Best Beginner Lacrosse Stick (2026): Buy It Strung, Not In Pieces

Complete stick, head, or shaft

A lacrosse stick is two parts. The head is the plastic frame with the pocket strung into it. The shaft is the metal or composite handle. They screw together, and experienced players mix them freely.

A complete stick comes assembled with the head already strung. For a beginner that is not a compromise, it is the correct purchase, and the reason is stringing.

Stringing a head is a real skill. The mesh, the sidewall strings, the shooting strings and the bottom string all interact, and the result determines how the ball sits, how it releases, and whether you can catch at all. A badly strung head gives a ball that rattles out on contact or hangs up on the release, and a new player cannot tell whether the problem is the stick or their own hands. It is almost always the stick.

Pockets come in two kinds. Mesh is a sheet of woven nylon, is the modern standard, holds its shape through weather, and needs almost no maintenance. Traditional pockets use leather runners and nylon, are prized by some players for feel, and require constant adjustment as the leather stretches and absorbs water. Mesh for a beginner, always.

Pocket depth is regulated. A pocket deeper than the rules allow gets a stick failed on inspection, and it also teaches bad habits, because an overly deep pocket holds the ball through sloppy cradling that would lose it otherwise.

Length, position and the two different games

Shaft length is set by position and written into the rules, so this is not a preference.

• Attack and midfield use a short stick, typically 40 to 42 inches overall
• Defence and long-stick midfield use 52 to 72 inches
• Goalies use a much wider head and a shaft around 40 to 72 inches

For a beginner the answer is a short stick. You learn to pass, catch and shoot before you specialise, and the short stick is what those skills are built on. The youth sticks here are shorter again, which is correct for a child because a stick that is too long cannot be cradled close to the body.

Then the thing that catches families out: men's and women's lacrosse are genuinely different sports. Men's lacrosse allows body checking, uses deep pockets, and the sticks are built for it. Women's lacrosse has far more restricted contact and uses a much shallower pocket, so the ball sits higher in the head and cradling technique differs completely.

The sticks are not interchangeable and a women's stick will fail inspection in a men's game and vice versa. All three sticks here are men's or youth sticks.

Protective equipment is not optional in the men's game. Helmet, gloves, shoulder pads, arm pads and a mouthguard are required, and the stick is the cheapest part of getting started.

Breaking in a new stick

Pound the pocket. A new factory pocket is stiff and shallow. Work a ball into it by hand, push it into the sweet spot repeatedly, and play catch against a wall until the mesh softens and forms a channel. A fortnight of wall ball transforms a stick.

Wall ball is the whole sport. Twenty minutes against a wall, alternating hands, builds passing, catching and stick protection faster than any drill with other people. Players who get good have all done thousands of reps against a wall.

Learn both hands early. It is awkward for a month and it is the single thing that separates players who progress from players who plateau. Defenders force you to your weak hand deliberately.

Check the pocket depth against your league's rule before a match. Mesh stretches with use, and a pocket that was legal in September may not be in November.

Keep it dry. A wet pocket stretches and a stick left in a car boot in the wet will have a different pocket by the weekend. Hang it to dry.

Tighten the screw. The single screw holding head to shaft works loose, and a head that shifts mid-catch is both annoying and how heads crack.