The perception that boys’ lacrosse is a more entertaining sport than girls’ lacrosse because it is harder is wrong because girls’ lacrosse requires much more skill than boys.

The rules in physical contact vary greatly between girls’ and boys’ lacrosse. First, body checking is legal for boys, which means that players can make contact with another player with their stick if the opponent has the ball. Since checking players with your stick is legal and most players use lots of force when checking, boys wear padding to prevent significant injury. Players wear shoulder pads, elbow pads, gloves and helmets. Fans say that the body checking combined with trying to score goals from eight to 10 yards away makes boys’ lacrosse a harder sport. Fans also say that since boys typically shoot from farther away this makes defense much more difficult because they have to make sure they don’t get beat but also keep their offender from shooting.

While boys’ lacrosse does have more physical contact, that is not to say that girls’ lacrosse isn’t rough. I personally have experienced several checks to the head and rough pushing, and although it is not legal, the rules don’t prevent injuries like this from happening. Also, rules have become much more flexible in girls’ lacrosse and even though pushing and checking are not legal, refs don’t call every instance of this.

Girls don’t have padding like boys’ lacrosse has. I’ve seen teammates and players get concussions from slashes to the head. Boys’ lacrosse isn’t harder because of their physical contact rules because girls have to endure lots of pushing and checking without padding.
Since girls’ lacrosse has less physical contact, players have to learn other methods on defense to prevent the offenders from scoring, rather than just pushing or shoving them around like boys do. Less physical contact makes girls’ lacrosse require more skill all around as well because you need to be a skilled player to make legal checks, defend properly and get back possession from the other team.

Also girls’ lacrosse has a shooting space rule, unlike boys’ lacrosse. Shooting space makes it hard for girls to shoot from farther than four to six meters away from the goal. Girls can get yellow cards for dangerous shots if their shot has a defender in front of them. Players have to find an opening inside the 8-meter, which requires them to dodge several players and then shoot while on the run.

Even with all these rules of lacrosse, the sticks of boys’ and girls’ are drastically different. Boys’ sticks have a much larger pocket due to the pushing, which is to help keep the ball in the stick. Girls’ lacrosse has a much smaller pocket, which makes it hard to cradle the ball. Girls still endure pushing, so you have to be able to cradle the ball with little to no pocket, while still being pushed a significant amount.

Girls’ lacrosse is a harder sport than boys’ lacrosse, but girls’ lacrosse games usually get far fewer spectators because people typically believe boys’ lacrosse is harder. In the springtime make sure to show up and support the school’s girls’ lacrosse team.