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MERCIAN TECHNOLOGY
The Mercian Ultimate V2 Bend is new for2025 – it features the same bend as the legacy Ultimate bend – “is the most aggressive low bow that we have eve made, with the bend of the stick effectively cupping the ball. The maximum bend at this lowest legal point enhances dragflicking and aerial skills with the balance point of the stick adjusted to also favour 3D dribbling skills” – it also now has a thinner toe, this aids getting the toe of the stick under the ball on the reverse side to aid 3D skills. In addition to this it also has a sculpted head, shaping the rear surface of the head from a curve to a flat, angled plane removes some of the bulk and assists getting the head of the stick under the ball, opening the face and aiding overhead passes and generally lifting the ball.
The Mercian Extreme Bend combines several popular features from our other bends with new performance elements. The toe of the stick is thinned on both the face and back to make it easier to lift the ball for 3D skills. The backhand zone is flattened to improve passing and shooting accuracy. The main bend profile matches the Ultimate Bend, with a 24.5 mm bow placed 200 mm from the head. The Extreme Bend also includes a 2 mm concave shaft positioned above the stick face, enhancing flicking and sling-shot slapping without affecting ball-to-face contact. A 4-degree face twist supports better ball handling, dribbling, and reverse-side control. The handle is slightly thinned so that, when paired with the EVA under-grip on the CKF90, the grip feels normal in hand. This bend is available in the CKF55, CKF85, and CF95 models (2024/25 range).
The Mercian Pro Bend incorporates a near maximum 23.5mm bow positioned just below the mid-point of the shaft, approximately 230mm from the bottom of the stick. The shaft has then been shaped to give a thinner profile under the right hand and a balance point that favours the head end of the stick. This gives a combination of great stick turn-over due to the shape but enhanced hitting power because of the balance point and sweet spot, the hitting power is also enhanced because the head is 1.5mm thicker than the Ultimate bend.
The Mercian Ultimate Bend is our most aggressive low bow, with the stick’s bend effectively cupping the ball. The maximum bend at the lowest legal point enhances drag flicking and aerial skills, while the adjusted balance point supports 3D dribbling. The shaft weighting improves head speed but still provides power and stability for slapping and pushing at elite levels.
The concave face shape cups and cushions the ball to improve close control, 3D skills, and lifted passes while staying within the FIH 4 mm deviation guidelines. To achieve this shape, the head is made 2 mm thicker than the Ultimate Bend, creating a head-weighted bias that enhances hitting and slapping power.
The Mercian mid-bow has a 22 mm bend positioned 300 mm up the shaft. While many players choose low or extreme low bows for drag flicking, aerials, and 3D skills, more players are now looking for a straighter stick. This mid-bend aligns the hands more naturally with the stick face, improving accuracy in hitting and slapping. Because defensive players often rely on distribution using these skills, this stick is ideally suited for defensive play.
The Standard Bend used in the Genesis CF5 and Genesis Wood models features a 22 mm bow with the maximum bend placed at the mid-point of the shaft. The balance point has been moved higher towards the handle to reduce head weight, improve stick turnover, and support easier skill execution. This standard bend is also used in the junior Genesis CF5 and Wood models, with the 30–32" versions built on a properly scaled mould. This ensures correct balance and pick-up, unlike many junior sticks on the market that are simply cut-down adult models.
There can be multiple materials used in composite hockey sticks, from the most basic pure fibreglass sticks to the most advanced, high-carbon, vibration-controlling, super-lightweight Olympic-level models. This section explains the nature of all the materials used across the Mercian range, what each one does, and how it affects performance. Every stick on the website includes a summary of its material composition, which can be compared directly with these detailed explanations.
One of the most common questions asked by the consumer is ‘how much carbon?’ with the perception that more is better. That is far from the truth, so to shed a little light. Firstly the quality of carbon (manufacturing point) is important. Toray (Japanese) Carbon is often considered the best, but Carbon from Germany, Scotland and South Africa (to name a few) are all high-quality. Sticks are usually made in Pakistan and most major brands will import Carbon into Pakistan to make sticks. Local made carbon is not usually as good. But it is difficult to know if a brand uses imported carbon.
The number of filaments in the carbon fibre is relevant, 1K, 3K etc relate to the number of filaments of pure carbon within a fibre or ‘tow’. 1K is used in aeronautical industry and electronics. 3K and 6K are commonly used in sport as they have the right combination of weight and strength. Anything over 6K is very dense and too heavy for sports equipment. Again this isn’t a common line of questioning from the consumer but may come up.
Carbon fibres are a straight line material and so provide stiffness in a single direction. To provide stiffness in multiple directions the fibre can be woven into a multi-directional sheet (seen as an obvious weave in the sticks surface) or single direction sheets can be layered over each other to create the multi-directional stiffness.
40% of the weight of a composite stick comes from the resin within it. So a stick can’t be 100% carbon. However it can be claimed that 100% of the composite materials in a stick are carbon. Mercian do not believe this gives optimal strength and so always combine the carbon overlay with a composite micro-skeleton made from fibreglass, Kevlar (aramid) and basalt.
Carbon is stiff but brittle. The stiffness means that the energy created by the player when striking the ball – hit / slap – transfers to the ball and is not absorbed by the stick. Maximum energy transfer allowed by the FIH is 98%. But this stiffness means that the stick will not absorb energy on trapping / receiving so needs soft hands!
The brittleness of carbon means that if the fibres are broken (stick tackle / post impact) they will crack and the stick can or will fail. This is not a manufacturing fault.
Other materials can be used in conjunction with carbon to get a positive performance outcome. Special chemicals are used with paints and lacquers to get them to bend to the top layer of carbon and create high-quality graphics.
Mercian’s QCS technology is based around enhancing the already common braided technology. Braiding as a dictionary definition means:
‘to interweave several strands of (hair, thread, etc); to plait’.
By weaving carbon strands together you create a carbon sleeve, this provides 360 degree, seamless strength within a stick. Using such a full-length sleeve creates a softer feel, a lighter weight, but creates exceptional energy transfer and therefore power.
Mercian then overlay the full-length sleeve with 3 more smaller sleeves to offer enhanced protection at the three identified stress points – base of handle, backhand hitting zone and stick ‘heel’. By utilising these four sleeves we create a unique structure for delivery of maximum power and durability.
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fibre, also known simply as ARAMID in other sticks. This high-strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires. Typically it is spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used as such or as an ingredient in composite material components.
Currently, Kevlar has many applications, including bulletproof vests, because of its high tensile strength-to-weight ratio; by this measure it is 5 times stronger than steel. Tungsten carbide (chemical formula WC) is a chemical compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine grey powder. Tungsten carbide is approximately twice as strong as steel. For TCDK, the fine powder version of WC is diffused through a sheet of Kevlar in the manufacturing process, further enhancing the natural characteristics of the material and increasing both its strength and, more specifically, its durability.
Aramid fibres are another material used in the production of hockey sticks. Also known by their trade name of Kevlar, they are a heat-resistant, incredibly strong synthetic fibre. It was first used commercially in the 1970s to replace the steel wires used to reinforce racing car tyres.
The threads are drawn from the molten plastic base and have such strength that when interwoven can be used to create bulletproof vests. In a hockey stick they add to the strength and durability of the stick, balancing the brittle nature of the Carbon with shock absorption and creating well-bonded hitting surfaces.
The weave of the Kevlar has to be carefully monitored so that resin can permeate the layers in the stick, allowing for correctly bonded laminates. If a stick starts to come apart (delaminate) it is usually because the resin has not properly travelled through the layers during production, either due to fibres being too tight, resin impregnation being poor initially, or the pressure used during production being incorrect.
The fibreglass described within any stick is exactly that, very fine (thin) glass fibres/filaments. Multiple filaments are combined to create a thicker fibre. This is then unwound from a spool (like a big cotton reel), dipped in a resin to make them super sticky and then laid out on a release paper (like grease-proof backing paper) to create single directional sheets of fibreglass.
These sheets are then cut into smaller pieces and layered at different angles to create strength in multiple directions. Whilst fibreglass is strong, it is not as brittle as carbon and therefore forms a fantastic base (micro-skeleton) which absorbs some energy because of its flexibility and over which the Carbon, Kevlar and Basalt can be layered to create high-end performance sticks.In our (Mercian) opinion, sticks perform better with a non-carbon base skeleton.
We are proud that Mercian Goalie Gear Foam equipment is made in the UK, but even back in the days of cane and leather pads, leather kickers and the most basic of equipment, we ere still proud to use English craftsmanship and materials.
As UK manufacturing became less economical and the Indian and Pakistani cities of Jalandhar and Sialkot came to the fore of hockey equipment manufacture, Mercian moved production of its goalie gear out to Asia and we still use both those nations to produce our soft (not legguards, kickers and gloves) equipment.ls.
However, we decided over ten years ago that whilst there were cost advantages to some equipment from Asia, the technology and raw materials did not provide the high levels of performance needed to create the ranges that we wished to bring to market. At that time (and still now), the type of local foams available in these Asian cities cannot be heat and pressure bonded, resins have to be used. This creates an inherent weakness as the resin can fail in both high and low temperature conditions. This means the foam laminates can come apart and the product then fails. Our process uses foams that are heat sensitive, they are bonded together using heat and pressure, essentially making a single piece of foam from multiple sheets, maximising the performance outcome whilst also maximising durability.
The ‘boss’ of the foam manufacturing facility is a previous Head of Physics so has huge materials knowledge and has been involved in foam goalie kit manufacture since the early days of ‘moon boot’ kickers in the 1980s so has an intimate knowledge of product development over many years, meaning that the technical input we can put into our products is exceptional. This has resulted in the most recent developments in the goalie equipment ranges with all the legguards and kickers (except the junior Genesis 0.3 ranges) having the slide skin on the foam to reduce surface friction and allow keepers to slide, dive and smother easily in our equipment.
The two other specific advantages of UK production both come from the quality of the raw materials. The consistent manufacturing process, with high levels of quality control result in fantastic foams, with great protective and durability elements. The foam is very lightweight,
aiding mobility, but the heat sensitive nature means that multiple densities can easily be bonded to give great protection and high rebound – the most desirable of outcomes
So, with excellent raw materials, intelligent design and construction we can offer some of the highest level goalie foam on the planet. But don’t just believe us, read what some of our sponsored players, but also our everyday club players say…
Quite simply, the quality of the raw materials used in production has a massive impact on the quality of our sticks. The quality of the resins is also vital; sticks are made of multiple laminates (layers) of materials, and the resins that bond them together can account for up to 40% of the stick’s actual end weight, so it has to be very high quality. Our factory blends its own resins using imported raw materials, not relying on local market products, but identifying the chemical properties of the materials in every model of stick and perfectly blending the resin to ensure as near to perfect bonds as possible. The nano-polymer resins that we now use are not only blended but contain tiny rubber particles that melt during the manufacturing process, making this bonding ‘glue’ even stickier and increasing laminate bonding – great for strength, stiffness, and durability.
We pride ourselves on the experience of the craftsmen in the factory. Workers in industrial cities such as Sialkot move around factories based on the volume of work available; this is most relevant in the biggest factories where production volume changes have massive impacts on workforce shifts. We continue to work (by choice) in a smaller factory, controlling the quality of materials but more importantly benefiting from a constant workforce. With some employees being with our factory for over twenty years, we benefit from that knowledge and experience. With the quality of a stick sometimes reliant on something as simple as the accurate (+/– 5mm) placement of carbon laminates, this quality craftsmanship is vital to the technical quality of our sticks.
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