So what is lacrosse like? It is played mostly in the spring, on a field about the size of a football field. Each men's/boy's team has 10 players on the field at any one time. Women's/girl's teams have 12. Each player carries a stick, or crosse, with a shaped net pocket at one end. The sticks will have an overall length anywhere from 40 inches to 72 inches. The length generally depends on the position played; attack/midfielders will have the shorter sticks, defensemen will have the longer sticks. The head of the crosse, or basket, must be between 6.5 and 12 inches. The wider baskets, 10 - 12 inches, are on the goalie's stick. The pocket is designed to carry a hard rubber ball about the size of a tennis ball and the weight of a baseball.

A player can run as far as he/she wants to with the ball in the pocket or he/she can pass the ball to a teammate. The ulitmate aim is to a throw, or 'shoot', the ball into the opponent's six-by-six-foot goal. A goal counts as one point. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins!

Writers trying to describe the game often compare it with other sports. They will say, for example, that it has the physical contact of football or ice hockey, the team strategy of basketball, and the fancy footwork of soccer.

If you want a fast game, lacrosse is definitely it! Fast running, fast throwing and quick and tricky plays. All this adds to the fluidity and creativity of the game and puts a premium on quick thinking and a thorough mastery of the fundamentals. That's why devotees say players do not have to be exceptionally tall, bulky, or strong.

Catching and throwing the ball with a relatively small pocket, or scooping it up off the ground, may sound hard, but players practice this constantly and are soon comfortable with it. What is more difficult is keeping the ball secure in the shallow pocket while running with it among opponent's trying to "check" or dislodge it by poking or slapping at the ball-carrier's stick.The offensive player tries to protect the ball by "cradling" it, twisting the stick in a coordinated motion of the arms and wrists. This skill calls for "soft and quick" hands, which is one way the smaller player can compensate for his/her size.