check you can think of.

[CVLAX#4=GOD]

not to sound dumb but whats LSM

[Show'emTheNumba]

long pole middies....silly mattt.

[Show'emTheNumba]

i'm not a goalie....but arent you forgetting about them....Goalies have to be the best stick handlers on there team...

[BlakFate]

im going to say attack
we have to have the fastest hands and fake and keep it away from the defense