https://open.spotify.com/episode/3npIGQ1aUpBVLyWTNUHN5Q?si=GAw5GeHBQ8mWJTbnZBbkMw
transcript:
Grace Kratz (00:00)
Hello everyone, it's Grace. Welcome back to today's episode of the Heartstrings Lacrosse podcast. We are so back. And I don't just mean we're back for another episode. I mean I'm back to stringing. It's been three years. So today I kind of just want to introduce myself, talk about my background in stringing, tell my story a bit, and tell you about the new rebrand to Heartstrings Lacrosse.
Okay, so I'm a Philly lacrosse girl, Philly suburbs, that is. I started playing at a young age. I started rec league, I wanna say in like first grade or something, shout out Coventry Lacrosse and played all the way up through high school. My mom played at Saint Joseph's University in Philly, so we were just always always playing lacrosse.
And I loved it. It was a lot of fun. I tried out some other sports in my childhood. I did soccer. I did gymnastics. I did swimming. My dad made me do swimming and I literally hated it. I remember one day I sat them down and I was like, Please let me play lacrosse in the summer. I cry in my goggles every day I practice. And so they let me switch to summer lacrosse. That's when I started playing club. Played club all the way up through high school. played varsity at O and J. Roberts and had an amazing time.
I started stringing out of necessity. My stick broke. I didn't have time to get it restrung. And so I had to get a little bit clever, crafty, resourceful. Went to longstreth, found a pocket piece, you know, a new runner, I think it was like a debeer gripper or something like that. Took some cross lace out of an old stick I had.
strung the thing in and ⁓ played with it at my tournament that weekend. And looking back, it was probably the worst string job I've ever done. It took me four hours. I learned how to do it by just zooming into a picture of a pocket and trying to replicate it. I mean all things considered, like I applaud my effort, but it was probably a terrible pocket and I thought I was the coolest person ever. but fortunately my teammates also thought it was really cool.
that I could string and they all started asking me to string their sticks too and after that I was kind of on a roll. I kinda started to love it. I have three sisters, we all played lacrosse, so there were a lot of sticks in the house and I from that point on was always just taking them apart and restringing them and to the point where it probably got annoying and my sisters were like, Can you stop ripping apart my stick? But
Yeah, I just kept stringing from that point on. I strung for my club teammates, my school teammates, and some of my club teammates like, You should start an Instagram, you should advertise yourself. Like, a lot of people need stringing because the lacrosse store near us that did restringing charged a lot of money and took a really long time. So they were like, You should really market yourself.
So I started in Instagram. I think my first username was like GK Laxstrings or something. and then one day I was like, Philly Pockets, that is it. And so I switched to Philly Pockets, and that was my username until very recently. looking back, still love that name. I applaud my like freshman in high school self. Like that was pretty that was a pretty good name. But yeah, so I had Philly Pockets on Instagram
And I didn't really know what to expect of it. I was just like, Let me start an Instagram, see what I can do, see if people want stringing, make a little side cash while I'm in high school.
didn't grow to like mega thousands or something, but it grew more than I expected to the point where, you know, other stringers other stringers were reaching out, ⁓ companies were reaching out, I was getting sent stuff. I was asked to be a stringer at Laxcon in twenty twenty with the mesh dynasty. got to meet a lot of other stringers that day, which was super cool. That's where I went. That's where I met ⁓ Rob Shabilski, Wizard Strings, good friend to this day. Shout out.
And yeah, it just kinda grew and I I went from there.
starting out, like when I made my Instagram page, I had no idea that there was this Instagram community of stringers. You know, I'm on Instagram and I see like LaxTractive who had like 10K followers and like Fossyhola and like some other people back in the day who were like these pretty popular Instagram stringers. So
I was really inspired by a lot of these people. I learned pretty much everything from the people I followed, whether that was just seeing what they would post and being like, Wow, that looks really good. I'm gonna try that or people literally like DMing me or commenting on my posts, like, Hey, I wanna help you out. Here's how you should do your interlocks. I always appreciated stuff like that when people would correct me because it made me a better stringer. So
Yeah, just kinda went from there. And, you know, it was always just kind of a side thing. I never took it serious super seriously. I was in high school at the same time. I was playing club. I was working a job. You know, there's a lot going on. So it was just kinda like, you know, an order would trickle in every once in a while. I would do it, post it, and that's great.
I decided not to play in college. My high school coach sat me down one day and was like, Do you really want to play in college? And I was kinda like, ⁓ I don't know. And he was like, If you want to play in college, you need to really want it. And that was great advice because college lacrosse is a huge commitment and it's really hard and you have to really want it. So I also had a lot of other interests and hobbies and I love being
Outside. I love the outdoors. I love snowboarding. So I ended up going to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. And while I was there, ⁓ I wasn't really stringing. Every once in a while I would get an order, but not really because I wasn't really active on the account. I didn't have a lot of my stringing stuff with me and I just kinda moved on, you know, new phase of life.
One semester in a college, I got sick and I didn't really get better, ended up becoming a chronic illness. I was able to push through it for my first year of school, and then after that I was doing so bad that I had to drop out. So I dropped out of school, came home, and I briefly tried to ramp up Philly Pockets again because I had nothing to do with my time and
I wanted a job that I could do from my bed because I wasn't really able to get out of bed. so I briefly tried to ramp up Philly Pockets a bit more, but after a while I just had a gut feeling that like I really, really needed just a hard reset on life. I needed to like stop everything. I'm not really in a place to like ramp anything up right now. So that's when I decided I'm done. Gonna hang up the hat.
We're gonna stop stringing. I sold all my stringing stuff, said my goodbyes, and ⁓ logged out of Philly Pockets for a few years.
Another reason I kinda didn't want a string anymore is because my health left me unable to play lacrosse anymore. And that made me really sad. So being in the lacrosse community used to be something I loved and then it was something that made me really sad. So I didn't really want to be involved anymore. So I kind of just stepped away.
During my years off, occasionally people would reach out and ask me to string. Sometimes I'd say no, but every once in a while I'd say yes because they would be like
Literally n nobody else around here strings. We need you. Like, can you please string my stick? And people were willing to drive crazy distances and pay crazy amounts of money for stringing. And not that that was what I wanted, but it just kind of made me realize, like, okay, there's a real demand for this. And I guess I didn't realize after kind of spending a few years off of Instagram
Just like how much the game has grown. Like, yeah, I was logged out of Philly Pockets for a few years. I didn't even know the WLL was a thing. I was so off the grid. And so I logged back on and I'm like, yo, lacrosse is crazy now. Like, these club teams are exploding. The WLL is a thing. They're going to the Olympics. Like, my gosh. And so.
And like girls are starting to play at a higher level at a younger age. So the sport I realized was like really, really growing. And so this year I was kinda like missing stringing a bit, realizing that there was a demand for stringing, you know, people kept reaching out to me. And just kinda missing it. And
I'm in a much better place now, physically and mentally, that I ⁓ I can handle things again. So, ⁓ yeah, I just kinda thought about it and was like, What if I start swinging again? Like
People need it, I miss it. and it's not a super common skill, so I want to be able to help others and serve others and ⁓ you know, do what I can to help grow the game. So I decided to start it back up again. But there was a little caveat. My name was Philly Pockets but am I planning to move back to Salt Lake City, Utah?
School. So I was like, I don't know. Like Philly Pockets, love the name. Still proud of my freshman year cell for picking that. But I was like, I'm not in Philly anymore. I mean, to be honest, I was never really in Philly. I was in a suburb an hour away from Philly. But you get the idea. I was like, I don't know if I want to be Philly Pockets anymore. If I don't want to be, if I'm not gonna be in Philly.
And so I kinda dabbled around the idea of like rebranding.
And then what I was also thinking of is like, okay, if I'm going to start this thing back up again, it needs to have a greater meaning behind it. Because that's just the type of person that I am. I like to have purpose behind whatever I do. just like passion and drive and just genuine love for whatever I'm doing. And so
I kept saying to myself to like, my heart has to be in it. Like for me to do this again, it can't just be, you know, for the cash. It can't just be, I don't know, for whatever reason. Like, I really want my heart to be in it. And I really want this to be out of a place of growing the game, loving the game, and helping other people. So I was trying to think of a new name and ⁓
It just like kinda came to me one day. I was like, my gosh, what if I did heartstrings? 'Cause like it's kind of a play on words. And also like heart kind of speaks to like having your heart in it and like loving the game. And so it all s kind of started to come to mind, like I don't know, I get really carried away with like the creative side of things, so like the colors and the branding and the logos. Like I love all that stuff. So as soon as I thought of heartstrings, I'm like, I can see it.
I can see it. I want it to have pink and I want it to have red and I want it to have little hearts and like I want it to be focused on women's lacrosse for sure. And so I got really excited about it and I'm like, let's do it. And to
prevent some of the things I struggled with last time around because how I operated last time and how a lot of other stringers operate is, you know, everything's through Insta Instagram DM and Venmo. And sometimes it's great and sometimes it's a little messy. Cause I just didn't always have the capacity to be chasing after people on Instagram DM. And so I'm like, if I'm gonna do this again, I wanna make systems. I wanna make a website.
I want it to be done on email. I want to be a registered business And I want to do it right. So I've put a lot of time into really creating solid foundations this time around, a solid brand identity with my heart behind it this time. Like I've always loved what I do. But if I'm going to have a platform and going to be posting on Instagram, like I also want to be.
sharing my heart for what I do and yeah, using my platform to spread a higher message and spread like
Positivity, I guess. So yeah, that's where that came from.
welcome to Heart Strings Lacrosse.
also another huge thing I want to do this time around that I didn't do last time is I want to educate people about women's stringing.
I'm happy to string for you, but over the years I have been appalled by how little people know about stringing. Even like high level women's players who are pretty clueless about what each part of a pocket is called. I understand people don't know how to string. I would love to help people learn how to string and teach people.
I just want people to be aware of what they're using in their stick, 'cause you would be shocked at how many people don't know and actually don't really care.
Allow me to go on a little factory stringing tangent right now.
Factory stringing is like
Getting a Ferrari than putting the cheapest wheels from Walmart on it. Might sound extreme. But I truly think that. Because I mean, I didn't know any different from factory stringing when I was younger. Like I didn't know any different from factory stringing before I started stringing. I thought you just
You know, you go to the store, you pick out a stick, it's already strung, you use it for the next few years, and you only get it strung when it's broken.
Yeah, it wasn't until I started stringing that I'm like, yo, this sucks and everyone's using it. Now, I do not want to sound like I'm hating on these companies. These companies, I truly believe, are doing the best they can. They are producing excellent heads and shafts, and they're doing their best with stringing.
On such a large scale, it is logistically impossible to get every one of their thousands of heads handstrung with quality materials by an experienced stringer. It's just not possible. And so what they do is they find a way to mass produce a pocket piece that can be installed by anyone.
You know, supply chain wise, this is a good model. Stringing wise, it's not ideal, and I'll tell you why.
One of the greatest advantages as I was learning how to string was the fact that I was also a player. My teammates would make fun of me for coming to practice every day with like a new pocket every day. Because I was constantly testing what I was using from a player's perspective. And it taught me how every piece of the pocket has a purpose.
The outer runners have a purpose, the shooting strings have a purpose. The way the cross lacing is done, and the tension of it and the length of it all has a purpose. The way the interlocks are done, it all has a purpose. And so that changed everything in the way that I string, because I know I understand the function and the physics of it all.
When you're mass producing these pockets, the person installing them is just somebody in a factory. And unfortunately, could be somebody who has no idea what lacrosse is. They're just doing what they're told. And so the regard for a proper channel and a sweet spot and the
the tension of the shooting strings, that's just disregarded.
All of that is to say getting custom stringing isn't just a means to fix a broken pocket, but it's actually giving your really nice and really expensive lacrosse head the pocket it deserves.
What shocks me is I've received heads from high level programs. Their team gives them a stick. This stick has a factory pocket in it.
And they're playing with it. if players want different stringing or a different pocket, they have to go get it themselves.
And it blows my mind how these programs spend a lot of money on a lot of things but are not really spending the money to get good stringing for their high level players.
Obviously, hard work and talent beats how good of a pocket you have. Like a really good player can succeed with a bad pocket, for sure. But the pocket also makes a really big difference. Charlotte North would not be able to shoot like she does if she didn't have that like wacky corner pocket that she does. The Valkyrie pocket is everywhere now. That thing has crazy hold. You cannot cradle all the way out here.
Or really wind up if you don't have a good pocket.
And then also talking to a lot of these high level players also shocks me because they just take it and use it and don't also still don't really know any different and don't really know enough about the pocket to want something different, to be interested in something different and to understand that such a high level player deserves better.
And should be using better stringing.
Sorry. That's just what I think.
The other thing is if you compare actually let's look it up right now. Gate whip to strung and gate whip to
Okay. A gate whip to Unstrung is a hundred fifty dollars.
A gate whip to strung is two hundred thirty dollars. Goodness. So that means you are spending an extra eighty dollars for factory stringing.
I am not trying to advertise myself. Literally go to whoever you want to string your stick. There's so many good stringers out there.
I highly encourage people buying new sticks to buy one that's unstrung and then get it strung. Because whether you realize it or not, you're paying a lot for factory stringing. Buying an unstrung head is an option.
So buy an unstrung head, send it to a stringer, and get yourself a quality pocket.
And ⁓ that's why I do what I do. That's why I'm in business.
Grace Kratz (16:24)
More importantly than talking badly about factory stringing, I want to talk highly about custom stringing, and I'll keep it short. They last a lot longer, more durable, higher quality, and they are specific to each player. Each player is unique, there's different positions being played on the field, each player's style is unique, so I don't think two players should have the same pocket. Your pocket should be catered to you. Unfortunately, that is literally what factory stringing is.
Thousands of players have the exact same pocket. So
I just think people should care about what they have in their stick and get educated about it because it opens up this whole new side of the game And it opens up this whole new advantage that could be accessed. So I think that's really cool. I'm gonna wrap it up for today.
I'm gonna wrap it up for today. Thanks so much for being here. Give me a follow at HeartstringsWLAX on Instagram. You can visit my website, heartstringswlacks.com. Have a good one.