Does starting lax young REALLY help?

[busdriver44]

I have been trying to make a decision, but keep going back and forth between ages. When do you think is the best age to start? Does being born with a stick in your hand really make a difference?


Heres what i think:
4- start young, build years of experience, have a huge edge on opponents. The downside is that like many kids, as they get older might choose a different sport. You may also not have enough patience to work on your left because you drop it a lot. Therefore, all that experience is useless because they quit before they reached a higher level of lacrosse.
5th grade- Old enough to decide if you want to play on your own, and diligent enough to practice. Downside- Some things that are taught at that level are changed as they reach higher levels of lacrosse. For example, on the clear in 5th grade, the defensemen would just chuck it as far as they could to the offense. In middle school we would bring it up ourselves, and now in highschool we have a standard clearing formation.

6th grade- I feel this is the best age. You are old enough to have patience with your left hand. Instead of completely neglecting your off hand because you want to be able to catch and score, and only your strong hand can do that, you are able to try to perfect both hands. It also is semi- young, so you still have plenty of time to get your skills up before highschool ball.

freshman in HS: I finished my freshman lax season this previous year, and found that i learned a huge amount more about lax. We now had to have clearing formation, diff slide packages, know who was the 1st, 2nd, and sometimes third slide, plays, etc, that i had never needed/ been taught before. I think i was never taught the advanced versions of things because i was too young to understand. So then i came to think, if every year i was taught a new way to clear the ball, then starting in 9th grade when we learned the "right"way would save time of just forgetting all the previous ways. Clearing the ball was just the best example i could think of.



Really, any age one starts lax doesn't have a huge effect on them. IMHO, i feel that 6th grade is the best year, what do you guys think?

[WHEELAX2]

you can start young, but unless you have a good area program, you'll probably never develop into the lax player you could be.. If a person truly wants to excell at lacrosse, they need a good area program, they need to start fairly young, they need to attend camps, they need to compete with players better than them, and they need to be dedicated.

[chslax538]

lots of players start at the freshman level and become awsome lacrosse players and go on to play in college programs and start. on the other end of the spectrum a kid i know has been playing for 11 years and he sucks. Of course their are always kids that are born with a stick in their hand and grow up to be amazing so its really hard to tell. all it really is is your dedication and how much you practice

[exile lacrosse]

i agree that it really depends on how much you practice and what your dedication level is. maybe someone has been playing for 11 years and they are only 15, but maybe that same someone only picks up his or her stick a couple times a month outside of season, and never runs or lifts or anything like that. then take someone whos been playing for say two years, but plays every single day for a few hours and trains hard and has a true love and passion for the game. the person thats been playing the shorter amount of time will more than likely go farther and be better.

[WHEELAX2]

use the analogy of skiing..

If you have been skiing for 10 years, but only go twice a year, you've only gone 20 times..

But if you've only been skiing for 2 years, and go 15 times a year, that's 30 times..

who's the better skier? In theory of course.. the second guy should be.. (or girl)

the more quality reps you get, the better you'll be, no matter how long you've been playing.

[LymanLax28]

you can start young, but unless you have a good area program, you'll probably never develop into the lax player you could be.. If a person truly wants to excell at lacrosse, they need a good area program, they need to start fairly young, they need to attend camps, they need to compete with players better than them, and they need to be dedicated.
I agree. Kids who start out with a stick really young and grow up in a place like Baltimore, or any other lacrosse powerhouse, really have an advantage over every other player.

[irishlax611]

well i started young living in md and i think that helped me out alot gained alot of skills

[HdGLaxWarrior]

Starting young can be a hit or miss. I mean if you get hit real bad in your first game you might not like it. But if you are doing the hitting, you will be loving it.

But I did start young, and I did gain alot of skills that people didnt devolop until later.

[LiveforLax10]

I didnt start young.....probably 3 years ago and I work on lacrosse everyday for like 4 hours....maybe because im obsessed and want to go far, or maybe because I have no life. :thumbsup:

[Trilax03]

whether starting young or older...having a solid lax program will help out a lot

[laxcus27]

im 12 now but i started in kindergarten when my older bro started in seventh grade.....im still lovin' the sport :love:

[marflax33]

I didnt start young.....probably 3 years ago and I work on lacrosse everyday for like 4 hours....maybe because im obsessed and want to go far, or maybe because I have no life. :thumbsup:

lol same here cept i started like 1/2 a year ago

[LaxGuru27]

I think starting young helps alot, If you've been playing since you were in 5th grade and hardly a day has gone by where you havent picked up a stick you really have an edge cuz having that stick just becomes and extention of your body.

[Warrior]

I dont think starting young really helps too much, on my team there are kids who were leading scorers back in Modified lacrosse (7th-8th grade) and didnt even come close to scoring all season...and even with practicing they are really left behind...

Though dont get my wrong, i myself have said "wow i wish i started when i was that young" referring to 11/12 yr olds...i think it really depends person by person...when a good time is...though its early in the morning so i could just be rambling incoherently rite now... :WTF:

[lonestarlax]

Starting early helps only if:
1) You have some decent instruction
2) You actually put some time and effort into it

I'm in a non-traditional area (although progressing at an accelerated pace (Texas). Here's the real key: the sooner (earlier age) you get large numbers of kids playing, just by the law of percentages, the more true athletes you'll get playing at a younger age. Let's say kid-1 is very unathletic but starts playing in 5th grade. Kid-2 is a natural athlete and starts playing in 9th grade. For the first year kid-1 with have an edge but if kid-2 really works at it, by 10th grade or so, he'll bypass kid-1. By 12th grade, there will be no comparison.

Having said all of that, guess what happens if kid-2 (the athlete) picks up a stick in 5th grade? By 9th grade, he's turning heads. By 12th grade, some college coaches know about him. Don't be fooled. College coaches are networking to find out what's happening in the growing areas (including good ole Texas). No the Hopkins and Syracuses don't bother (but they'll give a look if approached) but the 2nd tier of schools realize that there are some real players emerging from these areas.

Texas sent 2 teams to Champ Camp. Texas 1 came in 2nd out of 64 teams. I have heard all the reasons/excuses given by the east coast teams why Texas did so well. Face it, these other areas can't be ignored anymore.

Re-read the first couple of paragraphs above. Once our youth programs reach critical mass and we start getting big numbers of athletes earlier, it will start to get interesting. Quality of coaching is key, but with every passing year, our programs get more and more solid...

[crazylegs]

I think it really depends on the kid, like lonestar said some are just more athletic than others, one kid could pick up a stick for the first time in his soph. yr. in HS practice for a yr. and be just as good if not better than a kid who has been playing since 5th grade. Plus now with the growth of the sport in general more of the natural athletes are tuning to lacrosse instead of say football getting them all. Also the reason why jsut about every college recruiter will take an athlete over a kid thats jsut good a lacrosse any day of the week, and thats every players main goal right, so by that logic it doesn't matter when you start.

[ahslax18]

"who's the better skier? In theory of course.. the second guy should be.. (or girl)"

C'mon man, be real, women can't ski

[mmlaxplaya17]

usually it dosnt matter when you start ppl learn at diffrent pases for example some one could start in 2nd grade and take 5 years to = someone you started in teh 6th grade and has one year of skill it all depends on the person some ppl are naturally skilled even when they start

[UNCdefense]

i dont think so...summer before my freshman year i started to play, i quit all other sports cause my entire family up north plays & are great......since i started late i would literally practice at least 4 hours a day, including weight lifting/ regular practices it was more around 6-7 a day, that was literally all i did my freshman year, cause i had that thought you know these other kids have 10 years of a head start on me, so i worked my *** off, maybe i jsut had a good coach i dont know but i think ive improved a lot(look for me on team carolina & charlotte this year)...my practicing the last few days has been lowered down to say an hour a day but thats only cause of homework....i literally dream about lacrosse now, during class i day dream & just imagine different scenario's where id use certain checks/ playing good position defense & sticking w/ the man....plus i lift for 2 hours a day still & another hour of my time is spent on lacrosse web-sites/watching games........anyways i think starting later can benefit you just as much, as long as you have some sports background & determination

[Mrmccoolsatool]

I mean ya if you start yound as early as you can and ARE TAUGHT THE RIGHT WAY TO PLAY then you could be great if you practice everything they teach you.... however if you start and they show you how to play the game wrong and thats how you start playing and it becomes your style thats not gonna help you much as you get older and into more intense leagues.