Longpole: Stick handling, hand placement

[pantherLax]

I play middie, but i was trying to teach my Longpole friends to "choke up" on the shaft when cradling with the ball up field, catching, and also scooping cause they were having trouble handling the big stick.
I was watching a lax game on tv last year and i saw them doing it but i still wasnt sure in what situations you should choke up on the shaft. Cause its definitly easier to cradle, catch, scoop, pass with a shorter stick.

Me and my teammates have only 1 year of expierence (sp?) in lax...

Thanks.

[UNCdefense]

choking up can help & a lot of older college guys do it but they make it look very eays hwereas it's not...the big thing to remember is you've got an extra 6 inches-2 feet(depending on how much you choke up) hanging out somewhere...so if you beat your attackmen & he goes for a trialing check the job's only half done....for practice have them choke up about 1/2 way up the stick.....(hard to explain but if you cut a d pole off into 3 pieces, their hands should be on the 2 break points(tell me if u dont understand)
^^^however thats only if they're having a lot of trouble w/ that stuff...what i do & what i see most long poles do is get used to using the entire stick...then if you need choke up each hand just 3 or 4 inches....you get a better feel for the ball & you're not leaving quite as much vulnerable to the offense