Our lacrosse program is open to boys and girls in grades K-9 in greater Bowie area.  Any player is welcome into our program. You do not need prior experience to play and we offer competitive teams for both new and experienced players.

What are the age groups??

There are five groups: U7 (Pre-K to K) Scoopers, U9 (Grades 1 & 2); U11 (Grades 3 & 4); U13 (Grades 5 & 6); U15 (Grades 7 & 8). Secondarily your child must be under 15, 13, 11, 9, and 7 respectively (but over the age of 4) as of August 31st prior to the start of the season to participate in these grade-based programs.

When is the season?

Pre-Spring Lacrosse starts in late February or early March depending upon weather and will continue until Memorial day in May.

Summer clinics are ran the month of July

Fall clinics are ran the from September – October

Winter indoor season starts in December and runs through February.

Where do we play?

All teams will play an 8 game schedule and are considered “travel teams” in that we play other towns both home and away. Our division generally covers central and southern Maryland teams typically between 30-45 minutes away like Silver Spring, Huntingtown, Mechanicsville, and Solomons.  Home games are played at Mitchellville Fields located on Mitchellville Road (across from Allen Pond Park). Our older teams will also practice and play on artificial turf at Allen Pond and Whitemarsh Park (Bowie SportFit).

When are the games?

All games will be played on Saturdays, anywhere from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm. Sometimes weather messes the schedule up and fields simply cannot be released. This will delay games. When this happens, it is a struggle to get those games rescheduled. We will do our best to communicate with parents and do what is most convenient for the majority. There may also be a few optional weeknight games later in the season that would be organized and scheduled at the individual coach’s discretion.  A regular schedule typically consists of 4 home games and 4 away games.  Games typically last between 75-90 minutes and players are often asked to be at the field 30-60 minutes before game time. Sometimes extra games or scrimmages can be fit into the schedule at the leagues discretion. When league wide scheduling is finished, all games will be posted

Every spring season ends with our SMYLA Tournament which will be two days of round robin tournament style games.

**NEW for 2018 ** Our season will start with a round robin “Break the Ice” tournament.

What is the Attendance Policy?

 Our program strives for safety, skills, and team play- coaches teach in practice and implement in games, so practice is important! While we would love to have each player devoted to lacrosse we recognize that children and their families can have other interests and passions and we respect those. For players engaged in multiple spring sports, Bowie Lacrosse believes strongly in a “games before practices” philosophy: your lacrosse game is more important than a conflicting practice in another sport, and vice versa. We can accommodate children who play other sports, and they should be encouraged to do so at these ages. Playing multiple sports helps to prevent injury, overtraining, and burnout.  It can also help build skills and coordination that will help in lacrosse.  All of our coaches focus on even playing time for all players. However equal playing time is not guaranteed to players that do not have a good attendance record. This being said, players must be committed to attending the majority of their practices and all games. A team cannot work together if are not given ample opportunity to practice together. We must be fair to those who attend every practice and work hard to excel in one sport where they choose to give 100%. The occasional missed lacrosse practice to attend a game in another sport is understandable, and occasional conflicts are unavoidable at times. We hope such absences will be minimized, but in such an event, you must communicate with your coach. Player’s positions can be determined by a combination of attendance, skill, and overall positive attitude toward teammates, opponents, coaches, and the sport of lacrosse. Please consider these points carefully before committing to our program.

 Why do we have a strong and well-defined Attendance Policy?

Respect — Respect for your coach, your teammates and yourself. Coaches spend a considerable amount of time planning and running practices to teach skill and prepare for games.  Practice plans are created weekly and rely on consistent attendance from all players.  All it takes is a a few late or missing players and that plan is obsolete.

Teamwork — Lacrosse is a team sport.  Teamwork is a “life skill” that stays with young athletes long after they stop playing sports.  It often makes them better in social, educational and, eventually, professional environments.

Commitment — On a team, the group suffers unless everyone is committed to its success. Commitment requires that everyone show up and be ready to play on time every session.  Showing up “when you feel like it” just doesn’t cut it when you are a member of a musical band, a theatrical play, or any other group activity, same goes for lacrosse.  Making commitments and fulfilling them are important in both sports and life.  Not everyone is overly scheduled, it is not fair to those who have made the choice to give 100%. We are here to set our players up in life, we want to send them the right message. The life skills learned in youth sports are much more sustaining than the sports skills that they learn (although we care a lot about developing sports skills, too.) We believe that all youth lacrosse players need ample playing time during both practices and games to develop in a sport and to get the most enjoyment out of the game.

We follow a simple equation: Attitude + Effort + Attendance = Playing Time

Players who attend practice, show up on time, try hard and follow the Code of Conducts will receive ample playing time. Players who do not attend every practice, do not show up on time, do not try their hardest and do not show respect  for coaches, officials, opponents, and teammates will not get as much playing time as teammates, regardless of skill or years in the program.  Please discuss these points with your child.