How to Play Lacrosse: First Skills for the Box Game

To play lacrosse, use the pocket of your stick to collect, carry, pass and shoot the ball while helping your team stop the opposition from scoring. Start by learning to control the ball, then connect those skills: scoop, look up, pass and move.

This guide focuses on box lacrosse, the arena game normally played with five runners—players other than the goalie—and one goalie per team. Field lacrosse has different rules, so confirm which version your club offers. Ontario Lacrosse’s box overview explains the basic format. For the broader game setup, see our beginner’s guide to box lacrosse; below, focus on the skills for your first session.

Before you step onto the floor

Join a beginner session with a coach and have your equipment checked before participating. Under World Lacrosse’s 2026–2028 box rules, required protection includes a helmet with attached facemask and chinstrap, mouthguard, gloves, shoulder/vest pads and rib pads. Ask your club about approved equipment, arm/elbow protection, groin protection and suitable footwear; its requirements may differ. Goalies need specialized equipment and instruction, not just a runner’s kit. World Lacrosse rules, Sections 2.5–2.7

Keep your first drills non-contact. Learn checking with a qualified coach only after you understand your division’s contact rules.

Know the rules that shape your next decision

Using World Lacrosse’s 2026–2028 rules as the reference:

• Advance promptly. If your team gains possession in its defensive half, it has 10 seconds to get the ball across center.
• Work toward a shot on goal. Your team must take a shot on goal within 30 seconds of gaining possession. A miss into the end boards does not, by itself, reset the shot clock.
• Respect the crease. This is the marked area around the goal. As a beginner, keep your body outside the opponent’s crease, including its line, when carrying or shooting.

These are selected rules, not a universal youth rulebook: national bodies and local competitions may adapt the code. World Lacrosse rules, Sections 6.4, 6.6 and 8.8. For face-offs, substitutions and penalties, see our beginner’s guide to box lacrosse rules.

Learn five stick skills in order

The cues below follow the fundamentals in Ontario Lacrosse’s 2024 entry-level coaching manual.

1. Hold the stick ready

Place your bottom hand near the butt end and your top hand roughly one-third of the way down the shaft from the head. Your top hand determines whether you are playing right- or left-handed. Hold the stick head slightly ahead of your shoulder, around eye level, with your top arm bent.

Checkpoint: You can present the pocket to a passer without first lifting the stick off the floor.

2. Scoop a loose ball

Slide your top hand near the throat—the junction between the head and shaft. Step beside the ball, bend your knees and lower the stick’s butt end so the head approaches close to the floor. Watch the ball and push through it rather than stabbing down at it. Bring the stick back up close to your body, then look ahead.

Checkpoint: You collect the ball in one continuous movement instead of stopping to rake it repeatedly.

3. Cradle while moving

Cradling is a controlled rocking movement that keeps the ball in the pocket. Keep your top hand near the throat and your bottom hand loose enough for the shaft to rotate. Flex and extend your top wrist with your arm movement; avoid swinging the whole stick widely.

Start standing still, then walk and jog. Keep the stick close rather than exposing the head far from your body.

Checkpoint: You can walk, turn and stop without dropping the ball.

4. Catch and pass

For a catch, show your pocket as a target, watch the ball enter it and draw the stick back slightly to cushion the arrival. Do not swat at the ball.

For a basic overhand pass, turn your shoulder toward the target, step with the foot opposite your top hand, rotate your hips and shoulders, and follow through toward your partner’s raised pocket.

Checkpoint: Your partner catches without chasing the pass or reaching far across their body. Reduce the distance if either player is struggling.

5. Shoot with your body

Begin with the same controlled overhand motion. Transfer weight from back foot to front and use your legs and trunk rather than trying to produce all the force with your arms. Practice accuracy at an empty goal before adding speed or a trained, fully equipped goalie. Use a suitable backstop, keep the shooting area clear and pause shooting before anyone retrieves balls.

Checkpoint: You finish balanced and can aim at a chosen area repeatedly—not merely throw harder.

Turn those skills into a possession

Imagine you scoop a loose ball near your own goal. Look up for a short outlet pass—the first pass moving your team toward offense—then move to offer a return option. In the attacking half, avoid following the ball into a crowd. Give the carrier a clear passing lane.

A useful first play is the give-and-go: pass to a teammate, cut into open space and show your stick for the return. Ontario Lacrosse’s entry-level manual uses a coach-assisted version to connect passing, catching and shooting. Coach give-and-go drill

When possession changes, recover toward your goal and find the opponent you are responsible for. Start defense with position: stay between that player and the goal, move your feet and keep your stick ready. Lacrosse Canada’s box coaching progression introduces positioning and “keep-out” games before more advanced checking.

Do not mistake permitted contact for permission to hit anywhere. World Lacrosse prohibits crosschecks to the back and direct or indirect crosscheck contact to the head or neck. Rule 8.4

Try a short first session

With a coach or partner in a clear practice area, wearing the required protection:

1. Five minutes: ready position, stationary scoops and walking cradles.
2. Ten minutes: short partner passes, first stationary, then after a few steps.
3. Five minutes: pass, move, receive and shoot at an empty goal.
4. Five minutes: with at least three participants, play non-contact keep-away using two passers and one defender. The defender blocks passing lanes without checking or body contact; rotate roles. If there are only two of you, continue passing and moving instead.

Try both hands, but slow down whenever control breaks down. Your first useful target is a clean sequence: collect the ball, look up, complete a pass and move to help again. Build from there with our box lacrosse practice drills.