A Beginners Guide to Lacrosse

This guide will attempt to cover all the aspects you need to know if you are beginning lacrosse. It will cover a rundown of the poistions so you can choose on you like, and a brief overview of equipment that you will need to get.

Positions

Choosing a position is not something that should be taken lightly. Most likely the position you play your first few years will be your position for the rest of your life, so choosing one you like is no small matter.

Attack

This is the position most people flock to when they start. Most of them want to be heros, the guys who score goals. It is a glorious position, the one that gets all the credit. A midfielder will rarely get more credit for giving the ball to the attackmen than the attackmen will for scoring. So if you want to score some goals and aren't afraid of getting layed out once in a while you might want to consider attack.

Middie(Midfielder)

If you can run, you have part of what it takes to be a middie. They have to be able to stick handle and run, both sprints and distance. They get some credit and occasionally score, but get lots of assists. You get hit alot here too, by the other teams attackmen, then their middies, and when you cross the midfield line their defenseman get you.

Defense

If you like to be the guy giving out the hits, this is the position for you. If your a great football player or if your the school bully this is something for you. You get rewarded every time you put an attackmen or middie on their butt. Then theres the shear joy of having a stick twice the size of theirs to swing around. But, you get hardly any credit, in fact probably the least on the team. But, if the team loses guess who gets blamed. You.

Goalie

Goalie?! You wanna play goalie?! Just kidding, goalie is an important position. Without a good goalie, for every goal you score they will march down the field and score on you. However, not many people elect to play goalie. You routinely get solid rubber balls thrown at you, moving at speeds in excess of 90 mph (in college) but not much slower in high school. In the last 3 years of my playing in school, no one has volunteered to play goalie, the coaches pick one. Just a weird fact.

Beginners Equipment

If you are planning on playing solely for school, they are required to give you all the equipment you need. If you are playing out of school, they most likely won't supply equipment. Even if you do play for school, it might be a good idea if you got your own stick.

Stick

In case you are a total newbie a stick has 2 parts, a head and a shaft. The head is where you put the ball, and arguably the most important piece of equipment you use. For a first year player, it is a good idea to use a non-offset head to get down the basics. Using an offset head your first year could result in you developing bad habits. Some good non-offset heads are the Brine Oz, STX Turbo and STX Octane. There are others but I think these are the best. They're relatively cheap, too. Also, there is the shaft. There are many types of shafts, ranging from aluminum to titanium/aluminum alloy to pure titanium. Titanium is expensive, aluminum is cheap. An alloy is good and cheap. Brine f15 or f22, Warrior Kryptolyte, STX Custom Alloy, DeBeer c405 and of course the Shamrock R705 are all good choces. Also, attack and middie use on length shaft, and defensmen use another. But, if you dont wanna spend too much an aluminum is good. The defenseman is the longer one. Also, this did not cover goalie heads. Goalie heads are bigger, making it easier to catch with. Some goalie heads are the STX Eclipse, Warrior Big Nasty, and Brine Xtreme.

Gloves

The second most important part, the glove. Gloves range in price from $40 to $100. Some have mesh palm, others have leather. This is basically decided on how much you want to spend. Some good cheap gloves are the STX Vortex, Brine L27 and Warrior Monsoon. Moving up to mid expensive are the Brine L33 and X-Factor, STX Catalyst, Shamrock Proflexx and Warrior Mercury. Finally, at the top of the ladder is the Brine X-factor plus, Warrior RPM, DeBeer Icon and STX Ignitor. Keep in mind this article does not cover goalie gloves. Goalies can use field gloves or special goalie gloves with extra padding.

Helmet

The basic helmet nowadays is the Sporthelmetd Cascade. Sportshelmet also offers the Cascade Air and C2, which increase in price. This is all for the helmet, there is only one company to my knowledge who makes them.

Arm Pads

Arm pads are less important, the production companies focus more on heads than arm pads. But, unless your a goalie you need these. Goalies aren't required to wear them, but I would recommend it. Theirs really not much price difference, and their all basically the same. There is the STX Mercury and Galaxy, the Brine SAG2 and LAP4, the Warrior Arm Guard and Elbow Guard, and DeBeer DLAG-1.

Shoulder pads

Same deal as above, not to big on the market, and goalies dont need them but I would recommend wearing them. Theres the STX Exo SP, the Warrior Shoulder pad 5000, Shoulder Guard 5000, Shoulder pad, and Shoulder Guard, in decreasing price order. Brine makes the SP-Gel, FP1, SP9, and SP4 in decreasing price order, and DeBeer makes the Icon.

Beginners Practice Tips

For a beginner, it is important to be able to throw, catch and cradle. I'm not going to detail each one, talk to people who know and learn how to by practicing repeatedly. Be able to throw and catch rightie and leftie by the end of your first year and be able to stick handle rightie and leftie with no big difference in either one. For more practice tips check out the Practice Tips section.

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