Lacrosse For Dummies

Jim Hinkson, Joe Lombardi

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN:
  9780470677407
• Print ISBN:
  9780470738559
• Edition: 2

The ultimate guide for fans and players of this rapidly growing sport!

Lacrosse For Dummies is the ultimate guide for fans and players of this rapidly growing sport alike. The book offers everything the beginning player needs to know, from the necessary equipment to the basic rules of the game, with explanations of the women's game and the indoor game, too. It also offers a wealth of information for the experienced player, including winning offensive and defensive strategies, along with skill-building exercises and drills. Finally, there's information on how armchair lacrosse players can get their fix of the sport on television, online, on in print.

Part I

Getting Started

In this part . . .

Every lacrosse game starts with a faceoff — or, in the women’s game, a draw. This part begins this book’s play for you. Here, you discover the basics of the game — everything you need to get a head start in understanding how the game is played. You find out the game’s most fundamental elements, including the roles of each player on the field or on the floor and the rules of play.

Chapter 1

Lacrosse and You

In This Chapter

Taking a big-picture look at lacrosse

Playing lacrosse

Coaching lacrosse

Watching lacrosse as a fan

The popularity of lacrosse is at an all-time high. Why? Because more people in more places have been exposed to lacrosse. It really is that simple. As anyone who watches the sport for the first time quickly discovers, lacrosse is habit forming — some may even say addictive. It combines the best attributes of several of the most popular sports around — football, basketball, hockey, and more. It’s fast moving, challenging, and never dull. Plus, you don’t have to have superhuman strength or size to succeed at lacrosse.

In this chapter, we provide a quick overview of the differences between field lacrosse (which is typically played outdoors) and box lacrosse (which is played indoors), as well as between the men’s and women’s games. Then we look at lacrosse from three perspectives — that of the player, the coach, and the fan.

Whether you’re playing lacrosse for the first time or looking to improve your game, whether you’re coaching a team or you’re a parent or fan, lacrosse — and this book — has something to offer you. This chapter gets the ball rolling.

Understanding the Game of Lacrosse

Someone watching a lacrosse game for the first time may be surprised, intimidated, or just plain confused — after all, there’s a lot going on. Players are running on and off the field or floor rapidly, possession is often up for grabs, and the hits just keep on coming (except in the women’s game, where contact is not allowed). Lacrosse is a game of running, dodging, spinning, cutting, and faking. It offers plenty of excitement — from sprinting all out on a fast break to outrunning an opponent for a goal.

Lacrosse is a high-scoring game, which makes it especially exciting for fans. If you ever see a shutout in a lacrosse game, mark it on your calendar, because chances are, you’ll watch thousands more games and never see another.

With lacrosse, throwing a ball — accurately — is the name of the game. The difference between lacrosse and most other sports is that you have to throw the ball using a stick, not with your hand.

A lacrosse ball is about 8 inches in circumference and about 21//2 inches in diameter. It weighs a bit more than 5 ounces.

Although it’s not easy, with good instruction and lots of practice, in a short time, almost anyone can master the basic skills needed to play the fastest game on two feet. In fact, unlike many other team sports where size and strength are essential, lacrosse rewards the small and the speedy. Sure, it helps to be big (especially if you’re also fast), but small players can excel in lacrosse if they’re quick, intelligent, aggressive, and skilled with a stick.

In the following sections, we fill you in on the two forms of lacrosse and the ways in which the men’s and women’s games differ.

The two forms of lacrosse: Field and box

Lacrosse comes in two main forms:

Field lacrosse: Today, field lacrosse (which got its start with Native Americans — see the nearby sidebar “The origins of lacrosse”) is the most popular form in the United States. There are 10 or 12 players on the field (depending on whether the players are men or women — see “Mars and Venus: How the men’s and women’s games differ”). The playing surface is 110 yards long and 60 yards wide for men, a little bigger for women. The goals are 6 feet high and 6 feet wide.

Box lacrosse: Box, which is most popular in Canada, is played on the equivalent of an ice hockey rink, in which the ice has been replaced with artificial turf. Box lacrosse has fewer players than field lacrosse — only 6. The players are assigned different roles — offense, transition, or defense — depending on their position. The playing surface is smaller (180 to 200 feet long and 80 to 90 feet wide), the goals are smaller (4 feet high and 4 feet wide), the goalies wear more protection, and there is more scoring than there is in field lacrosse.

Box lacrosse has been strictly a male domain for most of its history. But lately, some upstart women’s leagues have formed in Canada.

For more on the rules of lacrosse, and the differences between field and box lacrosse, check out Chapter 4.

Mars and Venus: How the men’s and women’s games differ

Men’s lacrosse is one of the oldest sports in North America — possibly dating back to the 12th century (see the nearby sidebar “The origins of lacrosse”). But the first women’s lacrosse game wasn’t played until 1890 in Scotland; it wasn’t played in the United States until 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland. And women’s lacrosse wasn’t played at the Division I level in the National Collegiate Athletic Association until 1982.

The field lacrosse game for women has grown and evolved over the years. For example, formal boundaries weren’t instituted until 2006 (before that, no hard boundaries existed), and you can count on more changes in the women’s game in the years to come.

The origins of lacrosse

Lacrosse was first played by Native Americans, usually as a way to settle disputes between tribes or to celebrate and honor religious rituals. The Cherokee Indians referred to the sport as Tewaaraton (which means “little brother of war”) and actually used it to train for battle.

In these early contests, the field of play could stretch for hundreds and hundreds of yards with no boundaries to speak of, teams could number well into the hun...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I: Getting Started
• Part II: Playing Lacrosse
• Part III: Coaching Lacrosse
• Part IV: Following Lacrosse: The Fan's Point of View
• Part V: The Part of Tens