About Raiders Lacrosse

Overview

The Nanaimo Raiders Lacrosse Program is a developmental program for players of all skill levels to learn the game of field lacrosse. It is run over the Fall/Winter months. There are currently 7 coed divisions - U7, U9, U11, U13, U15, U17 and U19 and 4 female divisions, U11, U13, U15 and U17. The focus for each age group closely follows the levels of athlete development as specified in the NCCP coaching clinics. We recognize this as follows:

U7 & U9 - Introduction to Field Lacrosse: Teaching young players the basics of field lacrosse and encouraging them to join the sport.

U11 - Learn to Play: Teaching players the skills they require to play the game of field lacrosse. Emphasis is on skill development and basic game strategies.

U13 & U15 - Learn to Compete: At this level most of our players will understand the game and we can now focus on more tactical aspects of play.

U17 & U19 - Learn to Win: When a player from our program reaches this level, he/she is now prepared to be fully exposed to all aspects of the game that turn competition into winning.

There are many reasons to play Nanaimo Raiders Field Lacrosse this Fall

1. You will improve as a player - If you want to improve as a player, field lacrosse is like going to lacrosse camp all winter long. Field lacrosse teaches advanced stick skills (use of opposite hand, new cradling skills), individual offense (e.g., one- on-one moves, shooting tips), conditioning and strength-building, and provides an increased sense of team strategy. These are skills that will improve your overall lacrosse game.
2. Low cost - The cost of registration is modest. Plus you don’t have to worry about getting extra equipment. If you are playing coed field lacrosse, you can wear all your regular box lacrosse equipment. (The long sticks used by defensemen are supplied by the club.)
3. All registered Raiders players in coed and female, U13 thru U19, are eligible to play in provincials.
4. U11 teams are able to attend a year end Provincial tournament.
5. Nets are bigger - Field lacrosse encourages high scoring games with the use of 6 ft-by-6 ft nets and lots of fast-paced action.
6. Builds fitness - Field lacrosse is played on soccer-sized fields and builds extra conditioning and fitness.
7. Other opportunities - Field lacrosse is the only lacrosse opportunity that provides athletic scholarship opportunities in the United States. Field lacrosse is also played at the collegiate level in Ontario and B.C.
8. It's fun!! 

 Unlike indoor ("box") lacrosse, there are 10 players per side: a goalkeeper, three defenders (or "big-sticks") because of their use of longer 5' sticks), three midfielders (or "middies"), and three attacker (or "attacks"). The defence must always have four players on their side of center, usually the goalie and three defenders and the attack must always have three players on the opposite side of center. As in box lacrosse, the intent is to score a goal into a net (6' wide x 6' tall x 7' deep), line changes occur "on the fly" and a number of the infractions (called "fouls") are similar to the "penalties" in box lacrosse.