So you've tried lacrosse at University for the first time, fallen in love with the fastest sport on two feet and are ready to buy your own lacrosse equipment. What gear do you need?
Women's Lacrosse
The good news is that other than the goalie, women's lacrosse does not require much equipment. The most obvious piece of equipment is a lacrosse stick, as we have mentioned before in previous blogs this is where you might want to skip the real entry level sticks as they are really geared to younger players picking up the sport.
A mouthguard is a must have piece of equipment, communication is key in lacrosse and this is why we only sell the Sisu mouthguards. Not only do Sisu mouthguards amazing protection but they really do allow players to talk and breath as they would normally. Best mouthguard for lacrosse hands down!
Controversially, eye guards are still not mandatory in most lacrosse playing countries. Would we advise wearing them? 100% yes.
As nice as it is to own a pair of cleats, I'd say that if you own footwear suitable for the type of fields you play on then wait until you've played a bit longer buying lacrosse cleats.
Men's Lacrosse
First thing you will need is a stick. Buy right rather than buying twice, entry level men's sticks are fine if you are playing under 12 youth lacrosse but they just don't cut it for adults picking up the game.
As the men's game is quite physical it does require a lot of protective equipment. Now although nearly every lacrosse would love a Cascade XRS helmet, most students tend to buy the Cascade CPVR as their first lacrosse helmet. Bigger guys are going to find the CPVR too small as the biggest size is M/L and I can just about get in on but it far from fits properly.
Most University teams here in the UK do provide basic equipment but there is barely enough to go around and you'd be shocked to know just how old some of the gear is!
Invest in some good arm pads sooner rather than later. If your university does provide arm protection, then it's going to be very basic. At some point you are going to get hit by a complete unit of a human wielding a defense stick so pad up ready for that day.
Again, most universities here in the UK provide low level lacrosse gloves so well worth forking out the money to get a pair that actually do the job. You'll definitely start enjoying lacrosse more when you have your own equipment and not low-level protection that has been passed down year after year.