Face-Flexing Faceoff Heads

A face-flexing head was a very popular option for faceoff athlete's prior to the standing neutral grip rule change. Before the rule change, faceoff athlete's were able to go knee down moto grip and the faceoff was a more physical, longer lasting battle for the ball. For the majority of this era, there weren't faceoff-specific heads to use. Faceoff athletes were forced to use the current heads available on the market, aka traditionally flexing heads, that were originally designed for midfielders and attackmen. During this time, players were constantly testing out all different kinds of midfield/attack heads to see which one gave them the greatest advantage. All of a sudden, players stumbled across the Nike CEO and unintentionally discovered its strengths at the X. The Nike CEO quickly became one of the most popular heads being used for faceoffs because players discovered its unique ability to flex unlike any other head on the market. Although Nike had no intentions of designing the CEO to be used for faceoffs, the structure of the head allowed for players to form what is known as a face flex, which allowed them to slip under their opponent's traditonally flexing heads with ease. Most would agree that the multiple versions of the Nike CEO are the only true face flexing heads on the market, and essentially "own" the category of face flexing heads. 

 

 

Current faceoff heads designed to face flex, includes all generations and plastic types: 

 

 

- Nike CEO

 

 

Characteristics of a Face-Flexing Head:

 

- Hard sidewall bends upon flexion

- Forward flexion

- Left sidewall mirrors right sidewall upon flexion

- Left top sidewall folds outside of left bottom rail

 

 

 

Refer to image below for visual references.