Box Lacrosse League Starting in Duluth

The first season of the Duluth Box Lacrosse League (DBLL) is about to get underway this weekend.  The primary goal of the league is to provide a fun off-season lacrosse opportunity for Northern Minnesota high school lacrosse players. Games will be played at the Lower Chester Hockey Rink in Duluth, MN.  The league will have two divisions.  The High School+ Division is open to area high school players and adults (except current collegiate lacrosse players) and the Middle School Division is open to players in grades 6-8. 

College coaches across the country have identified box lacrosse as a great way to increase lacrosse skills and IQ.  Legendary college coach Bill Tierney (Princeton and University of Denver) has been quoted as saying, “If I was US Lacrosse, I wouldn’t let any kids play field until they were 10 or 12 years old.”  Canadian youth players start playing box lacrosse first and do not transition into field lacrosse until middle school or higher and have become some of the top players in the U.S college game. Canada is rapidly turning out some of the most dominant players on every collegiate level (i.e. DI/DII/DIII).  In 2010, ten of the top thirty point scorers in NCAA Division I lacrosse were Canadian, yet less than 5% of the Division I population are Canadian.

The benefits of box lacrosse are evident:

•    The ball is never out of play. Box lacrosse players touch the ball more often, no doubt about

it.  In a field lacrosse game with a 10 v 10 scenario, your player may never touch the ball.  In box lacrosse, your player is guaranteed to touch the ball a few times per game with only 5 players on the field per team and the boards to keep the ball in play.
•    The small nets in box lacrosse (4' x 4') encourage players to take higher percentage shots, work to find creative ways to get to the goal and improve their shooting accuracy.
•    The tighter confines of a box lacrosse rink improve a players stick handling skills and gets them used to passing and catching in traffic.
•    Box lacrosse emphasizes fundamental defensive footwork since no one is using a long pole.  Defenseman can work on their stick skills and even have some fun scoring goals!
•    Box lacrosse encourages the development of off ball movement and the 2 man game.  Players learn a higher level of reading the defense.