Is Lacrosse? (Fun, Cool, Difficult & Dangerous)

Lacrosse is a great sport that requires great fitness and game intelligence. However, most people always will have doubts, especially if they haven’t tried the sport yet. In this article, I will go through four concerns people have about lacrosse.

These concerns are fun, image, difficulty, and danger. Naturally, people want to have fun and be considered cool in other people’s eyes. In addition, too difficult sports often repels people away as the entry-level is too high. In addition, most people don’t want to do super dangerous sports.

Let’s take a closer look at whether you should try and keep playing lacrosse or be concerned about the four mentioned things.

Is Lacrosse Fun?

The first question people often think about before starting a new sport is whether it is enjoyable. After all, nobody wants to spend time, money, and effort on something that makes them miserable. Is lacrosse fun?

Lacrosse is a fun sport where physical activity, teamwork, and game intelligence meet. The players can score far more often than in sports such as soccer or ice hockey, which awards the feeling of success. In addition, lacrosse is quite an easy sport to pick up so you can learn it quickly.

So a lot of scoring and easy basics? If you aren’t sold, then I’m astonished.

Another fun thing to mention about lacrosse is control. When you have the lacrosse ball in your stick, you will have more control than in many other sports. This makes you feel great as you can decide your next move without any inconsistent variables.

Lacrosse is also untypical compared to many other sports because you will pick up, throw, and catch the ball with your stick. That is extremely fun, and you would be surprised how accurate you can throw the ball.

All things considered, lacrosse is one of the most fun team sports out there and, in my opinion, drastically underestimated.

Is Lacrosse Cool?

It’s another thing to have fun, but does it make you look cool? I know you shouldn’t care what people think about it, but in reality, everyone wants to be at least somehow cool in other people’s eyes. Is lacrosse a cool sport, or does it have a lame reputation?

Lacrosse is considered a cool sport for cool people. Lacrosse players are athletes, and they look amazing when on the field wearing the full lacrosse gear. You can see lacrosse in popular culture and movies, creating a cool and admired reputation.

Athletes have been cool dope, sick, or whatever you want to call it through the ages. Given that lacrosse is a contact sport where you will throw and catch the ball while moving, I’d say that the reputation is cool.

Don’t take just my word for it. Lacrosse popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, so clearly, more people think and notice the greatness of lacrosse.

Statista shows that lacrosse players have nearly quadrupled in the past 20 years, and there are no indications that the growth is stopping. In fact, lacrosse is on its way to becoming a mainstream sport, which is the final proof of lacrosse and its popularity!

Is Lacrosse Difficult?

The difficulty is a big determinator of whether someone starts something and continues to do it. Too difficult things often turn people away, so is lacrosse one of them.

Generally, lacrosse isn’t too difficult to learn, even though it can look so. The lacrosse rules are quite simple, and there aren’t many required skills. However, basic fitness, good hand-eye coordination, and decent game intelligence are required.

If you have any background in sports where you use something as an extension of your hands, the learning curve is reduced. Many people transitioning from sports, especially field hockey or ice hockey, will learn lacrosse very quickly.

Other sports background does help as well. However, if you have no sports background whatsoever, learning lacrosse may be hard. Also, lacrosse is a very fast-paced sport, so you can’t be out of breath after a couple of sprints.

Still, even with no sports background, you can learn the sport rather quickly if you are willing to invest some time in it. The main difficulty you might experience is the use of the stick. You can play lacrosse as soon as you get stick control into a decent level!

Is Lacrosse Dangerous?

Last but not least, dangers are something most people run away from, although there are a handful of people that love running towards them. Still, as lacrosse is often started at a young age, the parents are often concerned about safety. Is lacrosse dangerous or safe?

Lacrosse is a moderately dangerous sport as it’s a contact sport. However, compared to other contact sports, lacrosse is above the average in safety and won’t often lead to serious injuries. Still, injuries such as broken bones and concussions happen, but strains and contusions are the most common.

When talking about contact sports, you really can’t avoid injuries. Heck, you can’t avoid injuries in non-contact sports such as running because if you can fall, it can lead to mild or even serious injury.

That being said, how dangerous is lacrosse in reality? There have been made various studies such as this one about the dangers and injury rates of lacrosse. This study shows that injuries happen more often in collegiate levels than in high school and that the most common injury area is a hand with a 23% injury rate.

According to the study, the following injuries are the most common in lacrosse ;

• Sprains
• Strains
• Concussions
• Contusions

The same study also shows that midfielders suffered most injuries, followed by offensive players, defensive players, and goalies.

Another study by Laxallstars shows an average of 6.5 injuries per 1000 athlete exposures in both men’s and women’s lacrosse. The amount of injuries is behind sports such as ice hockey, football, basketball, and soccer.

In conclusion, you can play lacrosse without unnecessary worry about injuries as long as you wear the proper safety equipment and have common sense with you on the field.