Your Guide to Navigating San Antonio Lacrosse: Where and How to Play

Every way to play lacrosse in San Antonio, organized by season — youth, high school, club and college — with a direct link to every team in the city.

It is September and your kid wants to play lacrosse. Here is exactly what happens next, in the order it actually happens.

Written By Paul Taylor  |  Varsity Head Coach, Central Catholic High School  | 

↓ JUMP TO THE LINKS. Section 10 has a direct link to every lacrosse team in San Antonio — organized by age group and then by class, with each program’s own site and its THSLL page.
That section is the most useful thing on this page. If you only need a phone number and a website, go straight there.

1. How lacrosse works in this city — the whole structure

It is simpler than it looks, and it comes down to two sentences.

Grades 1 through 8, boys and girls, is run by STXYLA — the South Texas Youth Lacrosse Association.
High school is run by THSLL for boys and TGHSLL for girls.
That is all there is.

Everything else — club teams, clinics, camps, rec leagues — sits alongside those three organizations rather than replacing them.

1.1 Three things nobody tells you

  • Most San Antonio high school teams do not play in the San Antonio district. TMI, Alamo Heights, Smithson Valley, Canyon and New Braunfels compete in the Central district, which is centered on Austin.
  • There is no lacrosse store in San Antonio. The nearest one is in Austin, about eighty minutes away — which is why the gear guide starts with where to buy locally.
  • Lacrosse is not a UIL sport in Texas. THSLL is an independent league, and it plays NCAA rules rather than the NFHS rules most of the country uses.

2. FALL — September through mid-December

Fall is club season, and it is the best opportunity in the calendar to get ahead.

Here is why that is true rather than just a nice thing to say. Spring is when school teams form and rosters get decided. A player who spends the fall getting coached, playing real games and building stick skills walks into spring tryouts looking like a different athlete than the one who waited. That gap is entirely created between September and December, and it compounds every year.

2.1 Youth, grades 1–8

Club is the fall option. The SA Armadillos field boys teams in grades 1–8 and girls teams in grades 5–8. Reagan runs a fall program as well. If the whole idea of club is new, start with how club lacrosse works for boys and for girls — what a season involves, and what it does not.

Tryouts are early September. Miss that window and the next natural entry point is five months out, so it is worth a calendar reminder in August.

2.2 High school

Most high school programs run fall ball. Check with your school’s program directly — every one of them is linked in Section 10.

2.3 Clinics

The GAL Speed & Skills Clinic runs September into October. It is the entry point for a beginner who is not ready for a club roster, and for a returning player who wants to sharpen up before winter.

3. WINTER — January through spring break

Winter is preseason. It is the shortest window and the one most families do not know exists.

  • GAL Winter Rec League — Saturday mornings, boys grades 1–8. Low commitment, real games.
  • High school tryouts — set by each school, typically the first week of January.
  • The GAL free charity clinic — February, on the Central Catholic turf field. Grades 1–8, no cost, no experience needed.

A player who works through winter arrives at the first spring practice already in rhythm. That is the whole point of the season.

4. SPRING — March through May

The main season. School ball and youth league both run.

4.1 Boys high school — THSLL

Governed since 1989. Roughly 90 programs, 157 teams and 3,289 athletes statewide. Grades 9 through 12 only, and a player must be under 19 on September 1. The statewide picture — districts, classes and where San Antonio sits in it — is laid out in boys lacrosse in Texas.

4.2 The eligibility rule every family should know

Which school your child plays for is decided by attendance zone, not by distance.

THSLL Rulebook §5.2, in its own words: a player is automatically eligible if they “attend the school in-person” designated as the program’s home school, or if they “do not attend a school designated as the home of a THSLL Member program and reside within the attendance zone” of one.

You can live physically closer to one school and still be zoned for another. Usually those are the same answer. Not always. Source: THSLL Rulebook 2026.

Waivers exist and they are real. Section 5.3 lets a program request approval for a player who is not automatically eligible, on grounds that explicitly include financial hardship, divorce, distance and travel safety, and private-school curriculum. There is also a coach’s-son exception.

One more rule worth knowing before you plan around it: Class A teams must have 100% of their roster from their own attendance zone to play for a state championship. Class B, C and D need 70%.

4.3 The classes, San Antonio 2026–27

Class Teams
Class A TMI Episcopal, Alamo Heights
Class B Boerne
Class C — San Antonio Smithson Valley, Reagan, Saint Mary’s Hall, Canyon, Central Catholic, New Braunfels — plus Antonian, pending

Canyon and New Braunfels both moved up from Class D to Class C this year — two programs in the same corridor rising together. Smithson Valley was placed down from Class B. Promotion and relegation are real in this league and a program’s class can move year to year.

4.4 Girls high school — TGHSLL

Four districts for 2026 — North, Central, South and San Antonio. Three divisions. The full state view is in girls lacrosse in Texas.

The structural fact San Antonio families need: Division I and Division II take qualifiers from Central, North and South only. San Antonio feeds Division III.

San Antonio girls programs: Alamo Heights (2025 Division III state champions), Saint Mary’s Hall, Smithson Valley, TMI, Antonian and Reagan. Boerne’s girls program is listed by the club as under development. Canyon and East Central do not currently have girls teams — the girls’ side here is still growing.

4.5 Youth spring — STXYLA

Grades 1 through 8. Boys divisions at 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. Girls divisions at 1-4, 5-6 and 7-8.

5. SUMMER — May through July

5.1 Camps

Summer Showdown Camp — boys rising grades 2–9, girls rising 5–12, at Olmos Basin Soccer Fields.

5.2 Club team

Club programs run summer tournaments. This is the season a recruiting-minded high school player travels — and the reason is covered in full in the recruiting timeline.

6. San Antonio high school teams

Every program in the metro, with its class, its own site and its league page. All of it is in Section 10.

6.1 Regional coverage

Schertz, Cibolo, Selma, Seguin and San Marcos are served by New Braunfels Youth Lacrosse. Canyon Lake, Blanco and Bulverde feed Smithson Valley.

7. College and adult

None of this appeared overnight, and how the sport got here is a better story than most families expect.

UTSA is the only collegiate program in San Antonio — MCLA Division II, Lone Star Alliance South, founded 2003. The San Antonio Lacrosse Club, the Luchadores, plays box on Sunday nights for adults.

8. Registration and USA Lacrosse

USA Lacrosse membership is $35 a year for a player 22 and under, and it is effectively required — the liability plan that covers sanctioned play only extends to fully registered teams and leagues. Every program in this city will ask for it. It is one line among several — what a season costs puts the rest of them together.

9. Deadlines to keep in mind

When What
Early September Club tryouts. The single most missable deadline in the calendar.
September–October Fall clinics begin
First week of January High school tryouts, set by each school
Mid-January Winter rec league begins
February Free charity clinic · youth spring registration closes
Late February THSLL first permitted game
March Youth spring season begins
April–May Summer camp registration — fills earliest of anything on this list

10. Every team in San Antonio — the links

This is the section to bookmark. Organized by age group first, then by class.

10.1 Youth — grades 1 through 8

  • STXYLA — South Texas Youth Lacrosse Association. Boys and girls, grades 1–8. The governing body for all youth play in this region.
  • SA Armadillos — boys grades 1–8, girls 5–8. Open enrollment, no school affiliation required.
  • Reagan Lacrosse — runs a youth feeder program
  • Smithson Valley Lacrosse — K through 12
  • New Braunfels Youth Lacrosse — also serves Schertz, Cibolo, Selma, Seguin, San Marcos

10.2 High school boys — by class

Class A

Class B

Class C — the San Antonio district

10.3 High school girls

10.4 The leagues themselves

10.5 College and adult

11. Start where you are

The single most common mistake is waiting for the right moment. There is no right moment — there is only the next open door, and in this city one opens roughly every eight weeks.

Fall club in September. Winter rec in January. The free clinic in February. Spring league in March. Camp in June.

Pick the closest one and go. And if a question comes up that this page did not answer, the San Antonio lacrosse FAQ is where the short answers live.

Districts, classes, program status and deadlines move every year. This page is re-verified each September 15.

Paul Taylor
Varsity Head Coach, Central Catholic High School
Founder, Great American Lacrosse

Paul Taylor is the varsity head lacrosse coach at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio and the founder of Great American Lacrosse, which runs the SA Armadillos club teams and the Summer Showdown Camp. He has coached lacrosse in San Antonio for over a decade.

Train with Great American Lacrosse

Great American Lacrosse runs year-round programs in San Antonio — the Speed & Skills Clinic, the SA Armadillos club teams, winter rec, private training, and the Summer Showdown Camp. Open enrollment, every level, beginners welcome.

See every program →