Curriculum

8U lacrosse is the first experiences with the sport of lacrosse for many young athletes. The boys entering at this point have a vast difference in their physical and cognitive developments. The game they play should be designed to “level the playing field” and provide opportunity for any and every child that wants to participate. The emphasis at this age group should be to instill a love and excitement of playing, while developing fundamental movement skills that will be valuable in any future athletic endeavors.

• Learn how to hold a lacrosse stick properly
• Learn proper technique for throwing, catching, shooting
• Understand basic terminology:
  • Positions – defense, offense
  • Boundaries – endline, sideline, restraining box, midfield line, substitution box (based on modified field)
  • Ball! Release! For Ground Ball’s
  • Communication - 'here’s your help!', 'one more'

• Understand basic rules:
  • Cannot push from behind
  • What is a slash?
  • Cannot touch ball with hand
  • When ball is shot, chase it out!
  • Offensive players cannot run into crease
• Understand proper positioning on offense and defense
• Spacing on the field and basic on ball body position
• Understand how to pick up a group ball properly – both butts low!!

10U lacrosse is where young athletes begin developing fundamental technical skills in lacrosse. The boys entering the sport at this point have a vast difference in their physical and cognitive development and the game they play should be designed to develop a combination of athletic movement skills, and fundamental technical skills for playing lacrosse. The emphasis at this age group is on instilling a love and excitement of playing, while developing the fundamental athletic skills that will be valuable in any future athletic endeavors. The environment is inclusive of all athletes, provides multiple opportunities for each athlete to “touch” the ball, encourages experimentation, and a progressive development of existing technical skills. Athletes should be coached to have a “Growth Mindset” where effort is praised ahead of results. With respect to the competition at this level, coaches, parents, and officials should emphasize:  FUN, trying new skills in a team setting, learning and exploring overall play of the game and sportsmanship.

The 10U program will enter with all of the above knowledge from U6 and U8 programs and then be taught the following:

• Stick work for both hands (catching, throwing and shooting)
• Understand substitution on the fly
• Defense
  • Proper 1v1 defense – footwork, angles, checks (pokes / lifts / drive on hips)
  • Proper 3v3 defense (modified) – make contact when man has the ball, when man does not have ball, get closer to goal as ball gets closer to goal
  • Terminology – 'hot', 'got ball'
  • Learn man down defense (house)
• Basic Offensive sets (odified for 6v6 or 5v5)
• Introduce Dodges – roll dodge, face dodge, split dodge
• Understand where we want to shoot from on the field
• Proper transition offense – learn fast break formations and the looks (modified for 6v6 or 5v5)
• Off ball cutting
• Learn man up formations
•  Introduction to clears and rides

12U lacrosse is where young athletes are honing their technical skills and begin building the tactical skills needed in lacrosse. The boys entering the sport at this point have a vast difference in their physical and cognitive development and the game they play should be designed to reinforce fundamental technical skills and practical tactical applications for playing lacrosse. Essentially, they are preparing to be competitors. The environment is inclusive of all athletes, provides multiple opportunities for each athlete to “touch” the ball, encourages experimentation, and a progressive development of existing technical skills. Additionally, the technical skills they are honing are now being applied to the tactical aspect of the game. Athletes should be coached to have a “Growth Mindset” by having effort praised ahead of results. With respect to the competition at this level, coaches, parents, and officials should emphasize: FUN, using technical skills in game situations, exploring and applying new tactical skills and sportsmanship.

The 12U program will enter with all of the above knowledge from 6U, 8U and 10U and then be taught the following:

• Defense
  • Slide Package
  • Slide from crease
  • Slide adjacent
  • Have help man
  • Double team once we slide – left foot, right foot
• Offensive sets
  • Motion offense
  • Zero offense
  • Responsibility of Attack and Midfield positions

• Value – everyone gets a touch
• Midfield dodge, adjacent attack cut through, shot or get ball to X, push opposite side
• Mastery of Special Teams (Ride)
• Mastery of Special Teams (Clear)
• Special Teams (Man Up)
• Special Teams (Man Down)

14U lacrosse is where young athletes begin emerging into a competitive environment. With respect to the competition at this level, coaches, parents, and officials should emphasize:  FUN, sportsmanship, using technical skills in game situation, exploring and applying new tactical skills.

The 14U program will enter with all of the above knowledge from previous years and then be taught the following:

• Ability to play with strong hand and weak hand
• Defense
  • Mastery of slide and recovery
  • Lock off defense (51)
  • Zone Defense (house with a crease)
  • Run a Long Stick Midfielder (LSM)
  • Rides
• Offensive sets
  • 2-3-1, 1-4-1, 3-2-1
  • Open
  • 2 man game (pass down/pick down, pass down/pick away)
  • Clears/transitions
• Understand what our looks are – shoot, hit stretching attackmen, hit forward adjacent midfield
• Understand our looks on (attack dodge) – shot, forward adjacent midfield, curlback throw to our attackmen rotating to X

• Special Teams
  • Understand Box and One concept
  • Implement 2 basic, man up plays