Tell me about lacrosse...

[UnadoptedPuppy]

So I'm playing lacrosse for the first time this spring season. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I have all my equipment, and I know I will be playing defense. The only thing that other players have told me is to "hit people really hard" which is probably worst instruction I've ever heard. So, I ask, tell me what you know. Thanks.

[eppy]

If you play it, you will turn into one of those annoying guys who thinks he is so hot and carries his lacrosse stick everywhere.

[UnadoptedPuppy]

Well I'm already a swimmer who thinks I'm cool and wears my speedo everywhere.... Jk, but seriously, I'm not that arrogant. I just want to hit people, and hit them good.

[CRAZY BONE]

Well I played lacrosse for 2 years. The conditioning is pretty hardcore. I mean, our team JV team has been undefeated for over 5 years, so we probably have harder training than most teams but I don't know. Our coaches were insane though. I remember that one game we beat the team 14 to 5, but we since we have to do 100 up-downs for every goal the other team scores, we ended up doing 500 up-downs in a row the next day at practice. We learned to defend our goal pretty well after that with most games ending in shut-outs. Practices were hell in general though. The worst is the pre-season training though. We would do these things called rabbit runs, basically you run the perimeter of the football field in a dead sprint, If you don't make the time (which is very tight) then the whole team runs it again. We would do this about 10 times in a row (not counting the times we didn't make the time) with 45 seconds of rest in between. Plus the whole time you're sprinting it, the coaches are screaming at the top of their lungs, "IF YOU CUT THAT CORNER I'M GONNA CUT YOUR F*CKING LEGS OFF!!" and stuff like that. People were puking all over the place, it was a nightmare. To even make the team you had to run 2 miles in 13 minutes during try-outs, but by then you're so sore you can barley run. Anyways, that's the training part of it. Yeah, it sucks, but it's fun at the same time (if you're into the sort of thing). Sorry I can't give you much advice on the actual game since I've never played defense (I was an attackman). The best advice that I can give you is to get into really good shape before the season. Run and lift as much as you can. Also, go to the wall everyday. Just wear your gloves and pick up your stick and throw the ball against the wall over and over. It's really important to have good ball control. Also practice scooping the ball off the ground. The ball gets dropped all the time and especially you being a defender need to be able pick up the ball after you check it out. You should be able to scoop while at a full sprint. And yes, it's a rough sport so you want to hit hard, just make sure you don't slash or hold. Hope this helps

[UnadoptedPuppy]

Thanks, most of the will really help me. As far as condition goes, I'm a swimmer and our team is undefeated for 5 years and we are district champions. Like you said, its hardcore. Lot of throwing up. But theres no expectations, but as everyone has said...just practice catching and throwing, catching and throwing, catching and throwing... Thanks again!