Welcome to Hopkins Youth Lacrosse

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Hopkins Community Ed will also be running a fall 2016 Intro To Lacrosse series of 8 sessions for K-6th grade boys & girls on Mon & Thurs nights from 6:30-7:30 pm, Sept 19-Oct 17 at Meadowbrook Elem School gym & Lions Park in Golden Valley. For more details visit: http://www.hopkinsschools.org/community-education/youth-programs/fall-activities​.

Registration will soon be open for the spring 2017 Girls K-2nd, 3-5th and 6-8th Grade Player Development Program for beginners (April-May outdoors on Sundays @ Central Park in Hopkins) All equipment is provided. Click on the "REGISTER HERE" button on this website in Jan of 2017.

Registration will soon be open for the spring 2017 Boys K-2nd, 3-5th and 6-8th Grade Player Development Program for beginners (Tues evenings indoors @ Hopkins Pavilion, March 8-April 19). Sticks will be provided. Players will need to provide their own hockey or lacrosse helmet and gloves.Click on the "REGISTER HERE" button on this website in Jan of 2017.

Registration will soon be open for the spring 2017 Boys 10U, 12U, and 14U spring Box (indoor) and field (outdoor) lacrosse teams. Box practices are at the Hopkins Pavilion Arena and practices are one night a week on Tuesdays with games on weekends March-April. Field lacrosse practices will be on a local field on Mon & Wed evenings with games on weekends in May and weekdays in June. For details. Click on the "REGISTER HERE" button on this website in Jan of 2017.

Registration will soon be open is open for the spring 2017 Girls 3-4th, 5-6th and Prep 7-9th grade spring field (outdoor) lacrosse teams. Our 3-6th grade Hopkins student athletes play for the St Louis Park Lacrosse Association teams. Both associations combine  back in 2014. 3-6th grade Practices are two nights a week at SLP Middle School while 7-9th graders practice and play at Hopksin HS.  Games are on weekdays and weekends April-May. For details. Click on the "REGISTER HERE" button on this website in Jan of 2017.

QUESTIONS: call HYLA President, Mark Hellenack at 952-938-2723 or email HopkinsYouthLax@yahoo.com

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OUR MISSION

Our mission is to promote and teach boys and girls the fundamental skills and team concepts needed to play the sport. We are dedicated to instilling the importance of good sportsmanship, a strong work ethic, and teamwork with the help of positive, encouraging coaches.   

North America's first sport, lacrosse is a Native American game played by almost all the tribes in North America. The game was given the name Lacrosse (bent stick) by the French missionaries who first saw it played by the Huron and Iroquois out east. The native names for the game include Stickball, the ball game,  the Creator's Game, the Bumping Hips Game and Little Brother of War.

Adapted by the Canadians in the early 1900's and given the rules we use today, lacrosse is now Canada's national summer sport. The modern game has protective gear and the benefit of new technology (plastic, aluminum), but it still requires the same skills used by the Native players, quickness, speed, agility, cradling, dodging, catching, throwing, scooping and shooting.

In the USA lacrosse is a varsity high school, college and professional sport and it will soon be an Olympic sport.  It is one of the fastest growing sports and combines the skills you already have in basketball, soccer and hockey. Plus, anyone can play lacrosse, big or small. The game rewards coordination, speed and stick skills.

We invite you to come join the Fun!

if you are interested in getting your son or daughter involved in lacrosse here in the Hopkins School District click on the "Join Our Email List" button on bottom left of this website. For more immediate questions contact HYLA President,  Mark Hellenack at  952-938-2723  or  x

Check out the new Hopkins HS Royals logo

Between the 2008-09 and 2012-13 school years, participation in high-school lacrosse grew 19 percent among girls (to more than 77,000 players) and 15 percent among boys (to nearly 102,000 players), according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations analyzed by BuzzFeed. Over the past decade, the trend is even stronger, with participation more than doubling over that time.

Among sports with at least 10,000 high schoolers, lacrosse has had the highest growth rate since 2009. Other growth sports include 8-player football (up 12 percent), cross country (up 8 percent for both boys and girls), soccer (up 8 percent for girls, up 7 percent for boys), and girls bowling (up 7 percent).

“There are two main reasons for the trend,” said Rick Burton, the Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University, about the rise in popularity of lacrosse. “One is that lacrosse is being developed as a gender neutral sport. It’s a virtually identical game between men and women. Two, it’s an active, contemporary game. It’s not based on set plays with limitations of where people can play.”

Despite lacrosse’s reputation as a preppy, Northeast-centric sport, the sport grew the most in the Midwest and South. Between 2009 and 2013, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio saw the largest percentage increases in participation. And there’s an opportunity for much more growth: In 32 states, fewer than 1,000 students played high-school lacrosse during the 2012-13 school year, according to the NFHS data.

Read the whole article on Buzzfeed.com: http://www.buzzfeed.com/johntemplon/lacrosse-fastest-growing-sport#.loRWmvDew