Look Good to Play Good: Goalie Guide To Looking Sweet

Perhaps you’ve heard this quote by the great Deion Sanders:

If you look good, you feel good,

If you feel good, you play good,

If you play good, they pay good.

We all know that guy/gal on our team that spends a ridiculous amount of time prepping the game look.

Eye-black in just the right style. Back of the hair gelled for maximum flow. Armbands just right. Socks and cleats laced up to perfection.

But the truth is – it works.

If you look good, you feel good. And if you feel good, you play good!

And like Neon Deion says – if you play good, they pay good! Ok, maybe we’re not talking a pro contract but pay good could mean a college scholarship and/or All-American awards.

Here’s a quick guide on how to look good as a goalie when you step into the crease.

Get Some Tilt

A discussion on lacrosse fashion has to start with helmet tilt.

Tilt refers to the downward angle that the helmet sits on the player’s head. And when achieved to perfection its a thing of beauty.

Those without tilt suffer from what the lacrosse community calls Second Bar Syndrome or colloquially “Second Barring” it.

Below are some poor unfortunate souls with some serious cases of SBS.

I realize these pics might be very unsettling for some. SBS is a real issue and needs to be treated appropriately. Please consider a donation help rid the world of SBS once and for all.

So now that you understand what Second Bar Syndrome is, let’s discuss Tilt.

Tilt is a downward angle that the helmet sits on a champion goalie’s head.

There is a very fine line between looking super sweet and blocking your visibility. You want the former, you must avoid the latter.

Play with those chin straps and helmet adjust in the back to achieve maximum tilt while still maintaining visibility of the shots.

If you’re interested in getting your tilt game right on your helmet, check this video.

After you’ve watched the intro to tilt, you’re ready for an MBA in tilt taught by the master tilt-ologist himself Ryan Drenner (seen in that Towson photo above).

By far the biggest factor in looking and feeling sweet is achieving a perfect level of tilt.

Those that have it can claim swag, those without it just look ridiculous.

Eye Black

Now that your tilt game is on point, you’re going to want to pair it with some eye black.

While eye black also serves a functional purpose of reducing glare from the sun or lights, it has a secondary purpose of making you look sweet.

Especially when you get the tilt / eye black combination working to perfection.

Keep in mind high school rules limit your ability to go berserk when applying the eye black.

Rule 2, Section 17: Eye black must be one solid stroke with no logos/numbers/letters and shall not extend further than the width of the eye socket or below the cheekbone.”

Other than men’s high school everyone else is free to express themselves however they see fit.

But I do think eye black is a part of a solid goalie look that will make you feel good and thus make you play good.

Grab some eye black here on Amazon.

Grow Some Flow

Flow refers to the long hair “flowing” out the back of the lacrosse helmet and can make even the most mediocre of goalies feel sweet.

While its not a proven fact that goalies rocking lots of lettuce play better, it should be.

This goalie has achieved flow-fection. Also note his tilt game is on point.

So do yourself a favor and let the hair grow a little so we can see nice cabbage flowing out the back.

Sweats Rolled Up

When I played in my prime my go-to look was the sweat pants with the bottoms rolled up.

Nowadays the rolled up sweats look has given way to the tucked into the socks look. Equally sweet.

Sweats felt better for me than regular lacrosse shorts. The additional thickness gives you a little extra padding from shots so there’s some functional benefit too.

Plus you get some extra warmth for those cold games.

Then I rolled up the bottoms to let everyone know there were no shin guards under there. Plus I liked the way it looked and felt.

Here is a Jack Kelly rocking: 1.) Tilt 2.) Eye Black 3.) Rolled Up Sweats. I wonder if he grew out some flow would anyone ever score on him??

I also think the shorts with past the knee compression pants look is awesome.

At the end of the day, it’s really about whatever makes you feel good.

Jersey

Sometimes I see lacrosse goalies in practice sessions with no penny or jersey. The chest pad just flying solo in the free air.

I never understood this. For me putting on a jersey is the ultimate feel good move.

Love the way the jersey feels!

Most coaches want all players to wear their pennies so they can flip colors quickly for drills. But if you can get away with it I recommend using a jersey.

If not at a bare minimum, cover up that chest pad with a penny.

Even when I’m taking shots with a teammate I throw on an old jersey because I love the way it looks and feels.

As a result I play better.

 

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A post shared by Coach Damon (@laxgoalierat) on Jul 13, 2017 at 9:53pm PDT

Although I do have the jersey in that pic above, I will admit my tilt game needs MAJOR work. But those old helmets just don’t have the tilt of today’s models. That’s a Cascade C2 y’all. You kids have no idea how good you got it haha.

Customized Goalie Head & Mesh

Unlike ice hockey goalies, lacrosse goalies cannot have a customized paint job on the helmet.

It’s one of the changes I hope the PLL implements.

Until then, what a lacrosse goalie can customize is the goalie head, mesh, and shaft combination.

Now there’s nothing wrong with all white stick head and mesh but if you’re looking for maximum levels of swag, then consider getting a dye job and throwing in some color into that mesh to show off your personality.

 

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A post shared by Mr. WANDerful (@mr_wand_erful)

 

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A post shared by Zygmunt Custom Stringing (@zyg_lacrosse) on Nov 22, 2016 at 9:57am PST

 

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A post shared by MW Lacrosse Stringing (@mwlaxstringing) on Oct 25, 2017 at 6:25am PDT

 

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A post shared by Trey Oaks (@crimsonhuskie) on Jul 28, 2018 at 11:05am PDT

Customized Throat Guard

While lax goalies must use the same helmets as field players – why is there no lacrosse goalie helmet?? – there is no rule against customizing the throat guard.

In fact, the only rules related to lacrosse goalie throat guards are:

1. You must use one
2. Throat protectors must be specifically designed for lacrosse

So we have free reign to decorate our throat guard as we see fit.

Many goalies like to put tape on the throat guard and write a meaningful message. Could be the number or initials of a meaningful player in your life. Or first letters of your anchor phrase / positive affirmation.

For example, this goalie went with “WIT”

Here’s another example –

Wait a minute??

Does this goalie South Portland have it all? Flow! Tilt! Eye Black! Jersey! Red shooting strings for mesh! Sweat pants!! Customized throat guard with tape? Uwww weee…he look good.

Some goalies choose to customize their throat guard with a full design –

 

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A post shared by K2 Lax (@k2lacrosse) on May 4, 2018 at 7:43am PDT

Consider adding some customization to that throat guard for looking and feeling sweet.

In fact some goalies out there feel the throat guard tape customization is essential to our being:

One last point on the throat guard. Sometimes goalies have the throat guard connected to the helmet with the screws so tightly that it shoots out forward and stays in that position. Especially when you’re running outside the crease.

Kind of like this…

So reasons of safety and also for reasons of looking better, make sure the throat guard always falls downwards to cover your throat.

You don’t want it so loose that it rattles too much when you run but you don’t want it to stay extended, leaving your throat exposed before you have a chance to pull it down.

Conclusion

Sometimes lacrosse athletes get a bad wrap for wanting to look good while playing.

But in the immortal words of Neon Deion Sanders – You look good, you play good.

So if you’re looking for some tips on how to look good, following the items in this post –

• Tilt
• Eye Black
• Flow
• Sweats Rolled Up
• Jersey
• Custom Head or mesh
• Custom Throat Guard Design

One thing I purposely left off the list is the helmet visor. While I will admit a nice mirrored visor passes the test when it comes to looking sweet, when I tried to play with one I found it horrible.

So much echo in my helmet as I tried to communicate with the defense. So I can’t recommend that piece of gear for goalies wanting to look sweet. I’m pretty sure the tinted versions of the visors are illegal anyways.

Anything else you goalies use to look good while making your saves? Leave me a comment down below.

Until next time! Coach Damon