10U USA Lacrosse Practice Structure & Drills

We follow the USA Lacrosse guidelines for coaching at all levels. At the 10U level, coaches should focus on building a lacrosse-confident player with solid fundamental skills and a general understanding of the game, emphasizing agility, footwork, dynamic balance, complex coordination, linear speed, acceleration, strength, and flexibility, while maximizing ball touches to develop proficient technical abilities such as scooping, catching, passing, shooting, cradling, dodging, body positioning, and individual defense.

Our approach emphasizes a fun, inclusive, engaging, and positive environment that appeals to this age group's desire for movement and teamwork, supporting psychological growth in love of the sport, coachability, confidence, fairness, and responsibility; social skills like competing, understanding winning/losing, teamwork, and adaptability; and tactical concepts like 1v1, 2v1, 2v2, 3v2, 4v3, 4v4, and transition play. Practices should be 60-75 minutes up to three times per week.

10U practices are organized around station-based sessions to promote fun, inclusion, and progressive skill-building while appealing to young athletes' desire for movement and teamwork. Each 60-minute practice (up to 3x/week) begins with a dynamic warm-up, followed by focused stations emphasizing fundamental technical skills like catching, passing, shooting, cradling, dodging, body positioning, and individual defense, delivered with positive reinforcement, growth mindset encouragement, and activities designed for success—ideally with a 12:1 player-to-coach ratio and plenty of ball touches through small-sided play. Practices include scrimmages or game situations to apply concepts like 1v1, 2v1, 2v2, 3v2, 4v3, and 4v4, with free play integrated to foster creativity and enjoyment. Sessions conclude with a reflective activity reinforcing effort and improvement, ensuring players leave motivated and confident.

Below is a library of drills and games published by USA Lacrosse to support the development of 10U lacrosse players. These resources serve as a starting point for organizing practices, but coaches are encouraged to adapt them to their teams' needs, explore other effective drills and games, or create their own. If you discover something that works particularly well, please share it so we can expand our library!