FUEL
IMPACT
ROUNDTABLE
WHY ALL THE RULES CHANGES?
BY MATT DASILVA
Lacrosse legislators had a busy summer.
The United Women’s Lacrosse League unveiled a radically different hands-off brand of women’s lacrosse that included 6-on-6, two-point shots, a shot clock (coming to NCAA in 2017) and shootouts. NCAA men’s lacrosse rules committee tweaked faceoffs (again) and threw in an experimental two-point rule. US Lacrosse may have eradicated scrums on draw controls with a high school girls’ lacrosse rule that keeps supporting players behind the restraining line until possession is won. The NFHS adopted several measures to make high school boys’ lacrosse safer. And then US Lacrosse, inspired by the Lacrosse Athlete Development Model (see page 32), announced bold changes to youth boys’ and girls’ lacrosse rules Sept. 19. We rounded up four leaders on the front line of the debates for their take.
The Roundtable Jen Adams
Loyola women’s and Baltimore Ride (UWLX) coach, NCAA rules committee member
Melissa Coyne
US Lacrosse games administration director, NCAA women’s officials coordinator
Rick Lake
US Lacrosse men’s game senior manager
John Svec Siena men’s
coach, NCAA rules committee member
Melissa Coyne
When you talk about youth and body checking, we had to look outside of the game experts to the medical experts. When should body checking be introduced? There’s a lot of science behind that. There’s an age when a kid’s peripheral vision is fully developed, and it’s much later than you might think. We looked to our Sports Science and Safety Committee.
John Svec
They’re playing so much at the middle school and high school level, that the logic of development has been lost. If US Lacrosse is making a big push on it, that could have a huge, positive impact on the development of players not only physically, but skill-wise.
18 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE November 2016
USlacrosse.org
John Svec
Rick Lake
There’s a bit of chatter on social media of people asking this question. At 6U, the youngest level, there’s no body or stick contact. At 8U, when we introduce stick checking and some types of body contact. Not body checking, but legal holds and pushes, teaching kids how to box out to gain possession of a loose ball and how to use body positioning to redirect an opponent or ride him out of
bounds.That’s what we’re teaching at 8, 10 and 12U. And then 14U is pretty much high school lacrosse, with the caveat that the type of body checking that might be appropriate in high school may not be appropriate at 14U. Proper stick checks, body contact and defensive positioning need to learned before body checking. Body checking is the last piece of the puzzle.
Should rules interventions
focus on safety, fair play or mass appeal— or all of the above?
Rick Lake
Strictly from the youth perspective, safety has greater concern than it does at other levels. We want kids to get introduced to the sport and not have to walk away because of injuries.
When do you feel it’s appropriate to start body contact?
John Svec
I think that makes a lot of sense. One of the things you see at the college level and beyond is the lack of technique when it comes to checking.
©JOHN STROHSACKER
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