Harrow's SOLO Gives New Meaning to the Term "Complete Stick"

We have seen the future of lacrosse. A baby blue harbinger arrived this morning at our office doorstep. The Harrow SOLO will debut at the coaches' convention in a week and a half, but we have one now. And it will change the game, women first. The idea is simple and the result is magically complex. INTRODUCING THE ONE-PIECE GRAPHITE LACROSSE STICK. One piece? It may seem like back to the future, but what a future it is! The SOLO is the lightest lacrosse stick we've ever picked up and provides such an advantage over traditional sticks in so many ways that it can't help but achieve instant success in 2005. It will ultimately become a classic and a benchmark for the future. Here's why.

To understand fully the concept and how Harrow figured it out we look to the game of ice hockey. Most of us grew up seeing or using a wooden one-piece hockey stick. The stick evolved as metal and alloy shafts were attached to wooden blades and the stick became lighter and more consistent, but for some reason lost the flexibility it once had. The shorter piece of metal used as a handle bowed at a different point than the full wooden stick had and the snap-forward that the old stick provided, especially for shooters of lesser strength, was gone. But, the one-piece came back. Only this time it was made of graphite, making it lighter, stronger and with an even greater flex than the original wood at just the right spot on shots. The reality is that a great NHL player can shoot only a few mph faster with the new sticks as they were bending the old material with their brute strength, but the difference among shooters of lesser strength and all ages is far more distinct. Harrow, relatively new to lacrosse, has been in the hockey business for quite a while and the racquet business even longer. Hockey, Tennis and Squash are dominated by the torque and bow of graphite and lacrosse may be next.

The SOLO was easily the best kept secret of 2004. Lacrosse's rumor mill was busy this summer but nothing of a one-piece stick was heard, and yet it was a long process involving quite a few Harrow folks. Mark Hayden, the owner of Harrow gave the idea to Harrow's lacrosse boss, Chad Wittman the week he was hired and the momentum started. Hayden believes in "not innovating" as a methodology, believing that the physics and advantages of the SOLO are all well established concepts applied for the first time to lacrosse. Wittman describes it as "seeing between the lines". He explains, "The reason the other companies couldn't see what Mark thought was obvious is that they aren't in the hockey business. On the traditional lacrosse stick the flex point is almost 1 ½ feet too high. You've seen pictures of great shooters bending the plastic heads in their shooting motion. It's because that weak spot in the plastic IS the flex point and that hampers a good shot. The low flex point on the SOLO is like that of our hockey sticks and propels a harder and more accurate shot. The head and upper shaft are very stiff and in a collision with a plastic head, do not give. A built in end cap lets you really take a rip with your bottom hand on a solid foundation. One hand grabs utilize the flex point and light weight to get balls quicker and easier".

Wittman got lucky in the timing of everything as well. The rules in women's lax have recently changed to allow a shorter sidewall from 3.2 cm to 2.8 cm and the overall head width from 16.5 cm to 16 cm. Both new minimums were built into the SOLO mold and may be the only 2005 stick to have gotten the changes in on time. The overall length is 108 cm and the weight, strung, is an amazing 320 grams, some 50 grams lighter than some of the lightest head-shaft combos. The standard stringing is the Harrow Snap Pocket which is channeled and soft. The head itself is an extreme offset and slopes back up from the throat to form a channeled scoop, similar to the Apex, but tilted to accommodate ground balls from a high position on a full run.

The thing we like most about this "concept product" is that it's nothing new and it comes from people who have been proving the concept in other sports. If this were a car, we'd say to wait for year two's model so the manufacturer can work the kinks out. But the SOLO is just a lacrosse stick and was in two years of development. It's a well designed product based on good science.

We spoke to Gail Decker, the JMU All-American and Tewaaraton Award Finalist, now working for Harrow in Denver and she's very excited. "The best indicator for me of a hot product is that you can't put it down. Since we've gotten the samples in I haven't put the SOLO down. It feels natural and light and provides a noticeably faster shot. When I first strung it up and tried it in the Harrow shooting gallery here, I was surprised at how I could feel the difference immediately. It's a sick stick and I can't stop playing with it. I'm supposed to be working".

Of course, part of Gail's job is to test the stick so she's taken it outside for some tougher challenges like checks, ground balls and draws. "Against plastic heads the SOLO performed like varsity against JV", says Decker. "The plastic folds under the graphite on draws and contested ground balls. It's not something I would say lightly, but there will be a serious disadvantage playing a team of SOLO using players. The scoop works from a higher stance and is stiff enough to bull through other players' sticks and a tuft of grass too. One handed grabs are a dream and the stick cuts through plastic checking easily."

We've talked, in earlier Stick Tech columns, about the 1960's attempts to create a molded synthetic one-piece stick to replace the wooden one-piece, but the results were short sighted, open ended, and ultimately not symmetrical and balanced. They were a lesser product than the balanced plastic, even mounted on a wooden shaft. The SOLO is an entirely different story. Advances in the science of strengthening graphite have completely changed the hockey and tennis markets and Harrow hopes they will lead the new graphite revolution in lacrosse. And yes, a men's one-piece will be coming from Harrow in 2006. The SOLO, which will retail for 178 dollars with a one year warrantee beginning on March 15, is certain to shake up women's lacrosse this year, like the Apex did a few years back and maybe even more. The first draws of the college season between plastic and graphite will be very telling and may start a rush on the stiffer, lighter SOLO.

For those who are already sold, the first five hundred off the manufacturer's line will be a commemorative edition at the same price and will also be available on March 15th. The stick will come in solid colors and patterns including a pink and lime green combo. The SOLO we have here in the office and in the photos is baby blue with white printing. You can see more of the Harrow SOLO earlier than anyone else by signing in here and getting a code which will allow you a sneak preview at the Harrow site on or after the 10th of January. The coaches will see it for the first time at the Philadelphia coaches' convention days later. Harrow's convention effort will be to sell SOLO sticks to whole teams. Their intention is to feature in their advertising the first 4 or 5 teams that make the complete SOLO changeover, promoting the stick but also letting some lucky teams get some serious exposure. It doesn't matter what level these teams are, they'll be featured and they be famous!

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1/6/04