Small-sided games have been a staple of lacrosse coaches’ practice plans for decades. More recently, US Lacrosse has innovated its youth rules to align with the Lacrosse Athlete Development Model and foster small-sided play at younger ages.

Frankly, there’s no reason for your 8-year-old or even your 10-year-old to play 10-on-10 (boys) or 12-on-12 (girls) on a 120-yard field. It’s counterproductive. If they’re not standing idle 50 yards from the ball, they’re in the middle of a sloppy scrum for a ball that fell to the turf as the result of an incomplete pass or a gassed player’s lazy stick.

With more coaches and players recognizing the benefits of small-sided competition, new portable versions of the sport have popped up in recent years.

SPEED Lacrosse

Hall of Famer Casey Powell packaged the backyard 3-on-3 version of the game he grew up playing with his brothers, stripped away most protective equipment, softened the ball, shrunk the goal, upped the tempo and has been rolling out events and demos all across the country — most notably on beaches.

Trashcan Lacrosse

NXT Sports co-founder and former Hartford coach Peter Lawrence created this game as an innovative, high-rep competition that focuses on playing fast and mastering the 2-on-1. It’s actually 2-on-2, but one defender guards the goal, a trashcan. Flip a stick to start the game.

Chumash

Rock-It Pocket founder Flip Naumburg created this 3-on-3 version of lacrosse in the early 1990s. There’s a narrow 1-by-6-foot double-sided goal. Each team shoots from opposite sides of the goal with a take-back line on each side. The game foucses on shooting skills and stick work.

3x Lacrosse

“Three By” features 3-on-3 half-field play with goals that are 3-by-3 feet and tennis balls, which with their light weight can highlight flaws in fundamentals like scooping, catching and throwing. Founder Guy Cerasoli is the head coach at Arapahoe (Colo.) High School.