A brief history of lacrosse:

Lacrosse has a long rich history and is in fact, North America's first sport.  The game was played by close to fifty Native American tribes scattered throughout modern-day Canada and United States. The Ojibwe, Menominee, Potawatomi Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Iroquois tribes are some of the most well known tribes that played throughout North America.  Although some rules and differences in equipment (such as sticks) varied from tribe to tribe, the uses and popularity were the same. 

Most tribes played with some sort of deerskin-wrapped ball that would take place of today’s modern hard rubber ball. The fields and rules that we know today are nothing like what they played.  Fields could go for miles in any direction, often whole tribes would play at a time, not just ten players. Sometimes players had one or even two sticks to cradle and play with.  

The most common names that Indians used for Lacrosse were the “creator’s game” and “little brother of war”.  These two names for the game, show how just how important it was to Indian society. Strongly rooted in thier religion, "The Creator's Game" was played to heal the sick and to end disputes.  On the other hand, the name "Little Brother of War" shows, that this was a violent game, and  used  as a way train their young into warriors.  The actual Lacrosse title didn’t come into play until 1636 when the French were exploring Canada. A Missionary by the name of Jean de Brebeuf coined the name because of the way the stick looked.  French settlers than began playing the game in the 1800s and famous dentist W. George Beers standardized the game with a set of rules and field dimensions.

New York University was home to the first college men’s team in 1877, while the girl’s team came in 1926 at Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland. Today there are around 400 collegiate teams, with more each year.  Lacrosse is today’s fastest growing sport, and still the fastest game on two feet.

Lacrosse Equipment:

Each player, excluding goalies, wears the same pads, whether you play offense or defense.  You are required to wear: a helmet with a mouthpiece, shoulder pads, arm pads, and gloves.  The size of the pads is on the discretion of the player.  For example, most defensive players wear smaller arm pads (they are the ones doing the punishing) and most offensive players wear larger arm pads (the ones being punished). 

Goalies are a little different.  They are required to wear a helmet with a mouthpiece and gloves also.  However, they do not have arm pads and attached to the helmet is a throat protector.  Goalies also wear a chest protector that covers their whole front (chest and stomach).  

A jock cup is optional for players.  Most offensive players play without one, some defensive players play with one (more vulnerable to shots), and goalies are required to wear one.  For running comfort, most players wear spandex shorts underneath their athletic shorts.  Cleats are also used since the game is played on grass.

Offensive players play with a short stick, which should be used for beginners.  Defensive players use a long stick, about 6’ long.  Goalies play with a stick sized in between a short stick and long stick length.  Their heads are also much larger.

**If you need your new stick strung or would like to re-string your old one, please click here to read more about our NEW STICK STRINGING SERVICE.**

If you are new to the game and would like to try out equipment, we have a "recycle bin" which is filled with shoulder pads, arm pads, gloves that players have passed down to Turn and Burn so that we can help out beginning players with equipment. This year we will be renting helmets as well. Helmet rentals will be $10 per day. Please click here for more information on our helmet rentals.

Player positions and basic rules:

Each team fields ten players at a time.  Three are called attack men, three are called midfielders, and three are called defensemen, and last is the goalie.  The attack men strictly play on the offensive half of the field, midfielders play on both sides of the field, and defensemen strictly play on the defensive half of the field (goalie in the goal a.k.a “cage”).  

Throughout the game, players may substitute on the fly through the substitution box located at the midfield on the players’ sideline.  One must step out of the field of play before one subs in.  Each team must have at least three players back (four on defense because of the goalie) behind the midline when the ball is the other half.  If violated, the refs blow the whistle for offsides.  

Each game and quarter starts with a face off at the midline as well as after each goal scored.  The midfielders always perform the face off, one on the ball in the middle facing off, and the other two on separate wings near the sideline.  All other players must wait behind their respective box until possession is made.  

Penalties are called throughout the game (for slashes, high hits, etc.) and flags are thrown.  Play continues until penalized team takes possession or the advantaged team steps out of their offensive box.  Once play is blown dead, the penalized team is man down, while the other team is man up for the allotted penalty time given.

Each half of the field contains a box taking up 2/3 of the half.  When the ball is in the offensive half, the team has ten seconds to step in the box with the ball, and the time resets once you step back out.  If your team is unable to step the ball in within ten seconds, the whistle is blown and possession is changed.  When defense is clearing the ball back to offense, they have twenty seconds to reach over the midfield line, if not, change of possession.

During transition from defense to offense, sometimes your team may have a “fast break”.  This means your man is alone running down to the offensive side with the opposing players running behind out of position.  Here you have a short time of 4v3, a great advantage to score before the opposing team sets up their defense.

These are the basic rules and how the game of men’s lacrosse is played.  Our goal as coaches is to teach our players how to play each part of the game during practice, so when game time roles around, the team game play is smooth and flows with one another. 

Here is a sample field: