There are two main components of a stick: The head. This is the (usually plastic) piece at the top of the stick that the ball is controlled with. The shaft. Traditionally made out of wood, shafts nowadays are made of strong metal alloys and have varying weights and strength.
Cradling is best learned in front of a mirror. Place the ball in the pocket of your head, so that the ball sits in the mesh, holding your dominant hand a few inches below the head. Hold the stick across your body comfortably. Begin with the head facing the mirror so you can see the ball. Now bring the head across your face while curling your dominant wrist in towards your body. When your dominant wrist is curled as far as it can go inward, start bringing your wrist back out and your arm back down to its starting position. If you managed to keep the ball in the pocket while you completed that movement, you successfully cradled. Keep practicing until you get the hang of it. If you need help (don’t worry, it’s hard) try watching some videos of people playing lacrosse.
Lower your dominant hand down to just above the center of the shaft. Keep your non-dominant hand close to the bottom of the shaft. Bring the shaft of your stick back by twisting your shoulders toward your dominant side. Don’t let it hook around your neck. Keeping the head next to your ear, and using a straight motion, flick the wrist of your top hand while pulling your bottom hand towards you. Make sure to follow through with the motion. A proper motion will see the top of the shaft move directly over the bottom of the shaft in a straight line.
Note: eventually, you learn how your stick throws and can adjust the way you throw to be more accurate. Note: the best thing you can do to help improve your skills is get to a brick wall and play “wall ball. " This is where you stand a few feet from the wall and throw the ball against it. The ball will bounce back and you practice catching it.
Try to direct the shots on the corners of the goal. The goalie has a harder time against shots that aren’t directed right at him, so aim for top right, top left, bottom right, and bottom left. Also try shooting at the goalies weak side hip. So if the goalie is right handed, shoot at their left hip. Shooting at the goalies weak side hip make it hard for them to stop the ball mainly because it takes a lot speed and quick reflexes for the goalie to extend their arms with the stick across to the opposite side of their body, whether they move their stick upwards or downwards. Try bounce shots. Bounce shots are where you bounce the ball on the ground before it gets to the goal. Bounce shots are hard for a goalie to defend, so use them.
A good way to learn your off-hand skills is to look at what your dominate hand is doing. Mirror the way you are passing. Go through the same motions. After you do this, spend a week of practice using nothing but your non-dominant hand. During line drills, 6v6, fast break, anything. Only use your off-hand. This will be very frustrating, but keep at it.
Boys Checking Poke-checking: hitting the other person’s stick legally with your own, causing the ball to come out. Body-checking: hitting the other person legally with your own body, causing the ball to come out. Girls Checking Modified- a quick “tap” (hit and release) on the head of another girl’s head of her stick. You can only do this when her head is below her shoulder Full (Varsity)- a “tap” (hit and release) on the head of another girl’s head of her stick. You can check anytime when the girl’s stick is not in her “bubble” (around her head).
Intercepting a pass. Anticipate where a pass is going and catch it mid-air or bat it down.
Attack-men: usually stay in the opponent’s half and are responsible for creating fast breaks, moving the ball around in the opponent’s half, and scoring goals. Midfielders: move the length of the field, help with attacking and defending, and are responsible for the faceoff. Defenders: usually stay in their half and keep the opponent’s players from attacking. Defenders usually, but not always, have longer sticks than other players. Goalie: defends his team’s goal, trying to keep the other team from scoring. Has a bigger-than-normal head on his stick for defending his goal.
There is not a minimum amount of time that a team has to possess the ball for before they score. Scoring can and does happen quickly. There is not a minimum amount of passes that need to take place before a player can shoot. Theoretically, a player could march down the field him or herself without ever passing the ball and still score.
After the goalie gains possession of the ball, he must pass or move it out of the crease within 4 seconds. Failure to do so results in a turnover to the other team. Once the defense gains control of the ball in their defending half, they have 20 seconds to pass or run the ball over midfield. Once they’ve moved the ball past midfield, they have 10 seconds to get the ball into the attack area, which is clearly marked as a big box.
If a player takes a shot and the ball travels out of bounds, the team with a player closest to the end line gains possession of the ball. A player’s stick counts as an extension of his body in this case. Inside the final two minutes of the game, the team with the lead must play inside their attack area exclusively. Failure to do so is considered delay of game, in which case forfeiture of possession occurs.
Offsides. Defensive offsides occurs when there are fewer than four players for one team behind their midfield line. Offensive offsides occurs when there are fewer than three players for one team above their midfield line. Defenders can move past midfield and attackmen can move behind it so long as another player stays behind or in front of midfield in their stead. This allows for the possibility of a defender carrying the ball up past midfield, say, if a midfielder stays back to act as a “defender. "
Defenders can move past midfield and attackmen can move behind it so long as another player stays behind or in front of midfield in their stead. This allows for the possibility of a defender carrying the ball up past midfield, say, if a midfielder stays back to act as a “defender. "
Personal fouls. These include slashing, tripping, illegal cross checking, and checking from behind. A player is usually given 1 minute penalties, although penalties can be increased to 2 or 3 minutes or even ejection for egregious fouls. Technical fouls. These don’t usually result in penalties, but rather a loss of possession. They include offsides, crease violations, pushing from the rear, thumbing, and warding off.
