Setting Up a Safe Lacrosse Pitch

Why a Pitch Check Belongs in Every Session

Grassroots lacrosse in the South West has grown steadily over the past decade, with clubs now running regular training and fixtures from Bristol and Bath down through Somerset, Devon and into Cornwall. Most of those clubs do not have a dedicated lacrosse pitch of their own. They share a school field, a rugby ground or a council recreation ground, which means the surface and the markings change from week to week depending on who played there last. That makes a proper pitch check part of the job rather than an optional extra. Ten minutes of walking the field before the first player arrives can prevent twisted ankles, collisions with loose equipment and arguments over whether a goal actually counted. A safe pitch is also a fair pitch: clear lines, correctly positioned goals and honest boundaries mean both teams play under the same conditions.

Start With the Goals

Goals cause more lacrosse injuries than any other piece of equipment, so they are the first thing to inspect. Walk to each goal and try to move it with your hand. If the frame shifts, it is not anchored well enough. The goal should be fixed to the ground with proper stakes or, on hard or artificial surfaces, weighted with sandbags or a purpose-made anchor system. Check the frame for cracked welds, bent uprights and rust that has eaten into the metal, particularly where the pipe meets the base.

Then look closely at the netting:

• Is the net attached at every point along the frame, with no gap a ball can squeeze through?
• Are there holes or frayed sections that a stick head could catch in mid-shot?
• Are the bottom edges pegged or weighted so a ball cannot roll underneath?

Finally, check for anything that protrudes. Loose bolts, sharp cable ties, exposed hooks and trailing straps all need fixing or taping before play. If your club uses a separate goalie frame or spare goals for training, give those the same treatment. It is easy to forget the second goal, and that is often the one nobody has looked at since September.

Boundary Lines, Restraining Lines and the Goalie Area

Clear lines do more than look tidy. In women's lacrosse the boundary, centre line, restraining lines and goal circle all shape where players may go and when a ball is out of play. In men's lacrosse the boundary, midfield line and crease serve the same purpose. Whichever code you play, the lines need to be visible from standing height and consistent across the whole pitch.

Painted lines on grass fade quickly, especially after rain, so check them on the morning of a match rather than assuming last week's paint is still there. Where you are laying out a pitch from scratch, use a long tape and measure from the goal line each time; guessing leads to a pitch that is wider at one end than the other. A few things to confirm:

• The two goal lines are parallel and the same distance apart at both ends.
• Sidelines and end lines form a true rectangle, with square corners.
• Restraining lines, or the equivalent in your code, sit at the correct distance from each goal.
• The goal circle is marked clearly, ideally in a contrasting colour, with no bags, bottles or spare kit left inside it.

If you share the ground with other sports, be aware of permanent markings that cross your pitch. They cannot be removed, but you can point them out to players during the warm-up and, where possible, choose a layout that avoids the busiest intersections.

Assessing the Surface and the Weather

Walk the whole pitch, not just the middle. Lacrosse is a running game full of sharp changes of direction, and the surface is where most non-contact injuries happen. Look for holes and divots, particularly around the goal mouths where goalies push off and along the sidelines where spectators gather. Remove stones, broken glass, bottle tops and the plastic pegs other sports leave behind. Standing water and boggy patches only get worse once twenty players start cutting across them, and after a dry spell clay-heavy ground in parts of Devon and Somerset can bake hard enough to offer almost no give underfoot. Watch for sprinkler heads, cricket squares, rugby posts and drainage covers, and take note of any serious slope: a pitch that runs downhill end to end gives one team a real advantage and makes ground balls behave unpredictably.

Weather deserves its own moment. Exposed coastal pitches in Cornwall and along the Bristol Channel can be genuinely windy, and a goal that felt solid in still air may rock once the wind gets under the netting. In winter, check for frozen ground before training, because a hard surface raises the risk of concussion and joint injuries. If you hear thunder, stop play and move everyone indoors, following the standard guidance of waiting at least thirty minutes after the last clap of thunder before returning.

A Simple Pre-Match Routine

Good practice does not need to be complicated. Appoint one person, often the coach or a nominated team manager, to walk the pitch forty-five minutes before the first whistle. They check the goals, the lines, the goalie areas and the surface, then record anything that could not be fixed on the spot so it can be reported to the facility afterwards. A shared kit bag with a tape measure, line paint, spare net ties, sandbags, a basic first aid kit and a litter picker makes the whole job much quicker.

If something fails the check, say so early. A goal that cannot be secured, a pitch with broken glass across the crease or ground frozen solid is not a challenge to work around; it is a reason to move to a different area, shorten the session or call the match off. Players and parents will respect that decision far more than they will respect a game played on a pitch nobody wanted to inspect. Do the check every week, and safe, fair lacrosse becomes the norm rather than a lucky accident.