MSHLAX offers a progressive curriculum of skills building and competitive play for boys in Kindergarten through 8th Grade.  Our coaches and our affiliated league, North Jersey Junior Lacrosse League (NJJLL), adhere to USA Lacrosse guidelines for game rules and appropriate skills instruction by age.  You can read more about our organization and affiliated leagues under the About US menu.  Specific seasonal program information can be found under the Programs drop-down menu.

Within the NJJLL, MSHLAX is a AA program, and we compete in AA Group 5.  While this grouping serves as a game scheduling guideline for grades 2-7, it's important for our 8th grade in terms of determining Spring Season playoff berths and ultimately a Group Champion.  The lower grades do not have playoffs.

Grades 1 - 4 are developmental years devoted to teaching the basics of stick skills and progressing from individual play to team play.  While the 4th Grade plays a full-field 10v10, 3rd Grade has the option of playing 7v7, and all games below 3rd Grade only play 7v7.

Our Kindergarten programs are structured as clinics which usually comprise 8-10 sessions in the spring.

While our Club and League largely follow grade levels and not a U-Level age test, we will not allow players to "play up" more than one grade.  For instance, a 5th Grader can play up on the 6th grade team, but for safety reasons, we would not allow a 5th Grader to play with 7th Graders.  It's also important to note that from the 4th Grade to 5th Grade, rules progress significantly and therefore "playing up" across these grades--or others as special circumstances and rules may dictate--may not be allowed out of safety concerns.

BEGINNERS ARE WELCOME AT ALL GRADE LEVELS!!  While our program aims to prepare our boys to play competitively at the high school level, we welcome new players and beginners at every grade level.  Children and adolescents develop physically, mentally and emotionally much more quickly than adults, so many times we find the learning curve of lacrosse to be less steep for youth than for adults.

Prior to completing the registration form, EACH PLAYER must have a USA Lacrosse membership which must be active through June 30, 2019.  CLICK HERE to go to USALacrosse.org to join or renew.   "Active membership" with USAL means "paid through," which means that "Auto Renew" will not trigger an active membership with USA Lacrosse (because, of course, they have no way of knowing whether your credit card will be valid on the Auto Renew date).  Therefore, the registrant's USAL membership must be fully paid through the season-end date.  If the USL membership lapses prior to June 30th, 2019, renew it now and USAL will extend your membership expiration accordingly.

If you have any questions about our Programs or our organization in general, please contact your child's coach (see Teams tab) or a member of our Board (About Us > Board of Directors).