Youth Lacrosse Gear Guide for Parents

If you didn't grow up around lacrosse, the gear list can feel like a foreign language. Here's a plain walkthrough of what your kid actually needs, in priority order.

Required gear (league rules, no exceptions)

• Helmet — must be NOCSAE-certified, no exceptions, for any player at any level. See our helmet guide for what that certification means and why fit matters more than brand.
• Gloves — required for all field players at essentially every level for hand protection against stick checks.
• Shoulder pads — required for boys'/men's lacrosse (girls'/women's lacrosse generally does not use shoulder pads — the rules genuinely differ by gender, this isn't an oversight).
• Arm pads (elbow and forearm) — required for boys'/men's lacrosse.
• Mouthguard — required, and a properly fitted one matters; the free one that comes with a helmet is rarely a good long-term fit.
• A stick legal for your child's age/position — stick length is regulated by position (short sticks for attack/midfield, long poles for defense, with specific minimum/maximum lengths that change by level) — check your specific league's current rules rather than assuming, since requirements vary by age division.
• Cleats — lacrosse-specific or football/soccer cleats are typically allowed; check your league's specific footwear rules, especially around toe cleats.

Goalie-specific gear, if that's your kid's position

Goalies need a different, more heavily padded glove set, a chest protector, and often a different helmet style with additional throat protection — goalie gear is genuinely a separate buying decision from field-player gear, not just "bigger versions" of the same equipment.

Where it's safe to buy budget gear, and where it isn't

• Buy budget here: a first stick for a young beginner (they'll outgrow the skill level fast, and an inexpensive complete stick is genuinely fine to start), cleats, and a practice-only mouthguard.
• Don't cut corners here: the helmet — always buy new, NOCSAE-certified, and properly fitted, never used/hand-me-down regardless of how good a deal looks, since impact damage to a helmet's protective foam often isn't visible from the outside. Gloves are also worth not skimping heavily on, since hand injuries from undersized or worn-out gloves are common and avoidable.

A realistic first-season budget

A complete starter kit (stick, helmet, gloves, shoulder pads, arm pads, mouthguard) for a new youth player commonly runs somewhere in the low-to-mid hundreds of dollars new, depending heavily on brand and whether you buy a "starter package" bundle vs. individual pieces. Many local leagues and lacrosse stores also run gear swaps or rent/loan programs for a first season — worth asking your league directly before buying everything new, especially for shoulder/arm pads a young player will quickly outgrow.

Next steps

Once you know what you're buying, see our specific guides forsticks,gloves, andhelmets.