Lacrosse Rules
Box Lacrosse
World Lacrosse, US Lacrosse, and the Canadian Lacrosse Association all offer official rules of box/indoor lacrosse. There are some variations between the three rule sets. The World Lacrosse rules, first published in 2015, are based on the National Lacrosse League rules. US Lacrosse’s 2017 rules were developed with input from World Lacrosse, the CLA, NLL, and other prominent lacrosse organizations and include modifications for youth games. US Lacrosse also offers a small-sided, small-size, boardless field variation of outdoor lacrosse rules. As of 2021, a women’s box lacrosse ruleset is under development by World Lacrosse.
- US Lacrosse (boarded, men & women, 6U and up)
- World Lacrosse (boarded, professional and amateur)
- National Lacrosse League (boarded, professional)
- Canadian Lacrosse Association (boarded, professional and amateur)
- US Lacrosse (unboarded, 7v7, small-field variation of field lacrosse)
The Indoor Field
A typical indoor lacrosse field is 200 feet long by 85 feet wide, the same size as a hockey rink or arena soccer field. The goals are 4’9″ wide and 4′ tall; the goal line is 12 feet from the ends of the field. Dasher boards are between 3’6″ and 4′ tall with safety glass on top.
Outdoor Lacrosse
World Lacrosse publishes official rules for men’s and women’s field lacrosse. US Lacrosse, in conjunction with the NCAA and NFHS, also publishes outdoor rules for men, women, boys, and girls at the youth, high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate club levels.
An outdoor lacrosse field is 120 yards long by 65 yards wide, the same length as a regulation football field and slightly wider. While the field size is the same in both men’s and women’s lacrosse, field markings differ slightly.
A small-sided variant, called “Sixes”, was introduced by World Lacrosse in 2020 to encourage player development with smaller teams and more time with the ball and to formalize a variant that requires fewer players.
