Our program

Mission
The mission of Dover-Sherborn Girls Lacrosse is to help girls in grades 1-8 who live in Dover or Sherborn learn to play and enjoy lacrosse.  

Objectives
Our objectives are consistent with those of our league -- The Founders Girls Lacrosse League (www.fgll.org).  

Specifically, we strive:

• To honor the game by exemplifying its values of integrity, trust and competition
• To create an instructional girls lacrosse program that:

-   Has teams organized by school grade (1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, 5th/6th and 7th/8th)

-   Creates balanced teams at each grade level

-   Emphasizes skill building, teamwork, healthy competition and fun

-   Aims for equal playing time for all players

-   Keeps game scores but does not post or publish them during or after the game

-   Has no standings, play-offs or championships

-   Adheres to a Zero Tolerance policy for misconduct of players, coaches and spectators

Grades 1-8
The program begins mid-March and ends the second week of June with a league Jamboree. For these grades, lacrosse is a three-days-per-week commitment. Each age group practices twice during the school week and plays travel games on Sundays. For games, multiple balanced teams will be formed in each group. Travel games can either be Home or Away at other west suburban town fields with start times ranging from 10am to 5pm.  The number of players on the field will depend upon the age group:

• Grades 7-8:  12v12 (11 field players + goalie)
• Grades 5-6:  12v12 (11 field players + goalie)
• Grades 3-4:  8v8 (7 field players + goalie)
• Grades 1-2: 7v7 (7 field players + goalie OPTIONAL)

Balanced teams
Within each grade group, we create teams of blended grades with balanced capability.  When we have more than one team in a grade group, we make every effort to balance the talent levels of the team so that all teams are of equal skill, (i.e. no leveling into A teams and B teams).  Stacking teams with only the better or older players is not allowed in our league. Younger players may play up (higher grade level) only when we are in need of more subs and/or it is a coach's daughter.

Balanced players
To the extent possible, we give all players equal exposure to a variety of positions with the goal of teaching the sport and providing a fun experience for all involved.