FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The West Valley Redhawks is the premier youth lacrosse program in the South Bay with players from Los Gatos, Campbell, Saratoga, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and much of San Jose. The teams include 8U, 10U, 12U and 14U (boys grades K-8). 

To register, simply go to our link at www.wvredhawks.com which will take you to the TeamSnap app to register. Your child will be placed onto a team and you will be right away. 

Despite our efforts, lacrosse is just more expensive than sports like soccer, basketball and baseball. Our base fee covers the costs of practice and game facilities, coaches, referees, equipment, uniforms, etc. Top-quality rugged Redhawks bags and items like sweat shirts, T-shirts, spirit wear, custom gloves, sticks, and custom helmets may be purchased separately through the club. Other gear may be purchased at Sling-it Lacrosse, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or online as such retailers as Amazon, Lacrosse Monkey or Lacrosse Unlimited.

Our main focus is to develop youth lacrosse players in the South Bay. Players at the 8U level will focus on ground balls, catching & throwing along the rules of the game. As each player progresses they will learn more advanced offensive and defensive strategies including positioning and formations, dodging, cradling, goal tending, face-offs, shooting and off-ball play. By the 14U level, players are expected to have more advanced stick skills and the ability to go on to play competitively at the high school and competitive travel ball levels. 

Our practices are held at Creekside Turf Park in Los Gatos on Mondays and Thursdays. The 8U and 10U boys have the field from 4:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m., the girls teams from 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. and the 12U and 14U boys from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. The kids are expected to arrive at the field 15 minutes before practice and be ready to start, fully equipped, the minute their practice is set to start.

Our games start in March and proceed through May, mostly on Saturdays with a few Sundays.

We typically play other teams based in the South Bay (from Palo Alto/Menlo Park to Hollister/Carmel). Our home games are played mostly on Saturday mornings at Creekside Turf Park at 930 University Avenue, Los Gatos. Players are generally expected to arrive at home games 45 minutes before game time and at away games 60 minutes before game time.

At the 8U and 10U levels, there is a shortened field and clock and the rules and level of play are developmental in nature (such as very little physical contact). Playing time is expected to be approximately equal across all players at these levels.

At the 12U and 14U levels, the games are full field, more competitive, more physical and last about an hour. Playing time at these levels is not expected to be equal throughout, but it expected to be “fair” playing time for all players as all teams this year will be competing at the upper B level. Games at the oldest levels can be quite exciting and are a great prelude to what to expect with high school and travel ball competition.  

Parents are encouraged to attend and watch and cheer on their kids as they progress and advance throughout the season. Being a team sport, it is important that parents commit to their players showing up at all games if possible. If your child cannot make a game, please inform his or her coach as soon as possible. It is also important for parents and players to check all equipment (helmets, cleats, pads, clean uniforms, cups, mouth guards) before each game. Be sure your player brings a large water bottle to hydrate during games.

Each year, the Redhawks send boys players to play at local high schools such as Los Gatos High, Bellarmine, Saratoga High, Mitty and St. Francis. Many Redhawks coaches have moved on to coach at these high schools as well as for competitive travel clubs. The Redhawks also maintain relationships with these high school coaches and current high school players who also help coach our teams.

On the boys side, lacrosse is a contact sport where controlled hitting is allowed so there is the possibility of injury. It is not, however, a collision sport like football. Rules changes in recent years have dramatically reduced injuries such as concussions. Advances in equipment have also made the sport much safer for boys (particularly in the area of head and heart impacts). 

Ultimately, the injuries typically seen at this level are bruises and scrapes. We rarely see serious injuries in recent years.

  Regardless of their experience as players or coaches, all Redhawks coaches at all levels must be certified by US Lacrosse, not only in the rules and skills of the game, but also in concussion detection and protocol, cardiac emergency protocol, sexual abuse, best practices coaching approaches, etc. This training takes hours to complete which includes passing tests with scores of 80% or better. Each coach must also pass a criminal background check and fingerprint check.

They club has a seasoned girls director and a seasoned boys director, each of whom is responsible for enforcing the coaches’ certification and training as well as offering the coaches and parents support throughout the season.

 We are a community based non-profit lacrosse club, so volunteering is not only welcome but heartily encouraged insure success and inclusion. We try to make this the best lacrosse experience in northern California for our players and their families, so it takes more hands on deck to make that happen. Many of our coaches, directors and leadership work without receiving any compensation – just a labor of love. We has that parents contribute just a little bit of their time to help optimize this experience for everyone. We have a Volunteers Director who will be available to help place interested parents (and even siblings!). 

Each team requires a team manager to help with communications and organizing the end-of-season party. Each home team also must provide time keepers and score keepers for each game. We will help teach those folks so they are comfortable performing these positions. We also need pre-game roster announcers, snack-shack helpers, and field set-up and take-down helpers. This year, we also encourage someone to step up as a team photographer so we can get and post some great shots of the kids in action every week. 

From the onset 20 years ago, our club’s founders believed that our coaches should be on-field educators and that lacrosse, or any youth sport, is really an extension of a boy’s or girl’s education. The discipline required to master a sport is no different than a student’s commitment to math, science or language arts. One of our founders, Bill Cleary, was a high school teacher for six  years in New York. We encourage players to maintain top grades in preparation for high school and beyond. We believe it is important for kids to establish the priority and commitment to education early. We encourage parents and players to view their lacrosse experience as an extension of their overall education—encouraging boys and girls to learn important life skills (like teamwork and sportsmanship) that will benefit them tremendously throughout their lives. We encourage our coaches to share life lessons with the kids that apply to lacrosse, but also well beyond the sport.

First and foremost we encourage all players to practice and fine tune their skills by catching and throwing and playing what we call “wall ball” (where a player can do repetitions by bouncing a ball off of a wall and practicing the cradle motion). Some players engage in back yard lacrosse, where they play 2-on-2 with teammates. The more “touches” the better. 

We also encourage our players to watch college and professional lacrosse games on the ESPN network and YouTube as well as to access lacrosse training materials and suggestions on social media such as Facebook and Instagram (for instance, see therealchaunceyboyslacrosse on Instagram). 

Locally, we now have a professional team, the Premier Lacrosse League Redwoods, who play at Avaya Stadium by the San Jose Airport. Santa Clara University Club Div. 1), Stanford (Club Div. 1), San Jose State (Club Div. 2), and UC Santa Cruz (Club Div. 2) games are also available locally for college club-level lacrosse. We will post those schedules on our coming website. We also have available local high school varsity teams to go see (Los Gatos HS, Saratoga HS, Bellarmine, Mitty, St. Francis).

Every player must register with US Lacrosse, to guarantee insurance and access one of the best overall resources for youth lacrosse. USlacrosse.com provides tips and ways for each player to improve his/her skill set. Plus—it is a great resource for players to learn the rules as our referees rely on US Lacrosse for changes in rules and regulations.