That's a lot of Ninja!

I was recently introduced to the guys over at Ninja Lacrosse, who specialize in making mesh and traditional stringing materials that are coated with wax.  The idea is that these products will perform better in the rain, last longer and provide better overall performance.  The first guys to come out with this kind of mesh and mass-market it were the guys involved with Marc Mesh (at least that I’m aware of).  Since then, a number of companies have started to use wax on their mesh products, and Ninja Lacrosse is one of those brands.  But Ninja does some stuff differently, and their product costs are relatively low, so if you like coated mesh, they’re worth checking out.

NinjaLax offers a number of different types of mesh, and they sent me a large sampling of their goods.  I got standard 10 diamond, Canadian 10 diamond (the mesh is thicker), SUPER thick mesh, monster mesh, goalie mesh AND a traditional stringing kit.  I even got a goalie kit!  Needless to say, it took me some time to get through all of that, but here we are 3 or 4 weeks later, and I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface.

Ninja Mesh, Ninja Mesh, Ninja Traditional.

When you remove the mesh from the plastic you get a strong aroma of WAX.  I actually like the smell, but a few might find it overpowering at first.  Don’t worry, it disipates quickly.  At first, the mesh almost seems TOO sticky, but as you pull it apart (which is easy) it starts to loosen.  It didn’t need any stretching whatsoever, and was easy to pull and string into my ideal mesh pocket.  The sidewalls NinjaLax sent over were also coated in wax, and once they were locked in tight, they were hard to pull out.  I figured that I shouldn’t tighten all my strings down until I was sure that I liked the pocket. Once I was sure the pocket was good to go, I tightened down my sidewalls and they were locked in.

Then, before going to play a little wall ball to really test the mesh out, I washed my hands with soap to get the sticky off.

Because of all the sticky residue that had gotten onto my hands during the stringing process, I was a little worried that the ball would get slick or too sticky and turn into a slippery greaser, but the only thing I noticed after about 10 minutes of wall ball was that the mesh was less sticky, and it now felt totally playable.  As far as being able to string a game ready stick with brand new products, NinjaLax is right up there with the best of them.

But the big test still remained.  The rain test.  So I had to wait for a day where it as raining.  Thankfully, this NYC fall has been a little wet, so I didn’t have to wait too long.  I went out with a NinjaLax strung stick, a stick with Marc Mesh, and a stick with regular mesh.  Both the NinjaLax and MM products stood up to the rain test with ease.  Neither stick bagged out, and I didn’t develop more whip than I could handle.  The regular mesh stick pocket did what most mesh pockets do, and became unplayable after about 5 minutes.  I had to move my throat string up 2 rows of holes to be able to throw accurately again.

Ninja (great), Marc (great), Regaular (not so great) in the rain.

I really didn’t notice any difference between the marc mesh and the Ninja mesh performance wise, but I did notice a difference online.  NinjaLax costs around $22 for a stringing kit.  MM costs around $35.  NinjaLax also sells “eggs” of wax that you can rub on your stick to make them sticky again, or to increase water resistance on particularly wet days.

I have two mesh sticks with Marc Mesh in them, and they’re both two of favorite heads, but now I also have a stick with NinjaLax Mesh in it, and it’s definitely found a way into the rotation!  NinjaLax currently offers their mesh in white, or single color variations, but we can only imagine that multi-color mesh has to be on the near horizon for them.

I also got a traditional kit from them, and the pocket I was able to create is fantastic.  However, the traditional does not wear in as quickly as their mesh!  Of course, that is always the case with traditional, so it doesn’t come as any surprise.  I’ll be back on SSL at a later time with an update on the Traditional Ninja Situation, but it’s looking good so far.

The NinjaLax products cost only a little bit more than regular mesh products so they are definitely worth a shot.  Their stuff is inexpensive and performs as advertised.  Ninja Lacrosse is still a really young company, but their product performs well and it’s reasonably priced.

An 8 out of 10 on the mesh, with an improving trajectory is a great place to start out.  Jury is still out on the traditional for now!