How To Play Lacrosse

Despite being a game whose roots are strongly similar to that of Gaelic hurling, modern lacrosse is played nowadays very similar to hockey and soccer. The fundamental premise of the game is common to almost all ball and stick sports: the playing teams compete against each other for most goals scored within a set amount of time.

As of today, several variants of the game had surfaced, with each suited for a specific condition. Given that the country from which the game originated – Canada had two distinctive sports weathers: winter and summer, the how to play lacrosse of two different game types, field lacrosse and box lacrosse is purely superficial, with only minor alterations in the game mechanics to fit the present conditions. The other type, women’s lacrosse may be said as having a larger, game altering modifications, which we will discuss in detail later on.

There are about three variations of playing lacrosse, but as we’ve mentioned there’s really not much difference between the first two. Lacrosse rules and how to play remains a constant.

How To Play Lacrosse, Traditional Men’s Lacrosse

In men’s outdoor lacrosse, the game is played by 10 players on a playing field the size of 110 yards by 60 yards, length and width. The goals are placed on the center on either end of the farthest sides, with the dimensions of 6 feet by 6 feet, mesh netted similar to game like soccer or hockey. The goal also sits on a 9’ feet radius circular crease, which is 15 yards from the end line. At the back of every goal is an area designated as simply ‘X’. This area is of strategic importance, that one attackman is stationed there for most offensive maneuvers.

The team is made up of 3 attackmen, 3 midfielders, 3 defensemen, and a goalie, totaling the number of playing members on one team to 10. Unlike soccer, positions aren’t interchangeable; the number of players playing for a position remains fixed. The premise of the game can be simplified as such: to shoot the ball into the opposing team’s goal using the crosse.

How Box Lacrosse Is Played

Canadians play the box lacrosse variant more than the traditional outdoor lacrosse, due to the more available settings in case of bad weather. Another is the more abundant playing field available indoors, and even on odd times, like at night, which is obviously won’t be available for the outdoor variant. Another obvious reason is that Major and National Lacrosse Leagues play the box lacrosse, thereby influencing players to also patron this lacrosse variant.

Box lacrosse is played on ice hockey rinks with the ice replaced by special matting or else covered by artificial turf. The playing field is then referred to as box.

The box lacrosse playing field is somewhat smaller, and the goal is remarkably smaller, at 4’9” by 4’ compared to the traditional field lacrosse’ 6 by 6 feet goal dimensions. The goalies in box lacrosse are allowed to have heftier padding to give them more dimensions to block the goal with.

How to play lacrosse, the box lacrosse is considerably the roughest variant, due to several allowed checks in the game, particularly the permitted crosschecks. This non-application of the crosscheck rule in traditional lacrosse allows players to body check opposing team members using the handles of their crosse, making body contacts rougher. Another game altering change is the appearance of the 30-second possession rule, that players must take a shot within 30 seconds from the start of the possession, also hereby speeding up the game proceedings. Due to its rougher nature, players of the box lacrosse are also allowed to wear bulkier padding.