Women's Lacrosse - Helmets or No Helmets?

When the average person sees a women’s lacrosse game for the first time, they often conclude that women’s lacrosse and men’s lacrosse are similar – similar at least until they actually watch a men’s lacrosse game.  Immediately it is obvious that these games are quite different.  In fact, some rather tongue in cheek smugly claim that the women’s game is not really lacrosse at all.  It looks more like a glorified game of freeze tag, while the men’s game more resembles an amped up hockey game that allows high sticking!

One very noticeable difference is that the guys are decked out in pads and armor like “Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots,” while the girls are wearing their dainty skirts and little face masks.  The girls don’t wear helmets, but why?  Both games involve fast, strong athletes using sticks to hurtle a hard rubber ball at speeds that can eclipse a fastball pitcher in baseball.  The guys dress like it is war, and the girls dress like they will never get hit.

This is because women’s lacrosse is designed to NOT be a contact sport.  Men’s lacrosse is a game where you can body check your opponent, and pummel him with a stick and you won’t get into trouble!  Many casual spectators and parents are more aware of concussions because of recent publicity the injury has received in professional sports, particularly football.  They are beginning to urge US Lacrosse to sanction similar hard helmets for women players like what the men wear.  Soft helmets are already sanctioned, but critics are concerned that they really only protect against contusions not concussions.

Soft Women's Lacrosse Helmets

However, if women’s lacrosse adopts hard helmets, it will fundamentally change the game.  A hard helmet will more than subtly communicate that women’s lacrosse is actually a contact sport like the men’s game.  Helmets tend to give a player a sense of invincibility so she may play much more physically that she may otherwise play without a helmet.  More physical play raises the risk of concussion not diminishes it.  Following on the heels of helmets will be the rest of the pads and armor that is characteristic of the men’s game.  While helmets would make the women’s game more like the men’s game, there is a certain elegance and grace to the women’s game that likely would be lost.

If anything should be added to the women’s game, rather than helmets, women should wear knee and ankle braces.  Leg and ankle injuries are far more common in the women’s game than concussions.  And while the women’s game is becoming more physical with bigger and stronger players, the risk of concussion can be reduced by more aggressive enforcement by referees of the 7 inch no-check halo around the player’s head.  While helmets may seem an important safety addition to women’s lacrosse, they actually could do more harm than good.

America's Oldest Sport May Become Its Most Popular Sport

Americans are sports obsessed.  We have sports both popular and obscure with professional leagues for many of them.  Did you know that the Professional Disc Golf Association, Major League Cricket, the American National Rugby League, and the Association of Surfing Professionals are all professional sports in America?  Of course, most everyone is familiar with Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the Professional Golf Association, Major League Soccer, the United States Tennis Association, and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.  These are big sports in our country, and most are uniquely American sports.

However, these sports were all invented in the last 150 years, with the exception of soccer which is an ancient European sport.  The oldest American sport is not basketball (1891), baseball (1845), or football (1869).  The sport that has been played the longest on the North American continent traces back to at least 1100 AD.  Native Americans invented the sport of lacrosse long before Europeans arrived in the New World.  My high school mascot was the Chiefs.  We affectionately and somewhat provocatively used to claim that lacrosse was invented by Indians, but perfected by Chiefs!  The game has grown and developed into the game it is today with Major League Lacrosse being the professional league that is the pinnacle of the sport.

Native Americans played lacrosse to build young warriors, settle disputes with neighboring tribes (occasionally the losing tribe lost their lives!), for religious reasons, and many times just for fun.  Early lacrosse games could involve 100-1000 players and last for one or more days.  Only men played, medicine men coached and refereed, and the women provided refreshments for the non-stop action.

I know that the sports that America loves are the Big Three (football, basketball, and baseball).  Look out though.  ESPN and CBS Sports Net are already devoting more and more broadcast time to college and Major League Lacrosse.  It may be that instead of being New York Giant fans, more Americans will pack the stadium as rabid followers of the New York Lizards.  Just watch.  That day is coming!

Hit the Boards! It's Box Lacrosse

Ok, so you’ve caught the lacrosse bug.  You carry your stick with you wherever you go, you’re doing your stick drills, and you can’t wait for spring to come so you can hit the field.  Well, you don’t have to wait for the cold weather to thaw before you can play the game we love so much.  There is a version of lacrosse that you ought to try.  It’s called box lacrosse.

While lacrosse was invented my native Americans centuries ago, box lacrosse was created in the 1930’s by a bunch of Canadians.  You may not know this, but Canadians are becoming obsessed with lacrosse.  It was declared in 1994 as the official national summer sport, just as hockey is it’s official winter sport.  What does a Canadian lacrosse junkie do if they don’t play hockey?  It is a long wait in the Great White North before the lacrosse fields are free of snow.

Some enterprising hockey arena owners in Canada figured out that if you remove the ice from a hockey rink it makes a great place to play lacrosse anytime (and they could make more money, too!).  In the US it is typically a winter sport, but it is becoming more of a year-round game in Canada where it is a professional sport.

 

If you think lacrosse is a fast-paced game, box lacrosse is absolutely frenetic.   The rink is smaller than a regulation lacrosse field, so you only need six players.  Also, there is no out of bounds like field lacrosse unless the ball goes over the boards, and playing the ball (and other players!) off the boards is fair game.  Box lacrosse is a great workout and loads of fun. 

Football or Lacrosse

If you are a guy, you may be wondering which sport is better: football or lacrosse.  After all, both sports require athleticism, heart, body contact, intensity, and a special kind of brotherliness that makes both sports fun.  I have been around a lot of guys who play both sports, including my own brother.  NFL legend, Jim Brown, played both sports.  Here are some reasons why I think lacrosse is better than football.

First of all, lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in America.  The number of NCAA colleges with lacrosse programs has grown 67 percent in just the last decade.  That is amazing!  In some areas of the country like Maryland and the Northeast, lacrosse is actually more popular than football.   Where I grew up in Georgia lacrosse has absolutely exploded.    There is a lot of excitement around lacrosse, and it is fun to play a sport where there is a lot of excitement.

One aspect of lacrosse that really appeals to many players and fans is the speed of the game.  People don’t have to endure a 30 second wait between every play.  Play doesn’t stop unless the ball goes out of bounds or there is an injury.  Since the action keeps going, lacrosse is much more fluid and free flowing.  That makes lacrosse more fun in my book.

Additionally, there are fewer injuries in lacrosse.  Sure, guys look like armored robots like in the movie Real Steel, but lacrosse is not as hard on the back and knees as football.  There is also much more helmet to helmet contact in football than lacrosse.  My high school aged brother has played both sports for several years now.  He is recovering from a significant concussion from football this fall.  He has never had a concussion playing lacrosse.

All these things add up to lacrosse being more fun and safer than football.  That’s a big plus if you are an athlete who wants to keep playing for many years to come.

Why Lacrosse Stick Tricks Are More Than Just Awesome.

Stance? Feet Apart. Bent knees. Arms steady. Check!

You’re ready.

You wind up. Toss the ball on the side of your stick. Bounce it on the side five times and flick the ball in the air. You whip your stick around your back and catch the ball behind your back!

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! Or, at least the five of your friends who just saw you complete a Sidewall Juggle/Behind the Back Combination.

One of the most satisfying feelings for a lacrosse player is successfully learning and showing off a new lacrosse trick. The smiles and “Man, that was AWESOME!” comments are well worth all the practice it took to learn the skill.

But, stick tricks are great for more than just showing off: they also form character. But, really, learning stick tricks takes dedication! Do you know just how many times it took Pro Lacrosse player Mikey Powell to learn to do all this?!

It takes practicing over and over and over again. If you stick with it, though, you will have bettered yourself as a person and as a player.

See, stick tricks are also fundamental part of refining your stick skills and your hand-eye coordination. If you practice juggling a lacrosse ball on the side of your stick, you are training your hands to feel the weight of the ball and detect when it is off balance. If you can whip your stick around the ball as it is falling three times, then you have successfully trained your eyes to see the ball in slow-motion and respond with your stick and hands accordingly. If you can spin a stick over your head, carefully see the stick as it falls, and catch it at your hip with the ball still in the net, you should have no difficulty seeing a ball passed to you during a game and successfully catching it.  

Watch how Pro Lacrosse Player Matt Gibson's stick trick skills translate into some fantastic stick skills in a game.

Also, watch Loyola's Women's Lacrosse Head Coaches tutorial for a few sick stick tricks! 

Comment below and let me know what your favorite stick tricks are!

Which Type Of Lacrosse Player Are You?

Before long, every lacrosse player has to make a very important decision….

In which position will you specialize?

Goalie?

Low Attack, Midfield, or  Low Defense?

There are low defenders and goalies on the defensive side, and there are mid-fielders (middies) and low attackers on the offensive side.  You have to look at your best lacrosse skills and your personality to get an idea which position fits you best.

Goalie:

It takes a certain kind of person to be a goalie.  You have to have nerves of steel to handle a 95 mile per hour lacrosse ball rocketing at you in a split second. You have to have lightning fast reflexes, and you can’t be afraid to get hit (mostly by the aforementioned lacrosse ball, but occasionally by an attacker careening at you like a stealth panther.)  The goalie is the “quarterback” of the defense, so he or she has to see what the offense is trying to do to penetrate to the net and then rapidly coordinate the defense to thwart the best laid plans of mice and midfielders.  A goalie is a bit eccentric but certainly is someone who is thinking about more than just himself.

Midfield:

Midfielders are the “greyhounds” of lacrosse.  They actually play both the offensive and defensive side of the game.  Middies play over the whole field rather than being confined to just the offensive or defensive zones of the field like the low defenders and low attackers. Middies also get the opportunity to take the face-offs (which are awesome(!) and essential to keeping the ball with your team). Midfielders, by far, get the most action. If you’re more like a 100m sprinter, then being a middie will kill you.  However, if you are more like a mile runner and like to be in on the offense and defense, then midfield may be just the place for you!

Low Defense:

Then, there is low defense.  My brother, William, is a 6’5” long-pole defenseman for our high school lacrosse team back home in GA.  He has long legs which makes him fast, which means he can outrun just about anyone on the field. Yet, he is also strong and muscular. When he was faced with the option of being an attacker, who is getting beat on while trying to get an open shot on the goal, or being a defensive brute, who is doing the beating, he would much rather be the one administering the beating!  He is a cross between a cheetah and a grizzlie bear.  Think of Chewbacca with a long pole.  He loves checking an attacker and putting him over backwards with both feet in the air.  William has done it many times.  It’s just his personality.  Yet, if he knocks the ball loose, he can quickly block out the attacker, pick up the ball, and pass it up field to his offense.

Low Attack:

As for me, I am a low attacker.  I don’t like running back and forth all the time, so middie is not my thing. But, I don’t like standing around waiting as a defender.   I am tall, fast, aggressive, and love to score. Somewhat like a post in basketball, I stay near the goal and wait for a pass from the mid-fielders. Then, I can use my height and strength to push/shoot past or over defenders for a goal.  I also enjoy working the ball with my teammates and finding that sneaky way to make a hole in the defense, dash through that hole, and slam, whip, flip, or slide the ball into the goal (preferably with a flourish!). And… you know… it’s kinda cool to have your name announced to the crowd when you score.

Regardless of what position you play, the one that fits your personality and skill will give you years of enjoyment playing the best game in the world – lacrosse!

Comment below and let me know which position you like best and why!!! 

Wall Ball: Just Do It!

Lacrosse games are won or lost with ball and stick skills.  Period.

Everyone on the team must be able to quickly pick up the ball and reliably move the ball up the field and around the goal without dropping it or missing a pass.  While working with teammates during team practices builds ball and stick skills, team practice is not enough. To get to a competitive level, you need to practice on your own in between team practices.  Sometimes you can practice catching and throwing with a friend, but many times, when you are by yourself, you will have to turn to a tried and true technique: Wall Ball!

However, as effective as wall ball is at building your ball and stick skills it has a significant downside: it can get downright boring. :(  My high school coach recommended that we get in 100,000 bounces (or “touches”) on the wall during the off season.  How do you throw the ball against a wall 100,000 times over four months without giving up or going crazy?

1)Well, first try to bring music with you when you practice.  That by itself helps the time go by faster. And, it keeps your energy flowing.

2) Second, make challenges for yourself. See how fast you can do fifty right and left handed touches. Count how many times you throw and catch without a miss. Set personal records and constantly try to break them.

3)Third, unless all you have is one wall, there is no rule that says you have to stand in front of the same old wall to do your drills! Find a high school or college campus with multiple buildings with lots of walls and work your way around the building or campus.  These 11 year-old boys  have the right idea to turn a practice session into an adventure!

When you toss the ball, start with the basics. Throw right - catch right, throw left - catch left, throw right - catch left, and throw left - catch right. Once you have those down, why not mix it up more?  Flip the ball behind your back right - catch right and do the same with your left.  Move around and work around the wall.  Try throwing and catching with one hand.  You can even try throwing lefty with your right hand and righty with your left hand.  That's called a backhand "Canadian" pass. Build your personal throw-catch streak record.  Keep the music pumping, and you'll have 1000 touches in every time you play wall ball!