Why I’m Still Playing Lacrosse at 77 — And Why So Many Players Never Quit
Overview
Most people assume competitive sports end somewhere around forty. Life gets busy, the body slows down, and the equipment eventually gets packed away in a garage or attic.
Lacrosse has a way of refusing that ending.
Across the country—and increasingly around the world—there are players in their fifties, sixties, and seventies still lacing up their cleats, strapping on pads, and stepping onto the field. The pace may change a little. The recovery takes a bit longer. But the spirit of the game remains exactly the same.
I’m seventy-seven years old, and I still play midfield.
That may sound unusual to people outside the sport, but within the world of masters lacrosse it’s not nearly as rare as you might think. In tournaments from Colorado to New York, to Florida you’ll find fields full of players who discovered that once lacrosse becomes part of your life, it never really leaves.
The Game Never Really Leaves You
Every sport has its loyalists, but lacrosse creates a particular kind of attachment. It’s part speed, part creativity, and part instinct. The game moves quickly, decisions happen in fractions of a second, and every player on the field has to think and react constantly.
When you’ve spent years playing a game like that, it becomes wired into how you see competition and movement.
For many players, the stick never quite feels right sitting in a closet.
What draws people back year after year isn’t just the competition. It’s the culture. Lacrosse has always carried a certain brotherhood—players who understand the pace of the game, the feel of a clean pass, the satisfaction of a well-timed check, or the rhythm of a fast break that unfolds exactly the way it should.
That shared understanding doesn’t disappear with age. If anything, it deepens. The players you meet at masters tournaments often share decades of connection to the game. Some played in college. Others picked it up later in life. But they all recognize the same truth:
Lacrosse isn’t something you used to play.
For many of us, it’s simply something we’re still playing.
The World of Masters Lacrosse
To people outside the sport, the idea of playing competitive lacrosse in your sixties or seventies can sound surprising. Within the game itself, it’s simply part of the culture.
Over the past few decades, masters lacrosse has grown into its own world. Tournaments across North America regularly host divisions for players over fifty, sixty, and even seventy. Some players come to reconnect with teammates they haven’t seen in years. Others arrive with entire club teams that travel together season after season.
Events like the Vail Lacrosse Tournament in Colorado, the Lake Placid Summit Classic in New York, and the Florida Lax Classic in Weston, Florida and any number of regional tournaments around the country have become annual meeting points for the masters community. For a few days each year, fields fill with players who have been connected to the sport for decades.
The pace may be a little different than the college game, but the competitiveness is still there. Players prepare for these tournaments. They train, they condition, and they show up ready to play. The experience and lacrosse IQ on the field often make the game just as enjoyable to watch as it is to play.
What really defines masters lacrosse, though, isn’t just the competition. It’s the continuity. Many of the players stepping onto those fields first picked up a stick thirty or forty years ago. The tournaments become reunions as much as competitions — a chance to see old teammates, meet new players who share the same connection to the game, and spend a weekend doing something that still feels familiar.
For a lot of us, those gatherings reinforce a simple truth about lacrosse: the game doesn’t belong to one stage of life. It stays with you.
Credit: Andrew Bridges
Why Players Keep Showing Up
At some point, nearly every older player thinks about the same question: Why keep playing?
The answer is rarely just about the game itself. It’s about what the game represents.
Competition is part of it. Lacrosse has always been a fast, demanding sport, and the instinct to test yourself seems like it's always there. Even after decades of playing, there’s something satisfying about stepping onto the field, feeling the pace of the game, and feeling like you can still contribute.
But it's not just the competition. That alone doesn’t explain why players travel across the country for tournaments or organize local "old man" leagues to play on Saturdays or Sundays during the spring. The deeper reason is the connection the sport creates between people who love it.
Tournaments often feel as much like reunions as competitions. Players see teammates they haven’t seen in years. Opponents from past seasons become friends. Stories get told about games played long ago, and new ones are created every time the whistle blows.
There’s also a simple matter of identity. Over the years spent around the game, being a lacrosse player becomes part of how you see yourself. It shapes the way you think about preparation, teamwork, and what it means to show up ready to compete. That identity doesn’t fade just because the years go by. In many ways, it becomes stronger. When players in their fifties, sixties, or even seventies line up, they’re not trying to prove they’re the same athlete they were at twenty-five. They’re simply continuing something that has been part of their lives for decades.
If you spent a little time on the sidelines, you’d start to hear the same themes over and over. Someone makes a clean pass or scoops a tough ground ball and a teammate says, “He’s always on it.” Another player jokes that as long as one of the older guys is still playing, the rest of us have no excuse but to continue.
There’s plenty of competition on the field, but there’s also a quiet understanding among players. Everyone wants to play hard, but everyone also wants to see each other healthy enough to come back next week. Players are always swapping remedies for sore knees, tight hamstrings, and the occasional pulled muscle. The goal is simple: keep each other in the game.
And there’s a certain pride that comes with it. Not the loud kind. Just the quiet satisfaction of being able to say, when someone asks what you do for fun, “Yeah… I still
Staying Competitive After 50
Of course, continuing to play the game for decades requires a few adjustments.
No one in the masters divisions is pretending the body responds the same way it did twenty years ago. Speed has faded a bit, recovery takes longer, and most players have learned to listen more carefully to the signals their bodies send after a good run.
But experience has a way of compensating for some of that.
Players who have been around the sport for years develop a kind of lacrosse intelligence that only comes from time on the field. Positioning becomes more efficient. Decisions happen earlier. Anticipation often replaces reaction. A well-timed pass or a smart defensive angle can matter more than pure speed.
Preparation changes too. Many older players stay active year-round—running, lifting, stretching, or finding other ways to keep their bodies ready for the spring and summer tournament season. Just as common are the quiet routines that happen after games: ice packs, stretching, a little recovery work, and plenty of conversation about what helps the aches go away a little faster.
What keeps the game enjoyable is the balance players eventually find. The competitiveness is still there, but it’s paired with a deeper awareness of how to stay healthy while continuing to play.
In the end, that becomes the real goal.
Not just to play hard on Saturday morning—but to be able to show up next week and do it again.
Still In It
There comes a time when many athletes accept the idea that their playing days are behind them. The equipment gets packed away, the competition fades into memory, and the game becomes something they talk about in the past tense.
That attitude has certainly changed in lacrosse, at least. For me, the plain truth is that I enjoy every minute of it. I enjoy the run up the field, or the quick cut to the crease when no one expected it. But mostly, I enjoy the camaraderie—the close friendships that exist between players who understand the game the same way.
There’s something uplifting about being part of a group that refuses to quietly fade away from the sport. Every time someone scoops a ground ball, draws a defender and makes a clean assist, or hears a teammate shout, “Shoot,” it brings back the same rush that reminds us the game isn’t finished with us yet.
There’s a deep satisfaction in that.
When someone asks what I do for fun, I still answer with a smile:
“Yeah… I still play.”
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