iuf you look at almost all the photo's so far posted here (and yess, carpet fly is not the best judge)
we're showing off "hey look how wide i am and my pads seal up!!!" but our knees are far apart to acheive that.
the sacrifices to your skill to maintain a "pretty fly" are not always worth it. good stick work. Close knees, and the ability to be exlposive can easily compensate for that inch gap. if you look at the photo of giggy i posted. the big cap between his pads is nothing because his pants and knees are closed together sealing a giant gap. His stick takes care of the very small hole if any. it works for him.
I know when i look at my photo *reposting
I HATE it. i see my stick and it's too angled rendering ti minorly effective.
my gloves are too "out there". the catcher shuold be sealed against my pad and my blocker further farward to allow for a straight stick. my knees aren't together enough for me.
this was aken from a hd video of me doing Y thoery breakaway slides. if i was trying to stop a deke to my blocker side, i'd have left under my blocker completely open by being so sloppy with my hands