Dirty Players in Lacrosse

You will occasionally come across dirty players in youth lacrosse. When the refs are not watching, they will jam the butt of their stick into the stomach of the opposing players, deliberately step on feet, etc.

To make it worse, these are 11-12 year old kids. Moreover, their parents often yell from the stands and encourage their kids to play this way.

Most teams (thankfully) don't play this way. However, a few of the elite travel teams seem to attract these dirty players. Generally, these are the kids with the weakest skills and thus they try to intimidate others in order to make up for their inadequacies.

Nevertheless, these kids are being poorly served by their "seemingly" blind coaches (and not so blind parents). As kids on opposing teams get older (and bigger), fear and intimidation will be less effective. Dirty players won't be able to mask their below average stick skills or lack of agility and speed.

Moreover, is this the life lesson that parents want their kids to learn? Cheating & bullying are okay?

My boys will never play that way. They focus on good sportsmanship and trying to outwork their competitors. Thus they will benefit from developing better lacrosse skills over the long-term... and from being better human beings.

Will
Beginner Lacrosse.com