Andrew Noyes grew up in Syracuse, NY, just north of the Onondaga Nation Reservation. It was here he learned to appreciate and respect lacrosse, and its deep rooted heritage.

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"My grandfather played. I still have his wooden stick on my wall in my house. My uncle played too and for Christmas one year, he welded a goal together for me. Then in my middle school metal shop class, I welded one. To my knowledge welding is no longer taught in middle school. (laughs) I had full field lacrosse in my side yard growing up and all the neighborhood kids would come by and we'd play. My dad would get out there and wear a catchers mask and chest protector. He used a trash can lid as a shield. (laughs)  Lacrosse is so much more than a game, for some of us, it's in our DNA."   

 

"Back then there weren't many options for sticks. Most of us played with a Brine SuperLight II. They came prestrung with a traditional mesh and were basically like a girls stick. No pocket whatsoever. It took many, many, hours to break it in, to get that pocket just right. In doing so you become super passionate for both your stick and the game. That's what is missing from today's game, players now a days just substitute out one stick for another one without even blinking. It comes too easy. No sweat equity is involved at all. Breaking in a stick took a lot of time and effort, and in doing so we fell literally in love with our stick, no joke. If anything ever happened to it, it was like your dog died. It was a huge deal." 

 

"So whenever I got a new 'tennis racket' (stick), I immediately would unstring it and start from scratch. Most of us learned how to string our own sticks back then at a really young age. It was kind of a rite of passage, just something we all picked up and knew how to do. It was great because we would come up with new ways to string. Some liked their diamonds super tight and others likes them wide. We'd warp and pinch the heads by baking them. Everyone had their own style. Regular soft meshes were around but weren't very popular. Some of the players that used them would soak them in lacquer or use spray paint to harden them up. I was never a fan, nor did I ever use one come game time. The feel and grip of the ball just isn't there like with a traditional mesh. You couldn't pay me to change from using a traditional mesh."

 

"I'd go to camps and learn stringing techniques from the college players who coached us. Tom Korrie (former West Genesee standout and Syracuse All-American) kind of took me under his wing. He strung a few heads for me and showed me some of the methods he had learned and developed. Adding an additional downstring next to the outside leathers with an additional row of cross lace was a game changer for me. Then add a slight pinch to the head and you really had something. These two things done to a SuperLight II back then were really cutting edge! (laughs)"

 

"Another things we used to do was steam our sticks before practice, in the shower room, to help prevent them from cracking in the cold. Syracuse doesn't have the greatest weather and god forbid if your stick broke. Talk about a meltdown. You always had 2 sticks, just in case but that first stick was your true wand." 

 

"In high school I would dye and string sticks for younger kids. Charge them a few bucks, candy money. Then in college I strung sticks for other players. Everyone liked the double sidewall style of traditional mesh I did. It gives the ball a deeper channel and it was much easier to form a good pocket out of the gate. When I moved to Colorado and started playing club ball I was pretty much the only one still playing with a traditional. I had a bunch of STX Hi-Wall heads left over from college so I strung those up and kept using them just up until recently. I'd get a lot of second looks at tournaments, that's for sure. I can tell you one thing, finding old cylinder shaped shafts for those aren't easy. (laughs)"    

 

Noyes attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School in upstate NY ('88) and went on to play lacrosse at Washington College, MD. He is still very active in the lacrosse community, serving on the board of a youth club, coaching youth teams, and plays club ball. When not stringing traditional meshes, he can be found at Washington Park, in Denver, playing 3x lacrosse well into the night.