Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 12/1/15
From Press Release
Epoch Lacrosse last week revealed its long awaited and highly anticipated second head, The Hawk Sequel. Epoch’s designers drew their inspiration from Italian supercars and engineered The Sequel for pure on field performance with a subtle eye-appealing design.Image may be NSFW.
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“From an aesthetics standpoint, a lot of players like our design,” said James Miceli, principal and founder of Epoch Lacrosse. “We looked at the Lamborghini and other cars and worked to understand how they make these works of art, that are worthy of being in a museum.
“At the same time these are the highest performing cars. You look at the Sequel; it’s so clean, we were meticulous and they are literally pieces of art in their design. Yet they are built absolutely to perform on the field.
The Sequel’s Laid-Back profile caters to players who prefer a mid-to-high pocket, a lightening quick release point and superior ball control. Epoch also designed The Sequel’s bottom rail to allow players to effortlessly string multiple pocket types, including a tight channel or a shifty pocket for all around performance.
“We designed the Hawk Sequel for players that like the mid to high pocket,” said Miceli. “Whether it’s an attackman or whoever likes the two hands on the stick, they can release it at any time. That’s why we designed it that way.
“What we learned is that some like the pocket shifty and want to be able to go high and still at some times want to go one handed. We redesigned the high pocket to now allow for one-handed so they can use the lower part of the pocket. We made it more versatile without taking away the advantages of the original Hawk.”Image may be NSFW.
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Epoch’s designers also paid great attention to The Sequel’s scoop. It is ergonomically maximized for playing on both artificial and natural turf surfaces. The Sequel’s scoop is designed to improve the sticks contact with the ground, resulting in smoother and faster ground balls.
“In terms of scoop, we probably spent most research and development on what players like,” Miceli said. “We looked at how players attack groundballs on artificial vs turf and looked at engineering and picture to measure different angles of scoop. We feel we came up with the shape of the scoop angle for all different variables.
“The Sequel is a groundball machine; not only can you handle the ball and keep it as low as possible, you can also go out and get ball if it’s on the turf or the ground. It scoops like butter.”
The Sequel is manufactured with Epoch’s proprietary blend of materials creating a super tough polymer with maximized stiffness and flexibility properties and also UV protection. The Hawk Sequel continues to build upon the collaborative relationship with Flip Naumburg and it’s patent pending design builds upon years of innovation.
Manufactured with pride in the USA The Sequel comes with a 1-year limited manufacturer warranty.
Miceli said the Hawk sticks provide flexibility in use and does not restrict by position.
“The market typically wants to put products into three or four boxes: attack, midfielders, defenders and goalies,” he said. “We look at the game completely differently; we look at it by style.Image may be NSFW.
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“We spent a lot of time studying this. Style is dictated or supported by the pocket you use; whether you dodge with two hands and if you come down the alley and rip it or come around the net and hit it with the two-handed Canadian style.”
“I would say that the mid-high pocket could be for an attackman, midfielder or defensemen. If they use the traditional one-handed cradle and try to get the ball nice and low with one arm out, that traditional style is indicative of the type that likes the more mid to low pocket.
The Hawk Sequel Tech Specs:
FlexiQ: 3
Profile: Laid Back
Pocket Location: Mid-High (Zone 4)
Spec: Universal
Warranty: 1 Year (Limited)
Made in USA
Material: Composite Injected Polymer
MSRP: $100 USD
Miceli said the Hawk and Hawks Sequel feature heads that allow the player to shoot and pass from different angles and not allow the goalie to figure a pattern.
“The Hawk is a very dramatically different head,” Miceli said. “It doesn’t curves like a spoon like conventional heads. When the 2014 Hawk came out a lot of people were unsure, but it’s been one of the top-selling heads. We are bullish; we think more and more will try it. It is engineered for performance. By having the had back instead, the player can adjust the trajectory of the ball while released from the pocket.
“Why kids like the extra whip is that by adjusting trajectory they can string a little more and still get a really good trajectory and be able to pass without having to alter their throwing motion.
Like a baseball batter that times the pitch, a lot of times goalies look at the depth that the player is accustomed to show in his release point. By changing the shape of the head, players can alter their shot and goalies will be guessing wrong.
Players also have found they like to cradle with the Hawk, which can be used with all types of stringing options.
“You have more control when cradling,” Miceli said. “We adjusted it so the stringer can string multiple types of pockets, or shifty pockets. We wanted to cater it to the many stringing options. We tried to think of anything that can accommodate multiple types of players.”
Miceli has always been proud of Epoch’s development team, all of whom played the game and will not sacrifice performance at any cost.
“We are a design and technology company that concentrates on lacrosse, not a lacrosse company that concentrates on design,” he said. “We use design to solve problems and we are constantly trying to improve things. We’re lacrosse players and this is what we would use if we were still playing. We are only going to build products that we would have used.”