LPG had the pleasure of interviewing C12 Lacrosse. C12, through innovation and technology, brings you a full line of high performance carbon fiber lacrosse shafts. Read up on why C12 is one of the top manufacturer companies in lacrosse.
Who is behind c12?
The owner of the company is a pretty savvy entrepreneur. He recognized that we have some unique technology that is” Game Changing”. He also recognized that it’s been since 1992 when the last innovative shaft technology was introduced. This was eye opening since lacrosse has been one of the fasted growing sports in North America over the past 10 years. So the company directed some of its brightest minds to design the highest performing carbon fiber lacrosse in the world,
I beta tested the prototypes for 3 years before we got to a point where we had the best product, then we went to market, and all other the other piggy’s squealed all the way home.
What is the origin of the name “c12”?
“Really awesome carbon stick” was a little long, so C for carbon and 12 is the atomic weight of carbon.
Can you tell us a little bit about the technological composition of the shaft? Are you using new material than other companies?
We’ve been able to figure out what other carbon fiber shaft manufacturers have not, which is how to make a full carbon shaft that can perform at the highest playing level. We use a braided carbon fiber sock as our material of choice. It’s the highest performing carbon available and since its braid, it is seamless which eliminates weak points. Our method of making the best carbon shaft relies on our 4 patents. Our process of ensuring 100% resin saturation is revolutionary. The exo-skeleton structure is designed to add unparallel strength and transfer energy axially and that helps you control the ball while cradling and taking a check. The film we use to wrap the shaft is extremely tough and allows us to reverse print the cool graphic. (they won’t fade in the sun)
What advantages do your shafts offer players?
Designed into our shaft is a controlled flex. We have figured out what we feel is the optimal flex to weight ratio. Sure there are lighter shafts out there, but ours wont break or bend. How annoying is it to spend most of halftime trying to straighten out your shaft?? We have to be careful and cant say 100% that it wont break, but after 1 year in the market we have yet to have a failure. We have radar gun tested many people with our shaft versus their current set ups. We shoot 10 shots with their shaft, swap the heads to ours then shoot 10 more. Switch it back again, rinse and repeat. We wanted to have the most unbiased data testing so we didn’t touch a shooter on the head, and kept switch heads back and forth so 1 shaft wasn’t when he was cold and 1 shaft when he was warmed up. After all that we found up to a 5% increase in shot speed with our Attack Weapon and up to a 10% increase with our Long & Strong. The little annoying checks that currently knock the ball out of a metal shaft will not effect the ball as much on our carbon. The energy of the check dissipates in the shaft and isn’t as strong when it eventually travels up to the head. Also lacrosse is a spring sport and there are some cold days out there early season. Carbon isn’t effected by the cold like a metal shaft is. It’s much nicer to brave the cold weather when you aren’t holding an icicle.
There are a fair amount of companies customizing shafts to the players liking now. What makes your customization different?
Our graphics guy has a couple screws loose. He loves a good challenge and we will design what you want in a timely fashion (not 6 weeks like others). We can then repeat your design on a new graphic if you ever wanted to “re-skin” your shaft. The beauty of our setup and film is that we can strip the old graphic off and replace it with a new one. Going from high school to college? Let’s design a new graphic and recondition your current high school shaft. You get a “new” shaft ready for your new adventure. However we do reserve the right to not do something we deem offensive and all that jazz. We have over 100 custom designed graphics shown at our C12 fan page on Facebook.
How many type of shafts do you manufacture?
We have 5 men’s models, 2 women’s models, and a uni sex goalie shaft. We have entry level shafts, middle school level, and high school and above. Designed into each shaft is a weight to flex ration we feel will benefit each laxer for the level they are at. We don’t recommend just buying the high end stuff because they will actually benefit more from the design on the model for their age, weight, level, etc.
What’s in store for the future of c12?
Besides total world domination! We are working on a post warranty certification program. This will allow for the customers of C12 to send their shafts back to our company to be performance tested, issued a new limited warranty and up dated graphics. We have not worked all the details out on this program yet, but we believe it will be of great value to our customer. With continued reinvestment into our business, we want to keep plugging away getting players the best shaft possible, designing fun graphics, and keeping eyes out for new technology to make us even better. C12 is an “ASPIRATIONAL Brand”. If you aspire to be the best, then C12 is your only choice.
Where can people find your products?
Right now we are selling direct to players/teams etc. We hope soon to figure out a way to make custom shafts available at all the top end specialty lacrosse stores across the country. Check us out at www.C12lax.com, or Facebook fan page or at our booth at many of the summer tournaments.
