Sixes Lacrosse IQ Masterclass

Five things that surprise field coaches

• There is no two-point goal. Sixes has no scoring arc — every goal is one point.
• Body checking is illegal for the men too. Sixes made physicality equal across the two games.
• There is no self-start. Play starts and stops on the official's whistle.
• No specialist positions. Five runners, and every one of them plays both ends.
• The goalkeeper cannot cross the centre line. That is the only offside in the game.

Why this format exists

Sixes was created in 2018 to make the sport cheaper to stage, easier to learn and more balanced — a 12-player roster, a small field, no specialist positions and a short game built for television and for tournaments. It was played by both men and women at The World Games 2022, the first World Lacrosse Sixes Championships is in 2027, and it is the format lacrosse will use at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Sources: World Lacrosse, 2026–2028 Sixes Official Playing Rules v1.0, and USA Lacrosse, Sixes: Advanced Small-Sided Standards.

The Pitch

A rectangular pitch 70 m long and 36 m wide at World Lacrosse events. Non-sanctioned events may use anything from 55–75 m long and 35–55 m wide, which is what most US youth play on.

The Centre Draw Circle

A circle of 5 m radius around the centre marking, with a 10 cm centre point and a line across it parallel to the end lines.

The Goal and Crease

A 1.83 m by 1.83 m goal, centred on the end line and 25 m from the midline, with a crease of 3 m radius marked around it. Goals are orange.

The Penalty Dot

A permanent marking on the table side of the field, its centre 2 m from the centre line and 5 m from the sideline.

The Defensive Zone

The rule book defines it as a 36 m by 25 m rectangle around the goal on a team’s defensive half of the field.

The Substitution Area

A marked area 10 m long and 5 m deep from the sideline, sitting between the two team bench areas.

The Two 30-Second Clocks

Two visible shot clocks, one at each end line, positioned so players and officials can both see them.

One Draw, Four Starts

Each quarter and each overtime period begins with a draw at the centre of the field — not a faceoff, and not a restart after a goal (play simply resumes with the goalkeeper). The exception is possession at the end of a period: if a quarter ends with a team holding the ball, or in an extra-player situation, the next period starts by awarding them the ball at the same relative position instead of drawing.

The Men’s Draw and the Women’s Draw Are Different Skills

In the MEN’S draw both players rest their sticks and gloved hands ON THE GROUND, parallel to the centre line, heads perpendicular to the surface, with both hands, both feet and the helmet to the left of the throat of their own stick. In the WOMEN’S draw both players hold their sticks IN THE AIR above hip level, parallel along the vertical plane of the centre line, with the bottom hand not higher than the top hand — and on the whistle the ball must fly higher than the heads of both players taking the draw.

Nobody May Touch the Draw Players

Once the official says “set” the two draw players must stay motionless until the whistle. When the whistle goes, every other player may enter the circle — but while the two are still in the draw position with the ball contacting their sticks, it is illegal for any other player to contact the body or the stick of either of them.

When the Draw Goes Wrong

If the ball goes directly out of bounds off a draw and nobody can say who touched it last, possession is awarded by alternate possession. If an official whistles by mistake, the ball is re-drawn at the centre line with the same restrictions. If both players drew illegally, or it cannot be determined why the draw was illegal, or the draw was not set correctly, the official resets it — but a SECOND re-draw in the same sequence goes to alternate possession.

A GREEN card is a minor foul and carries a 30-second time-serving penalty — but only if the offending team did not have the ball. If the offending team had possession, or the ball was loose, the penalty is simply loss of possession and a whistle restart at the spot. A YELLOW card is a major foul: one minute, and the ball to the non-offending team. A RED card is an expulsion: the player is gone for the rest of the game and the In-Home serves two minutes on their behalf.

Before the game the head coach nominates an In-Home: any player except the goalkeeper. The In-Home serves every penalty that is not assigned to a specific field player — fouls by the coaching staff, non-playing personnel, the goalkeeper, and team fouls where no individual can be identified. If the team picks up several at once, the coach nominates additional players to serve, none of them the goalkeeper.

Rule 8.3.1 is blunt: body-checking of an opponent in any form is illegal. This applies to the men’s game exactly as it does to the women’s. What remains legal is incidental contact of equal pressure, legal holds, legal pushes to gain possession of a loose ball, and a defender redirecting an opponent who has the ball.

It is illegal for two or more defensive players to form a stationary, parallel or adjacent stack or wall-type formation in front of the goal, or within the crease, creating a physical barrier instead of actively defending an opponent. The criteria are specific: the defenders are stationary, they are side-by-side or in a line, they are not making an active attempt to legally defend an opponent, and the formation is in front of the goal or in the crease.

Any player who commits three or more major fouls, or any expulsion foul, is fouled out and takes no further part in the game. A substitute is allowed to enter, but only at the point when the fouled-out player would have been permitted to re-enter. The official scorer is required to notify the officials once a player reaches three majors.

The 30-Second Shot Clock

From the moment a team gains possession, there are 30 seconds to put a shot on goal. If the clock expires without one, the ball is awarded to the defending team. There is no stall, no hold, no running out the clock with the ball in your stick.

What Resets the Clock — and What Does Not

The clock resets on a change of possession, on a restart after time-serving penalties are administered, after a goal when the official whistles to restart, if play is stopped for a DEFENSIVE injury, if possession is gained or awarded after a draw, and on a loose-ball technical foul by the defence if the offended team gains possession. It also resets on a shot that hits the pipe or rebounds off the goalkeeper while the goalkeeper is standing inside the crease.

The 10-Second Clear

There is a 10-second count to get the ball across the centre line, and it applies to BOTH teams. When a team gains possession in its own half, the ball must cross the centre line within 10 seconds. Being across means both feet of the player in possession are in the offensive half, or the ball is in flight past the line and not touching it.

Over and Back

Once the ball is in your offensive half it may not return to your defensive half through your own team’s actions. If it does, it is an over-and-back violation: immediate change of possession, restarted 2 m from the nearest boundary to where the ball was when play stopped.

Restarts, and the Bubble Around the Ball

In your defensive zone, a restart happens at the same relative position where the ball was when play stopped. In your offensive zone it is 2 m inside the closest boundary line from that spot. And on any restart, if an opposing player is within 3 m when the whistle blows, they may not defend until they have retreated to 3 m.

Five Runners, No Specialists

Sixes has no positions by job description. Every player on the field except the goalkeeper is a runner who plays both ends, and the roster is small enough that everyone will have the ball in a scoring situation. The format was built this way deliberately, to remove the competitive imbalance that comes from concentrating skill in a few specialist roles.

Spacing for Six: the 3-2 and the 2-3

The common shapes are a 3-2 (three across the top of the scoring area, two low) and a 2-3 (two high, three low). Both exist to create a 2-on-1 somewhere — with five attackers against five defenders, one defender will always be a step late if the ball moves faster than the defence slides.

Attacking the Clock

Thirty seconds is roughly two or three passes and one defensive rotation. A Sixes offence should be organised around a shot at 10–15 seconds, not around holding for a perfect look, because a shot that hits the pipe or the goalkeeper inside the crease gives you a fresh 30 back.

Playing a Man Down: the Penalty Dot Restart

When a time-serving penalty is administered, the non-offending team restarts in their offensive zone, on the penalty dot. That is a set piece, not a scramble — and it is the single biggest swing moment in a Sixes game, because a one-minute yellow card costs the offending team a player for a minute of a 32-minute game.

Defend Without the Body Check

This is the hardest transition for a men’s field player. There is no legal body check in Sixes, at any level, for either gender. What is legal is a body hold with the hands together on the stick, a push from the front or side on a player who has the ball or is within 3 m of a loose ball, and the incidental contact that comes with two players competing for the same ground.

The Goalkeeper May Not Cross the Centre Line

Every team must have a goalkeeper on the field at all times, and the goalkeeper may not cross the centre line. That is also the only offside rule in Sixes: a team is offside when their goalkeeper’s body — including a gloved hand on the stick, but not the stick itself — touches, steps on or crosses the centre line.

Do Not Build a Wall

Walling is the foul that exists specifically because Sixes has six players. Two or more defenders standing stationary and adjacent in front of the goal, making a physical barrier instead of defending an opponent, is a major foul — one minute. The rule is judged on four things: stationary, parallel or adjacent, no active attempt to defend, and located in front of the goal or in the crease.

Defending the Clock, and the Five-Second Crease

A Sixes defence is always defending against a clock as well as against five players. The shot clock gives you a lever field lacrosse does not have: make them use ten seconds and the shot they finally take is the one you wanted them to take. Meanwhile the crease rule cuts the other way — a player with possession in their own crease must get rid of the ball within five seconds.

Not called in Sixes

• Shooting space — the lane is not protected
• Three seconds — neither the closely-guarded nor the 8-metre version
• Hooking
• Poke checks
• Empty stick check on a ground ball
• In the sphere (women's field)
• Check across the body
• Slash as the women's field game defines it

Called in Sixes but not in the field game

• Illegal body check — including in the men's game
• Walling — two or more defenders forming a static wall in front of goal
• Offside — but only if your goalkeeper crosses the centre line
• Illegal goal crease defending (women's)
• Dangerous propel (women's) — one minute, or expulsion above the knee
• Over and back — the ball may not return to your own half
• The 10-second clear — a count the women's field game does not have

The one that stays the same

Everything the field game teaches about spacing, off-ball movement, stickwork, ground balls and communication transfers intact. Sixes does not change how to throw, catch, scoop or read a defence. It changes the rules around those skills, and it removes the time you have to use them.