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Henry Youth Lacrosse

Youth Lacrosse Equipment FAQs

What Equipment is Required for Boys Lacrosse?

Boy’s Lacrosse players are required to have the following equipment to be “fully equipped.” Only boys playing on our 2nd to 8th grade teams need to be “fully equipped.” Required equipment for Boy’s Lacrosse includes:

  • Boy’s Lacrosse Stick
  • Lacrosse Helmet
  • Mouthguard
  • Shoulder Pads
  • Arm Protection (Elbow Pads, Arm Pads or Arm Guards)
  • Gloves
  • Protective Cup (a.k.a. Athletic Cup)
  • Cleats

We’ve included additional information on each type of equipment below. Remember: we recommend waiting to purchase equipment until you speak with the coach for your team. Coaches will be able to advise you about the ins and outs of boy’s lacrosse equipment, including what features may be required or important to consider when buying equipment, ways to save money on equipment, or other tips and suggestions to help you get the right equipment at the best price for your player (and avoid having to return items or purchase replacement items if you purchase the wrong items the first time around). While coaches will be happy to help you with finding the right equipment for your player, here are some preliminary tips and suggestions for the items listed above:

Boy’s Lacrosse Stick

In many ways, the lacrosse stick is the most-important piece of equipment. Players will use their stick to perform all lacrosse skills in practices and games, and the more comfortable they are with their stick, the easier it will be for them to learn the sport, develop their skills, and ultimately enjoy their lacrosse experience more as a player. For this reason, we are HUGE fans of StringKing’s lacrosse sticks. StringKing is one of many lacrosse manufacturers that makes lacrosse sticks. What’s special about StringKing’s sticks is that they manufacture their sticks for each age/size of player. For example, they make sticks for smaller, beginner players that are sized to work better with smaller hands and shorter heights. As the age recommendations for their sticks go up, so to do the strength of materials used in the sticks.

StringKing’s sticks are also made in a way that makes it easier for players to learn basic lacrosse skills, such as scooping, passing, and catching – the sticks are very “consistent” (which means they throw the same way each time and don’t require regular adjustments that other sticks may require). While these are important factors when purchasing a lacrosse stick, what’s really cool about how StringKing’s sticks are organized by player age is they make it really easy for parents to find a stick that is appropriate for the age/size of their child. 

As an added bonus, Henry Youth Lacrosse has a team discount with StringKing. If you would like to be added to the discount program for StringKing, please contact us and we will add your email to the team portal. Once you create an account using the same email address, your 20% discount will be automatically applied to any purchase you make on their website. Disclaimer: StringKing does share a small percentage of team purchases back with the program (approximately 1% of purchases). This is NOT why we recommend their products, it is just an added bonus for our program. We use any credits from StringKing to purchase additional supplies for our team (for example, goalie or faceoff sticks with are shared by all our players). 

NOTE: Boys registered for our co-ed “Little Laxers” program (K-1st Grade) do not require protective equipment (Little Laxers is “no contact” and we utilize soft balls for many of our practice activities). We do have loaner sticks available for our Little Laxers to use, but we also recommend parents do consider purchasing a lacrosse stick for their player, so they can practice outside of practice and have their own stick to use whenever they want to work on their skills.

While we do recommend StringKing sticks for beginner to advanced players in our program, if you would like to consider alternatives or find StringKing’s sticks to be cost-prohibitive for your budget, please discuss with your coaches and they will be able to suggest alternative options for you.

What Equipment is Required for Girls Lacrosse?

Girl’s Lacrosse players are required to have the following equipment to be “fully equipped.” Only girls playing on our 2nd to 8th grade teams need to be “fully equipped.” Required equipment for Girl’s Lacrosse includes:

  • Girl’s Lacrosse Stick
  • Girl’s Lacrosse Goggles (most common) or Girl’s Lacrosse Helmet (less common)
  • Cleats

We’ve included additional information on each type of equipment below. Remember: we recommend waiting to purchase equipment until you speak with the coach for your team. Coaches will be able to advise you about the ins and outs of girl’s lacrosse equipment, including what features may be required or important to consider when buying equipment, ways to save money on equipment, or other tips and suggestions to help you get the right equipment at the best price for your player (and avoid having to return items or purchase replacement items if you purchase the wrong items the first time around). While coaches will be happy to help you with finding the right equipment for your player, here are some preliminary tips and suggestions for the items listed above:

Girl’s Lacrosse Stick

As covered in the Boy’s Lacrosse stick section above, the lacrosse stick is arguably the most important piece of equipment for your player. Girls will use their lacrosse skill to perform all skills in practices and games, and the more comfortable they are with their stick, the easier it will be for them to learn the sport, develop their skills, and ultimately enjoy their lacrosse experience more as a player. For this reason, we recommend StringKing for players looking for their first stick. StringKing is one of many lacrosse manufacturers that makes lacrosse sticks. StringKing’s sticks come in different sizes and options specific to the age and/or size of each player. For example, they make shorter sticks with handles that are easier for smaller players to handle for youth players. As the player age increases, so to do the size and strength of materials used to make the sticks. StringKing sticks are also made in a way to make it easier for beginner to intermediate players to learn the fundamental skills of lacrosse, including scooping, passing and catching. For example, StringKing sticks have been engineered to scoop the ball and hold it in the stick better than other sticks. And the sticks throw consistently each time without needing to constantly adjust the stick. Perhaps the best benefit of how StringKing organizes its sticks is that they make it really easy for parents to find the right stick for their player’s age or size. 

As an added bonus, Henry Youth Lacrosse has a team discount with StringKing. If you would like to be added to the discount program for StringKing, please contact us and we will add your email to the team portal. Once you create an account using the same email address, your 20% discount will be automatically applied to any purchase you make on their website. Disclaimer: StringKing does share a small percentage of team purchases back with the program (approximately 1% of purchases). This is NOT why we recommend their products, it is just an added bonus for our program. We use any credits from StringKing to purchase additional supplies for our team (for example, goalie or faceoff sticks with are shared by all our players). 

NOTE: Girls registered in our co-ed “Little Laxers” program (K-1st Grade) do not require protective equipment (Little Laxers is “no contact” and we utilize soft balls for many of our practice activities). We do have loaner sticks available for our Little Laxers to use, but we also recommend parents do consider purchasing a lacrosse stick for their player, so they can practice outside of practice and have their own stick whenever they want to work on their skills.

While we do recommend StringKing sticks for beginner to advanced players in our program, if you would like to consider alternatives of find StringKing’s sticks to be cost-prohibitive for your budget, please discuss with your coaches and they will be able to suggest alternative options for you.

What Equipment is Required for Little Laxers?

Little Laxers, our co-ed introductory program for grades K-1st, do not need protective equipment. Our Little Laxers program is “no contact” and players do not compete in formal games against outside opponents. We use soft balls for many of the practice activities or modify instruction to keep things safe without protective equipment. We DO recommend that Little Laxers have their own lacrosse sticks, so they can practice outside of practice – but we also have loaner sticks available for these players to use at practices. Please consult with your coaches for additional information.

How Does Henry Youth Lacrosse Help Reduce Equipment Costs?

Henry Youth Lacrosse understands that the costs of lacrosse quickly add up, especially for new players joining us for the first time. There are a few options we provide to help reduce the cost of lacrosse equipment for new players – which is an additional reason to wait to purchase equipment until you have had an opportunity to speak with your team’s coaches and learn more about the options available for lacrosse equipment. In recommended order of options you should consider for equipping your player for the season ahead, here are some of the options that may be available this season for your player:

  • Gear Bank: We regularly solicit donations of used lacrosse equipment from our former and returning players who no longer play or who have outgrown or upgraded their equipment. These donations stock our “Gear Bank,” which we make available early in the season for new players. If/when you are able to find used equipment that works for your player, there is no cost for donated items. All we ask is that if/when your player outgrows the equipment, gets new gear, or moves on from lacrosse, that you consider donating your unused items back to the gear bank to help future players/families.
  • Yard Sale: In addition to donated items, HYL regular purchases discount, clearance, or used items from various online retailers when we find low prices on items. These items are also technically part of our “Gear Bank,” but we sell these items “at cost” (priced based on what we paid for the item). We typically have equipment in this category available at a discount of 50% or more off retail pricing and make this discounted equipment available at our “Yard Sale” event we will host at the beginning of the season (we will have both Gear Bank and Yard Sale items available for new players to try on). Lacrosse equipment in the discounted equipment category can be purchased via cash, check, Venmo, or Cashapp. 
  • Discounts: If your player is unable to find equipment in our Gear Bank or from our Yard Sale items, we also have discounts available from various retailers we work with. For example, we will offer a discount code for Lax.com (an online retailer that sells all types of lacrosse equipment). We also have a 25% discount for used items at Play-It-Again-Sports in Fayetteville (a short drive from Henry County).

In most cases, we are able to equip new players for $0-$150 per-player. By comparison, if you were to purchase new equipment for your player, it would likely cost more than $300 at full price. Again, we recommend talking with coaches to help you equip your player for the lowest-possible price before purchasing equipment on your own. We sincerely want to help reduce any/all costs of participation that we can as your player begins his/her lacrosse journey with us. 

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About Henry Youth Lacrosse

Henry Youth Lacrosse is dedicated to growing boys and girls lacrosse participation in Henry County, Georgia. Our mission is to help children in our communities discover, learn, and enjoy the sport of lacrosse while honoring and preserving the traditions of the game. HYL helps introduce the game to children in K-8th Grade, and regardless of age, grade, means, ability, or experience, helps those children develop their skills and reach their full potential on and off the field.