In this StringKing Complete 2 Junior review, here’s the verdict upfront: this is the best-strung out-of-box youth stick on the market, and it isn’t particularly close. If your kid is starting lacrosse and you want to buy once and not think about it again for a season or two, this is the stick. The $10–15 premium over budget alternatives is real money, and it’s worth every dollar.
Now let’s explain why — because “StringKing has a good reputation” is not a review, and parents buying youth gear deserve better than that.
The Mesh Advantage
Most complete sticks — youth and adult — ship with anonymous factory mesh. The kind of mesh nobody bothered to name because nobody was proud enough of it to put their label on it. It bags out fast, performs inconsistently in wet weather, and teaches developing players that throwing should feel like a guessing game. It is, genuinely, the worst part of most entry-level complete sticks.
StringKing does something different. The Complete 2 Junior ships with their Type 2s mesh — a real, named product with a real performance spec. Type 2s is soft, breaks in fast, and handles wet conditions without turning your kid’s pocket into a bucket after the first rain game. For a player who is still learning what a good throw feels like, pocket consistency is not a luxury. It’s how you build muscle memory that actually holds up.
The factory stringing job is equally impressive. Mid-depth pocket, consistent channel, appropriate hold for youth throwing speeds. StringKing clearly had someone who has actually played the sport do this stringing — which, at the youth level, makes it the exception rather than the rule.
Head and Shaft
StringKing uses their Mark Junior head — designed specifically for youth dimensions, not a scaled-down adult head with a new name on it. The face shape is wide enough to be forgiving on imperfect catches, which matters enormously in a first season. The scoop handles groundballs reasonably well. The flex is appropriately soft for youth throwing speeds so the ball doesn’t fight the stick on release.
The shaft is aluminum, youth length, with StringKing’s standard texture grip. It’s not a premium shaft — this is a $65–75 complete stick, and a premium shaft would be a strange place to spend that money. What matters is that it’s comfortable in smaller hands, holds up to the punishment youth players inflict on equipment, and doesn’t feel like it’s going to snap the first time someone runs it into a goalpost. It passes those tests without drama.
The more important question for parents: does this stick build good habits or create ones kids need to unlearn? The answer is that it builds good habits. The pocket depth and channel are calibrated for youth mechanics — not so deep that it encourages lazy throwing, not so tight that kids have to muscle every pass. A player who spends a season throwing with this stick will develop feel that transfers correctly when they move up to adult gear.
Durability
Youth lacrosse is hard on equipment. Sticks get dropped, stepped on, used to dig in the dirt during halftime, and occasionally thrown in frustration. The Complete 2 Junior handles this the way you’d expect from a serious manufacturer. The head doesn’t crack under normal use. The shaft holds up. Crucially, the mesh doesn’t bag out into a sack after two weeks of practice. Parents who have bought cheaper complete sticks and watched them fall apart before the season ends will notice the difference immediately.
Price and Value
At ~$65–75, the Complete 2 Junior sits above budget alternatives like the Maverik Tactik 2.0. The premium comes down almost entirely to mesh quality. That’s the right place to spend money. The mesh is what the ball interacts with on every single throw and catch. Everything else is a platform for the mesh to do its job. StringKing’s decision to put a real product in the pocket instead of an afterthought is the call that separates this stick from the field.
Compared to the Maverik Tactik 2.0
If budget is genuinely tight, the Tactik 2.0 is a solid stick and there’s no shame in buying it. It’s a real product that works. However, if you have an extra $10 to spend, that money buys you meaningfully better mesh — which means a better throwing experience, better pocket retention over the course of a season, and a stick your kid can actually develop with rather than just survive with. For players who start developing opinions about pocket feel within their first season (and some do, faster than parents expect), the Complete 2 Junior’s mesh quality means they won’t outgrow it as quickly.
Buy the Tactik if the budget demands it. Buy the StringKing if it doesn’t.
StringKing Complete 2 Junior Review: The Verdict
Who this is for: Youth players at any level, first stick or third stick. The Complete 2 Junior is the right call for parents who want to invest in gear that actually helps their kid improve rather than gear that simply meets the equipment requirement on the registration form. StringKing built their name on mesh quality, and that expertise shows up directly in the Complete 2 Junior. The best out-of-box stringing at the youth level — it’s not close, and it’s worth the price.
No gear was provided for this review. Ratings are based on hands-on research, player feedback, and comparative testing.
Image note: Manufacturer product photography for this specific item is not available via our photo library. The featured image is representative lacrosse gear photography. All product details, specs, and opinions in this review are based on real-world testing.