The best Selling Warrior Goalie head of all time is losing some weight for the 2012 season. By going on the now famous NOZ lacrosse head diet, Warrior reduced the Nemesis Lyte to where it tips the scale at 14% less than the original Nemesis, and when talking about the size and weight of goalie heads in general the Nemesis Lyte will feel significantly more feather-like to all those that have always used the Nemesis.
The Nemesis Lyte uses technology that puts air in the head as part of the process to take weight out. The lighter plastic does not compromise durability.
SIDE WALLS
The sides of the Nemesis Lyte are thick and this shape, or form has proven to hold up well. The old Nemesis could take a lot before it cracked up.
HAVE A LITTLE FLARE
The Nemesis Lyte features Warrior's patented flared sidewall. This allows the pocket to be pinched in, and in theory to be narrower than what you can get with straight walls. The flare to the inside helps to direct the incoming shot to the center of the web, the black hole Goalie place where shots go to die. The front side of the head stays to be used as wide open, perfectly good, 'saving space'.
OFFSET
Looking from the horizontal side the walls rise as they move from the throat and then take a very graceful turn down into an offset look that is similar to the way almost all small stick heads have been made for years. The use of offset with goalie head design is fairly recent, though. You can tell by the way the line goes that Warrior didn't want to go too far overboard on the offset, presumably because it's already hard enough to have a big or huge goalie pocket bag that can still throw well enough.
Any Goalie wants a deep pocket that gives up no rebounds, but he also must be capable of throwing the ball on a line to a moving mark 30-40 yards out in any direction. No Goalie wants to throw with a stick that is overly top-heavy.
BOTTOM OF THE WALL
The lowest part of the inside bottom of the walls are angled out where the stringing holes are, and side strings are completely hidden and well-protected from the eventual string erosion that comes with ball hitting string when a save or catch is made. The overall sidewall design is very well thought out and uses many very good design features to shape this state-of-the-art goalie head.
THROAT
The throat has plenty of reinforcement and plunges onto the handle where it goes 2.75 inches down on it to get a sturdy connection for head and shaft.
SCOOP
The scoop blade is almost 1.5 inches wide for great scooping, not that Goalies use the scoop to actually scoop outside the crease all that much, but they do use it some. The curve of the blade is almost exactly in the middle of the road (to Canada), with some curve and bend to the line at the very top for good pockets that channel throws, but it remains broad and flat enough to make the act of scooping a touch less difficult than it would be with more bend at the top.
STATS
At about 12 ounces the Nemesis Lyte is the same as the Warrior Void Lyte. Goalies really seem to go for that Nemesis shape and this one, of course, has that. We heard that the Nemesis is the top selling HEAD of all time for Warrior. That is saying something if it is really and truly a fact.
STRINGING
We always recommend 12-Diamond hard mesh for goalies because the bigger diamonds help the pocket to get quickly to the depth and consistency that a goalie needs to make sure there are no rebounds that end up on 'the porch' and dangerously on the ground in the crease area in front of the goal.
There are a sufficient number of stringing holes for different lacing options on the Nemesis Lyte, and the holes just below the scoop are bigger to help a pocket maker get the mesh good and tight up at the top.
At Rock-it Pocket we have been getting great feedback for several years on our Goal-Ex pockets. We like stringing the big sticks, and making pockets that meet different player specifications. Many places do not dye or string goalie heads because it is a lot of work. We strive continuously to make mesh work better.
GOALIE THOUGHTS – CLEARING YOUR BRAIN TO CLEAR THE BALL -
A goalie can dictate what happens during transition, and how to connect the clearing dots. Goalies can do this with leadership that for the most part only Goalies tend to have. It comes from the brain, of course, with some coach added in like a little bird sitting on the shoulder, and it is manifested by both body language of and what comes out of the mouth of the Goalie.
THE PATH IS WHAT GETS YOU THERE
Lest we forget, the lacrosse Goalie is player who must find ways to make getting repeatedly stung all over by a very hard rubber ball that makes black and blue moments aplenty, and he turns them into a fun and pleasurable overall experience.
IT'S ALL ABOUT TEAM ENERGY
Make only smart passes from the Goalie Position that will teach players on the team exactly what choices are the good ones. Situations repeat in lacrosse as they do in life, and the quicker a player can recognize the familiar the better he is equipped to create good fresh stuff for his team.
Clearing is more than a plan. It is an attitude as well, as in something like, "Here we come, and you can't stop us!"
A LITTLE MATH CAN TAKE YOU FAR
Always never, throw a pass without good geometry. Got it? Get it more.
In all clearing situations, inbounds and or dead ball, the Goalie that has the ball can also have the keys to the car. Be sure players move toward the Goalie to get the ball thrown to them, and square up, too, even though they really want to take the rock all the way the other way. A fast break can never happen when the ball is sitting or bouncing around on the ground.
FINDING AND USING THE 2 ON 1
With the Goalie position itself, all teams clearing the ball have a built-in 7-6 man-up advantage on the defensive half of the field. It is up to the Goalie to work his team to find the place and time when the best advantage presents itself, and to make numbers work in the best team way. Break it down all the way to the 2 on 1 whenever possible, even if that ends up being on the far end of the field. It's 7 on 6, to 6 on 5, to 5 on 4, to, well, you get it.
ONLY AS STRONG AS THE WEAKEST LINK
As a Goalie, look for guys to connect easily or well with and really look for that guy or those guys at certain kinds of moments. At the same time a Goalie must also be versatile enough to run a defense and to clear the ball with whoever might be on the field with the same colored shirts just then.
SAFETY FIRST
Make sure that whoever carries the ball over the midline during a clear is not just the 'Christian' being thrown into a lion's den furnished all nice by the riding team and a long stick or two. The Goalie has that kind of potential power over the game. Remember that the clear isn't really a clear until the offense gets a chance to do some work.
YOU PRACTICE HOW YOU PLAY AND YOU PLAY THE WAY YOU PREPARE
How, where, and who a Goalie passes to during a clear is something that should be orchestrated in certain familiar ways that have real, fundamental guidelines. The clearing process is a beautiful part of the team game to watch, and when woven just right it can also showcase, and or bring out the best in individual players and the particular skill package they might bring to the game.
AVOID GOING OVER DISASTER PASS
Goalies also have power in the passes that they don't or won't throw. Goalies can make it so players can catch the ball successfully and move it up-field at a much higher rate when they decide who gets the ball and the way they are moving when they get the ball. It's great to pass to someone that is coming with the stick squared up as a target that is ready to receive the pass. Moving to the ball naturally creates good team flow. As a Goalie, almost never throw the pass to any of that infamous 'herd of turtles' running away from you and all hoping for the same heaven sent fast break pass from the Goalie.
Goalies should know if the pass they are about to make has a chance to be looked back on later as a stupid one and act accordingly by being smart.
JOHN WOODEN,
As a Goalie, be quick but never throw the hurried outlet pass. There is plenty of time on any current clock rule used out there in Lax Land to get a clear comfortably done. Especially nix the bad pass idea that could possibly in any way end up putting the ball down in the middle of the field not that far from the goal your team is defending.
MEET BOBBY KNIGHT
After all, what is worse than a misconnection on an over-the-shoulder outlet pass to a guy that would catch maybe 2 out of 100 just like it? You get what you deserve, and way too often that 'my bad' turns over and into a 'pick six' for the other guys, an interception for a touchdown as it were, or however one may want to describe that next series of ugly events that follow a kind of a 'stupid pass' selection? This ultimate "My Bad" is seen at all levels of play, not just lower ones Sometimes the truth is not about that HE should have caught it, and it is much more about the pass that shouldn't happen at that place and in that moment. Games can turn on those moments.
THROW IN A LITTLE SPIELBERG
The Goalie has the lead to orchestrate the ball movement proceedings and he can make his own version of The Clear, the movie, into an 'Oscar' winner by how he picks the kinds of clearing passes that he, or even another is throwing. If a goalie will only throw the ball to a player if he is doing the 'right' thing, that player will do the right thing and bark like Pavlov's dog every time.
BECAUSE IN THE END IT IS ONLY THE LONELY GOALIE
Never forget that in many, many ways Goalie Man must get things systematically across to the team in front of him that is helping to keep the ball out of 'our' goal. That part of communication really needs to be on point. When the Goalie trains them well on defense and on the clear as well, they in turn will be obedient, cohesive defenders. Team success will fall from a loaded wagon.
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