Women's Field Player Equiptment

In order to begin playing lacrosse, you must be outfitted with the correct equipment. In this post I will be helping you with what equipment must be bought for the women's game. The main pieces needed to play are protective eye wear, a mouth guard, a stick and a ball.

















Sticks


The most fundamental piece of equipment for the game is the crosse, the stick used to catch, throw, and cradle the ball. The crosse is composed of a shaft and a head that has a laced pocket to hold the ball. The earliest form of these sticks were made by Native Americans from wood and animal hide strings. These days, manufacturers use aluminum for the shaft and plastic for the head to help reduce the weight of these sticks.


The legal range of length is from 35 1/2 - 43 1/4 inches from the end of the shaft to the tip of the head. Since there are no specific different sticks for different positions (besides the goalkeeper), players may shorten their sticks for a couple of reasons. One is simply the height of the player. If she is shorter, handling a long crosse will be more difficult, so she may want to cut off some of the shaft to make it more manageable. Also, attack players tend to have shorter sticks to help avoid being checked and make it possible to cradle faster. The shaft, while mostly aluminum, can also be made with composites to help make it more durable or easier for the player to grip when wet or cold.


The head of must be seven to nine inches wide across and cannot contain mesh. Instead, the pocket is created by stringing many leather straps and strings to keep the ball in. However, the name of this area can be a little deceiving when it comes to the women's game. Unlike the men's game, there cannot actually be any concavity to the netted area or pocket in the field sticks. The ball must be even with or above the side walls of the stick when it is dropped in. Referees perform stick checks at the beginning of every game to ensure that the sticks are not illegal. Stick heads come in many different colors and designs, making it easy to personalize to your own unique style. Some of the designs are used to help improve certain skills like picking balls up off of the ground or shooting accuracy.

Balls


The ball used to play in official contests is yellow and made of solid rubber. It weights between 5-5.25 ounces, which can travel at very high velocities, especially on shots.


Goggles

In 2003, the US Lacrosse Women's Division Board of Governers voted to change the mandatory equiptment for the women's game to include eyewear. For the 2004-2005 season they were only suggested as a transition period, with complete enforcement nationwide beginning with the 2005-2006 season. These goggles are used to protect the eyes and nose from any possible contact with the ball or another players stick. The most current standard is that these goggle should be able to withstand forces up to that generated by a ball going 60 mph. US Lacrosse has compiled a list of acceptable eyewear that will legal for official play.



Mouthguard


One other piece of mandatory protection is a mouthguard. While women's lacrosse is not a contact sport, there is still the possibility of being hit by a ball, stick, or accidental run-ins with the other team. In order to be able to play on the field, a girl must be wearing a properly fitting mouthguard. The mouthguard cannot be clear, it must be able to be seen readily by the referree to ensure that everyone is wearing one. It also must extend to the back molars to ensure full protection for the player. This mouthguard must be kept in proper place the entire time the player is on the field. The referree may award the ball to the other team for not wearing proper equiptment if the mouthguard is hanging out of the mouth or not in it at all.

There are many different companies that provide equiptment women's lacrosse gear. A few include Brine, Stx, Warrior, and Harrow.

Positions and Field Set-ups

One of the first things that you should be familiar with when you begin learning about lacrosse is the field you will be playing on and the possible positions.

Fields

The men and women's fields are very similar, with a few differences in length and width. Below you will see a picture of the men's field.

The men's playing field has defined boundaries at 110x60 yards, in which the players may use and spread out in. The field is divided into thirds, with two attack/defense areas and one central area considered the wing area. The lines that separate each of these sections is called a restraining line and will be used to help referees determine whether a team is offsides. To avoid the offsides foul, there must aways be at least three offensive players within their team's attack zone (near the opponents goal) and at least four defensive players in their team's defense zone (near their own goal). Within the wing area is the midline, where face-offs begin play at the beginning of a half or after a goal has been awarded to one of the teams. On each ends of the field, there is a circle that surrounds the goal. This is called the crease and acts as a protective area for the goalkeeper to keep him from being checked or pushed while within the sphere. Defensive players may go inside to crease to pick up a loose ball and so may an opponent on the offense as long as he does not interfere with the goalie.

The women's lacrosse field is slightly larger than the men's, with the maximum dimensions being 120x70 yards. The field is divided with restraining lines, end lines, and side lines the same as the men's field, however there are a few added lines. There are two fans that are extended from the goal line, one eight meters out and one 12 meters out. The eight meter fan has five dashes withing the fan and two floating dashes that are used to position players for penalty shots. The crease in the women's game also has a different function. The lines of the crease do not simply apply to the feet of a field player, there is an imaginary plane that cannot be broken by another players crosse, feet, or any parts of their body. The crosse cannot contain more than one person, which most of the time is the goalie. This means neither an offensive player nor a defensive player may enter to play a loose ball like in the men's game. Another difference you may see when comparing the two fields is a circle drawn around the center of the field. Since a woman's draw to start a new half or after a point is different from the men's faceoff, other players on both teams must stay on the outside of the circle until the ball comes into play.

Positions

The different types of positions for lacrosse are best paralleled with those of soccer: offensive, midfield, defense, and goalie. However, one fundamental difference between the positions in the two sports is how they are placed on the field. In lacrosse, there are players from each team located throughout the entire field. The offensive players (or attack) will mark up with defensive players from the other team, midfielders (or middies) will match up with other middles, and defensive with attack. Below shows the women's positions and where they begin on the field.

GK= Goalkeeper, the last line of defense whose main goal is to stop shots. Must have very quick relexes, good throwing abilities and courage to stop the ball at any cost.

Defense

P= Point, in charge of guarding first home position. Must be good at stick checking and intercepting passes.

CP= Cover Point, in charge of guarding second home position. Must be able to receive clears from the goalie and have good footwork.

3M= Third Man, in charge of guarding third home position. Must be good at clearing, good footwork and be fast.

Midfield

LA/RA= Left/Right Attack Wing, in charge of transitions from defense to offense. Must have speed and endurance, always looking to run or pass the ball up the field to the offensive players.

LD/RD= Left/Right Defensive Wing, in charge of guarding attack wings. Must have speed and endurance to avoid the beginning of fast breaks.

C= Center, in charge of taking the draws at the beginning of halves or after a point is scored by either team. Must play both offense and defense and needs speed and endurance.

Offense

3H= Third Home, also in charge of transitions from defense to offense. Must be able to feed the ball to open players for shots on goal and fill in for wings.

2H= Second Home, considered the playmaker. Must be able to shoot well from every angle and distance from the goal.

1H= First Home, in charge of most of the scoring since located in front of the goal. Must be able to cut to the goal for a feed or cut away from the goal to make room for another player.

What is LaxFacts?

LaxFacts is a blog about the sport of lacrosse. By creating this blog, I hope to provide a better understanding of the rules, the popularity and the advantages of playing lacrosse for people of all genders and ages. My hope is that by spreading this information, lacrosse will be able to gain popularity in some areas where it is not as prominent.
In this blog I will be providing information about the rules, equiptment, and levels of play for both the men's and women's game. Also, information on ways to get involved with the sport all over the country will be found here. I hope that I can help you expand on your interest in the sport or if you are unfamiliar with the sport, you will find a new appreciation for it!

Thank you for visiting LaxFacts!!