I grew up on Long Island, NY, which is an east coast hot bed for Lacrosse and moved to the Chicago area in 1981 where Lacrosse was in its infancy, as it was in most other places around the country. Fast forward to 2004 and my daughter was attending Fenwick High School in Oak Park, IL and they were starting a girls Lacrosse team. I watched their games over their first two years as a program and when the coach decided he was not going to coach any more I entered the game.
In 2005, I began coaching the Fenwick Girls Varsity Lacrosse team and oversaw the entire program. Since Lacrosse was so new and there were no junior programs, every girl entering the program had never played and stick skills had to be developed among all players. This has been one of the recurring problems I have seen over the years: developing the skills necessary to catch and throw. Breaking in a new stick took several weeks if not months until it was just right and felt really good. Until the break in point, passing and catching was an adventure in who was the best ground ball team in the league.
At Fenwick we were pretty good at ground balls, but on the ground is not where the game of Lacrosse should be played. I started to make modifications to all the new sticks loosening up both strings and leathers to give them that broken in feel and maximum legal depth. This definitely helped and I could see the results in passing and catching efficiency, and we were no longer the best ground ball team in the league. I then ventured into restringing the heads to maximize the best attributes of a broken in pocket, including maximum legal depth for easy catching & hold, great feel, & accuracy. The early designs, although legal, were a little rough on the eyes but my players provided valuable feedback that allowed me to improve on the early designs.
In 2008, I moved over to coach Montini Catholic in Lombard, IL and restrung most of the Varsity and JV teams sticks. As word spread I began getting more interest from other players and teams and we continued to grow as a company.
After Montini I moved on to became the Head Coach at Glenbard West in Glen Ellyn, IL for their 1st Varsity season and within two years we ended up 17-3 and #5 in the state. During this time I continued to refine the CoolStick pocket. It was nice having a lab (my teams and players!) available everyday to try new designs and little pocket tweaks.
After leaving Glenbard West at the end of 2015 I was planning on riding off into the sunset and putting my focus on selling lacrosse sticks and gear. WELL… that didn’t work out as I expected! At the start of the 2016 season I ended up at Lyons Township High School in Western Springs, IL as an assistant Coach!
I left Lyons Township to be an Assistant Coach on the Hersey HS team in Arlington Heights, IL . As of 2021 they were a new Varsity program. I will be training their new, incoming players on the Backer Defense and motion Attack, hopefully making the transition to Varsity much easier. We will be implementing those systems on the Varsity to be used for the 2022 season.
CoolStick started after founder Coach Bob started to make modifications to all of his player’s pockets by loosening up both strings and leathers to give them that broken in feel and set them to the maximum legal depth. He wanted players to have better equipment to build confidence and game skills, which led to the beginning of CoolStick.
The early pocket designs, although legal, were a little rough on the eyes, but Bob’s players provided valuable feedback that allowed him to improve on the early designs and ultimately led to him creating our successful 4L pocket.
The CoolStick 4L pocket is a four-leather design with a high pocket preferred by college and elite high school players. It has a soft, forgiving pocket making catching very easy. The two outside leathers hug the ball while it tracks perfectly in the head providing superior accuracy. We pre-form the pocket which is noticeable right out of the box. THe CoolStick 4L pocket has been an overwhelming success for feel, passing, catching, accuracy and overall performance.
With the changes in the girl’s lacrosse rules in 2017 to make mesh legal in girls/women’s sticks, Bob created our newest Hybrid Mesh pocket. After many different designs and feedback and reviews from players of various levels we finally decided on our Hybrid Mesh design that matches the accuracy of our 4L pocket but is more forgiving. Our Hybrid Mesh pocket is getting rave reviews (and Coach Bob now gives it a slight edge over the 4L pocket!) and is outselling the 4L pocket.
The search for the perfect pocket has been on going in lacrosse for years. Everyone wants the ball to sit in the top of the pocket for better control, quicker shots and more accuracy. CoolStick has developed a pocket that does all that! The Balls Eye pocket allows the ball to sit in the sweet spot of the stick. The ball sits just under the lower shooter. This pocket has superior catching ability, exceptional control, hold and accuracy, plus all the benefits of the 7D. There is no ball rattle or drift as it travels between the leathers. We continue to make little tweeks in this pocket to improve its performance and make it easier to adjust. We have put the BallsEye into many of the newer heads in the market, along with the established industry names. The BallsEye sits in all the heads very well and performance is exceptional. One of the manufacturers we worked with said the pocket was soooooooooo good it was criminal. We agree, and so do the players who have played with BallsEye!
All our pockets are exceptional for feel, hold, accuracy and great right out of the box! Every stick is made with a custom pre-formed pocket to maximum legal depth and a feel like the old broken in stick that you love. When you add your own distinctive touch in the colors of your choice, it becomes a part of you.
Good head design is essential but the pocket makes the stick! In 2016 we introduced our first head called the XPPRO. The XPPRO incorporates all Bob has learned about what makes a great head and pocket — a stiffer head that does not fold over which is great on the draw and for winning ground balls, it also has good stick to ground contact for GB’s and a deep pocket for easy catching, ball control and accuracy. We continue to make improvements and modifications to the pocket so you can excel. You will feel the difference right out of the box the first time you throw and catch.
We have become the “GO TO” stick for many players and are now in the hands of thousands of players around the USA and across the globe.
Put the CoolStick advantage in your players hands and buy a Coolstick, we promise you will not be disappointed!
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