Painting the Field?

[tall_chris]

Ok Coaches, any tips in regards to painting the field? Any ideas to make life easier? Shortcuts? etc...

I wish I could find a surveyor to make life easier and take the math out for me. :)

[budman_30]

use stakes and yarn and do the outside first an work your way in with the lines it just takes a long time to make sure the field is all correct.

[TxLaxFan]

use stakes and yarn and do the outside first an work your way in with the lines it just takes a long time to make sure the field is all correct.

that's exactly what we do...

We bought some of those reels for extension cords and used colored twine... one reel for the long side, one reel for the short side, etc. Then when we're done, we roll it back up again to use the next year.

We also looked into get one of those fancy, expensive striper's, but the company rep said that unless we're lining 6+ fields a day, we're better off with the cheap ones we have now.

[3rdPersonPlural]

How do you ensure 90 degree angles on the sidelines?

[smalbikpro]

How do you ensure 90 degree angles on the sidelines?

make a really big right angle tool? im not sure thats a good question

[budman_30]

we just eyeballed it and measured everything after we put it down and checked it and then checked it some more. sry dont remember what we did exactly fo 90 degrees. the key to a good field the key is to measure until you could do it blindfolded you get the point.

[ptdlax]

If the distance between each pair of diagonal corners is the same, then the field is square. Buy a 400' measuring tape reel. It's worth it. About $30 I think. Don't use a pre-measured string or yarn; It stretches too much. Use the tape to measure accurately, then draw the string tight to mark a straight line. Paint right over the string. The first time I paint a field, I go over each line in both directions. That way, they're still visible after a couple weeks. Hopefully you're doing a men's field. Women's lines are a pain!

[TxLaxFan]

No idea how they do the right angles... I only helped once :D
I usually help tear down, not set up

I'm also not sure of they reuse the string or not, but I do know that we have the 400' tape measure reel...

[3rdPersonPlural]

If the distance between each pair of diagonal corners is the same, then the field is square.

Exactly! Pythagoras is quite certain that if one side is 330 and the other is 180, the hypotenuese is 375.8989. 376 feet is close enough. Lay out a diagonal, flag your corners, and mark a midpoint at 188 feet. Have each end walk 180 feet, check that the 188 foot mark is still at your original midpoint, them flag your other two corners.

Brilliant, PTD! Thank You!

[tall_chris]

Any suggestions on items that I can use to put in the ground to mark line intersectors that would not be a tripping hazard?

[WinnytheSully]

Cones on the corners if that's what you mean.

[tall_chris]

I was referring to something that I can put in the ground to mark where all the lines connect. To make it easier to mark once the rain washes the paint off.

[WinnytheSully]

as far as I know the paint doesn't wash off, but I guess you could have like really little stakes or something

[3rdPersonPlural]

TallChris, you might consider sinking tent pegs so that they're flush with the ground at the critical junctures. Put a popsicle stick or something under the hook of the peg and write the location on it with a sharpie.

[ndirishlax]

One thing we've used are Field Marking Whiskers. You can get them in various colors and you can even mow over them. Once your field is lined, you can put these along the lines so you always know where to line again. Here are a few pictures of them so you can get an idea of what they are like. They work really well for us and save us a ton of time when the lines get pretty faint throughout the year:

http://www.athleticfieldmarker.com/images/products/MarkingWhiskern60pennyNail.jpg

http://www.athleticfieldmarker.com/images/products/MarkingWhiskers.jpg

http://www.mutualindustries.com/html/products/15900.jpg

[LaxRef]

Key point: the attack area must be 35 yards x 40 yards. If you have to take out from the width, take it out of the alleys/wing area. If you have to take out length, take it out of the midfield area. No exceptions!

Also, the goal line must be 15 yards from the endline.

[TheKOB]

We do the outline of the field first. While we're measuring and have the tape down we also mark the spots where the sides of the box intersect the end lines as well as the center of the endline. We do the same thing on the sidelines and mark where the center line, top of the box, crease, etc are. Then we just have to move the line that we use to paint three times to do the top of the boxes and midfield line and three times to mark where the sides of the boxes (and the midfield restraining lines) and the center line along with where the crease is. Then you have a point for each crease, measure out the radius and use two guys to do a crease. Plop the goal in the center, draw the goal line, make it appear like you made some sort of effort doing the substitution box and the line the players are supposed to (but never do) stay behind on the sidelines and you're done. Then you get to spend the next week picking paint out from your fingernails and by the time they're clean, it's time to do it again...

Funny side story, at one school we played at they had their grounds crew line the field. It sounded nice until it turned out they had to do each crease multiple times. One box looked like they did a lopsided version of the Olympic Rings...

[LaxRef]

Funny side story, at one school we played at they had their grounds crew line the field. It sounded nice until it turned out they had to do each crease multiple times. One box looked like they did a lopsided version of the Olympic Rings...

One time the grounds crew didn't know the difference between "radius" and "diameter." Hoo boy!

[TheKOB]

that was actually the case with the crease that we ended up using I believe. They fixed it so it looked more like a target than anything else....

[laxjunkie]

I had that happen too! I had to by green spray paint to cover up their mistake since they lined it the day before a game.

Best was the kids expressions when they walked out onto the field for practice and seeing the tiny creases :^)

[LaxRef]

I had that happen too! I had to by green spray paint to cover up their mistake since they lined it the day before a game.

Best was the kids expressions when they walked out onto the field for practice and seeing the tiny creases :^)

One day I showed up for a game and saw a coach dutifully erasing one of two sidelines with green paint. I asked him what he was doing, and he said the women's coach told him they had the field lined wrong and he was "fixing it." Problem was, he was erasing the correct line while another coach was putting down an incorrect line. Moral: don't listen to the women's coach on field-lining issues; they have different rules!

[CTLaxer]

We put down metal tubing about 3-4" in length at the corners and where the midfield, 30yrd (women's) etc. Then, we just get a ball of string and 2 spikes and put a spike in one part of the metal tubing and another spike in another (from endline to endline for example). Sink the metal tubing down so it's below ground level. We used metal tubing sunk below ground level so that we could find them again with a metal detector if we needed remove them at some point and so we could find them for next season. If you don't want to use metal tubing, grab some pvc piping.

Also, one year we had a "pro" lining guy come by and line our fields for guys and girls (he did lines for football and soccer programs). Once we had "pro" lines down, we just made sure we relined them once a week to keep the lines up for the whole season.

Hopefully one of these ideas will help if you have been having problems keeping a field lined. If you decide to line it yourself, it gets really easy and after you do it once or twice you can usually kick it out in 30 mins if you have 1 or 2 people helping.

[Canadian Lax]

heres a tip: dont spray into the wind or your shoes will have a new paint job.

[PNWlax]

For starting a 90 degree corner lay out a 3,4,5 triangle where the hypotuenuse is the 5. Any multiple of these numbers like a 9,12,15 will work for a larger triangle and a perfect 90 which is useful for a large corne like a lacrosse field. Then just extend the sides the desired length. This is a method I learned from framers who lay out houses this way.

[clintley]

I get all my lines straight and intersections square by using the Layout Tool found here: http://www.athleticfieldmarker.com/LacrosseField.html?gclid=COv8m6T8zI4CFSXlgAodiyaQ_ Q. It's an Excel spreadsheet that you enter the size of your field and, using two tape measures, you can mark the locations of all of the line intersections on your field. Then all you have to do is run a line between the appropriate intersections and paint the lines.
It works very well and yields a perfectly square field every time!

[LaxRef]

I get all my lines straight and intersections square by using the Layout Tool found here: http://www.athleticfieldmarker.com/LacrosseField.html?gclid=COv8m6T8zI4CFSXlgAodiyaQ_ Q. It's an Excel spreadsheet that you enter the size of your field and, using two tape measures, you can mark the locations of all of the line intersections on your field. Then all you have to do is run a line between the appropriate intersections and paint the lines.
It works very well and yields a perfectly square field every time!

Gee, that's too bad, because in lacrosse we want a perfectly rectangular field! :chuckle:

Welcome to the forums!

[3rdPersonPlural]

Pay no attention to the man behind the yellow flags, Clintley. LaxRef knows darned well that 'square' also means 'laid out with correct right angles'.

Or something like that......

[wolfenburg]

For starting a 90 degree corner lay out a 3,4,5 triangle where the hypotuenuse is the 5. Any multiple of these numbers like a 9,12,15 will work for a larger triangle and a perfect 90 which is useful for a large corne like a lacrosse field. Then just extend the sides the desired length. This is a method I learned from framers who lay out houses this way.

Actually every Pythagorean treangel would work, since a^2+b^2=c^2 in a 90 degree triangle :-)

If you can afford it such a thing might be nice:

http://www.sport-thieme.de/rl/R=2116876286/--1947882454/art=1116700/-Plifix
you just screw them in and vave permanent markers so yopu hust have to redraw the lines....

[live2coachlax]

I use a full sheet of 4x8 plywood and string to get the 90 angle. Works great! I also own a metal detector and I have set pins at all critical spots on the feild. That way when the DPW mows the feild I can still find the marking points without have to remeasure everything and they are usually still there in the spring!

[TheKOB]

Here's something else that I found interesting:
http://www.port-a-field.com/lacrossegoals.htm

[CTLaxer]

Here's something else that I found interesting:
http://www.port-a-field.com/lacrossegoals.htm

Wow, those look like they'd be helpful...anyone have any experience using them?

[Norm Paquette]

Ok Coaches, any tips in regards to painting the field? Any ideas to make life easier? Shortcuts? etc...

I wish I could find a surveyor to make life easier and take the math out for me. :)


I have made it a hobby developing field layout tools in Excel. just send me an email ( n.paquette@comcast.net ) with the field your looking to layout. I currently have soccer, rugby, and men's & women's lacrosse. I can't send them as attachments here because they are excel files and because they are slightly larger than the maximum size allowed here.

Thanks, Norm

[CaptMDG]

The season has finally calmed down, and I was looking through the forums and found this. I lay out lacrosse fields all the time for my teams, clinics and camps so I will tell you how I do it. The field is always square and it takes about 2 1/2 hours with an experienced three man crew. Assume a field that has never been lined and is large enough for a full lacrosse field (I have lined odd sized fields and it takes me much longer because of the math inside my head to get correct relationships. I do agree with another poster who said to narrow the sidelines and midfield area before doing ANYTHING with the attack areas.

Equipment:

1. Measuring wheel (get large wheel, it is more accurate than the small wheeled ones).
2. Eighteen tent pegs, hammer and peg puller.
3. 1050 feet of nylon mason's string on a wire roll.
4. Separate 330 feet of string on a small roll.

Layout:

1. Peg one corner of the field ( like painting always work "out" from a corner, for example if you have to place a field close to a fence line) and attach the end of the long string to that peg - drive it in deep.

2. Measure 330 feet down sideline to the next corner. Peg that corner, pull string tight and "snap" a line. Take a couple of wraps around the peg and drive it in deep.

3. Use Pythagoras' Theory (3-4-5 triangle) to square your corner. Since the ratio of the right angle is always 3-4-5, I multiply it by ten, and my measurements are always 30-40-50. This gives me a more accurate right angle.

4. I continue around the perimeter of the field as described above. That uses only four pegs, where do the others go?

5. The painter now starts on lining the field while the other two guys place the other pegs in these positions:
On both endlines - 30 feet from each sideline (4 pegs for the restraining box and wing area) and 90 feet from a sideline (2 pegs - this marks the dead center of the field needed for the goal line center and faceoff "X".).
On both sidelines - 105 feet from both endlines (4 pegs for the restaining lines) and 165 feet from an endline (2 pegs for the midfield line).

6. Once the perimeter is lined, the crew takes the short line and secures it to the restraining line pegs, then the midfield line pegs, and finally the last restraining line pegs, the liner paints over the string then the crew moves to their next marked area.

7. The crew secures the short line to the restraining box pegs the length of the field while the line painter moves to the midfield to assist them by snapping the line straight. He uses the measuring wheel to mark 30 feet from the midfield line each way for the wing area. I usually just spray a dot of paint at that point. The liner now lines the sides of the restraining boxes and the wing area in one pass the length of the field. Repeat this on the other side.

8. Go to the endline and find the center string. Use the measuring wheel and go 45 feet from either endline and spot the center of the crease and goal line. Go to the center of the midfield line and sparay your "X" or whatever you use for faceoffs.

9. Pull a peg and drive it into the crease center, create a 9 foot radius with a string and a second peg. Keep the string tight and walk backwards keeping the second peg scraping the ground as the liner follows you. Do this once and and experience will always give you a circular crease.

10. The goal line can easily be measured using the 45 foot string 3 feet on both sides of the crease center.

Sit back and admire your work, because nobody else will unless you screw up.

[WI_LAX_COACH]

One of our parents stripes parking lots for a living. He does it for us using a group of lazer levels.