Lacrosse: A Health and Safety Guide

There are so many great ways to stay active and fit, and kids and adults alike benefit from playing team sports. One of the fastest-growing team sports in the United States is lacrosse. In this guide, we’ll cover the sport’s fascinating history, break down its different forms, and dig into what the research says about lacrosse safety.

What Is Lacrosse?

Lacrosse is a high-energy team sport played with a lacrosse ball and a stick known as the “crosse.” Players use the netted head of the stick to move the ball around the field — passing, carrying, catching, and ultimately shooting it into the opposing team’s goal.

Four Types of Lacrosse

There are four distinct ways to play lacrosse, each with its own rules and equipment: field lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, box lacrosse, and intercrosse. All four share the same basic stick-and-ball foundation, but the differences between them are significant.

Field Lacrosse

Field lacrosse is an outdoor game played by teams of 10 men, with the first formal rules dating back to 1867. The goal is to use the crosse to catch, carry, pass, and ultimately shoot the ball into the opposing team’s goal, while the defense works to prevent scoring — including a fair amount of physical contact. The stick holds and passes the ball through a loose net on its triangular head, and the ball itself is solid rubber, usually white, and about 8 inches in diameter. Given the physical contact involved, field lacrosse players wear substantial protective equipment.

Women’s/Girls’ Lacrosse

Women’s lacrosse is played with 12 players per team, and while the scoring method is the same as the men’s game, the rules differ in a key way: it’s a non-contact sport. Players rely on body positioning and stick positioning to block opponents rather than physical contact, which means protective gear stays minimal — typically just a mouth guard and protective eyewear.

Box Lacrosse

Box lacrosse is played indoors, often on an ice hockey rink with the ice removed. Teams consist of five players plus a goalie, competing in an enclosed “box” rather than an open field. Aside from the setting, box lacrosse closely resembles field lacrosse, including similar collision-style contact. It’s traditionally been a men’s sport, though women’s box lacrosse leagues have started forming in recent years.

Intercrosse

Also known as soft stick lacrosse, softcrosse, modcrosse, or popcrosse, intercrosse is a non-contact variation that uses modified equipment — a softer plastic stick and a larger, hollow (and therefore softer) ball. It’s non-gender-specific and works well as an accessible way to introduce children to the sport.

History of Lacrosse

Lacrosse is one of several field games originally played by Native American tribes. These games were recreational, but they also carried more serious purposes — settling disputes between tribes, channeling aggression, resolving territorial disagreements, and honoring the Creator through play. Women’s field lacrosse remains the style closest to that original Native American version.

Eastern Native American tribes used a stick fairly similar to modern lacrosse sticks, with balls typically made from animal hide filled with hair. The game carried deep spiritual significance — players were regarded as warriors who cleansed and purified themselves before matches, often guided by shamans through incantations and ceremonies meant to improve their chances of victory.

Benefits of Playing Lacrosse

Why choose lacrosse over the many other team sports available today? A few standout reasons: it’s genuinely fast-paced, moving up and down the field at breakneck speed and delivering a real adrenaline rush; players don’t need to be big to succeed, since agility and speed matter more than size or height; and compared to many other team sports, lacrosse holds up well on safety, which we’ll dig into next.

Lacrosse Safety: Is Lacrosse Safe?

Lacrosse is quickly becoming a sport of choice in U.S. high schools — by 2014, an estimated 170,000-plus students were playing. Data from the Colorado School of Public Health, drawn from reports across more than 150 high schools nationwide, ranked girls’ lacrosse among the top 10 safest high school sports, alongside swimming, cheerleading, volleyball, track, baseball, girls’ gymnastics, boys’ basketball, boys’ soccer, and softball.

That said, injuries do happen. Nationwide Children’s tracked 1,406 injuries among boys’ and girls’ high school lacrosse players between 2008 and 2012, with boys sustaining injuries at a rate 67% higher than girls. Common injuries included strains, sprains, and concussions — with most boys’ injuries stemming from player-to-player contact, while girls’ injuries were more often caused by contact with equipment.

Following these lacrosse safety basics helps reduce risk: stick closely to the rules, learn to recognize concussion symptoms, warm up before playing and cool down afterward, make sure protective gear fits properly and stays on throughout play, and have a clear emergency plan in place before games and practices begin.

Why Play Sports at All?

Given the injury risks tied to it and other sports, it’s fair to wonder whether letting kids play is worth it. In short — yes. The benefits of youth sports participation last a lifetime: many kids genuinely love the activity, sports teach kids how to lose gracefully, they open up unique opportunities like travel, they’re a healthy way to spend free time, they can lead to college scholarships, and the relationships built with teammates and coaches often last well beyond the season.

Benefits of Playing Sports

Exercise and a clean diet are both critical to staying healthy, and organized sports are a great way to build that exercise into daily life. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has documented a wide range of benefits tied to sports participation for kids, adolescents, and adults, and consistently finds that the benefits far outweigh the injury risks associated with any physical activity.

Beyond physical health, sports participation carries real social and academic benefits too.

Social Benefits

Studies show kids who play sports are less likely to use drugs or smoke cigarettes, and pregnancy rates among female athletes tend to be lower as well.

Academic Benefits

Research consistently shows student athletes tend to post higher grade point averages, perform better on standardized tests, have stronger attendance records, and are more likely to attend college.

Career Benefits

An estimated 95% of Fortune 500 Executive Vice Presidents played sports in school. Team sports build discipline, cooperation, and confidence — character traits that tend to translate directly into leadership skills later in life.

Lacrosse Safety and Cost: Is Lacrosse Expensive?

Youth sports overall represent a roughly $5 billion annual industry, and it is no exception when it comes to cost. Common expenses include uniforms, equipment, travel, fundraising costs, meals at tournaments, and gas money getting kids to practice and games.

Among the priciest youth sports, it lands near the top of the list: ice hockey runs around $600 per season, boys’ it around $565, football around $558, baseball around $385, and field hockey around $275.

For adult players, equipment costs break down roughly as follows. A low-end complete stick — head and shaft combined — starts around $40, though most players customize by buying the pieces separately, with heads running $35–$100 and shafts $60–$100.

Helmets are required for men’s it and optional for women’s, and they’re typically the most expensive single piece of gear — even the cheapest options run over $100, with top-tier helmets closer to $200. Gloves cost $50–$100 depending on quality, with cheaper pairs offering less flexibility. Padding isn’t mandatory in the women’s game but is required for men, running around $45 for arm pads and roughly $80 for shoulder pads. Footwear is more flexible — many players share cleats between soccer, football, and it, though it-specific shoes run $40–$100. Other smaller expenses to budget for include a mouthguard, eye protection, rib pads, and an equipment bag.

Beginner Guide to Lacrosse

Every version of it depends on solid stick skills, and those only come with practice. Beginners should expect to spend real time on fundamentals before games start to feel intuitive.

Skills Needed for Lacrosse

Every sport requires its own foundational skill set, and it is no different. Players benefit from good overall strength and endurance, with many coaches recommending dedicated strength training. Footwork matters enormously too — it has long been called “the fastest game on two feet,” and players need constant, fluid foot movement while passing and catching. Dodging — making an opponent think you’re going one direction while planning another — is another core skill, alongside the fundamentals of passing, shooting, and catching with the stick.

Not all the necessary skills are physical. A good attitude matters just as much — willingness to learn and listen tends to speed up physical improvement too, according to coaches. A strong work ethic, built through consistent, focused practice, separates players who improve quickly from those who don’t. Genuinely understanding the game — not just the rules, but studying other players, teams, and matches — is a never-ending process that pays off over time. Communication between teammates and with coaches matters constantly, since asking questions leads to better learning. And accepting constructive criticism, even when it’s frustrating in the moment, is consistently cited by coaches as one of the clearest paths to real improvement.

The Bottom Line on Lacrosse Safety

it is a fast-paced team sport with a genuinely fascinating history. It comes in several distinct versions, making it accessible to a wide range of players — you don’t need to be big or tall to excel, since the game rewards speed and agility above all else.

When it comes to both safety and cost, it holds up reasonably well compared to other popular team sports, and it appears notably less dangerous and less expensive than football, making it a solid alternative worth considering. Like most team sports, it supports physical health, builds strong communication skills, encourages personal discipline, and fosters close friendships — benefits that tend to last well beyond the playing years.

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For general guidance on healthy weight management, see the resources available from Mayo Clinic.