Please see the attached link for new rules changes for 2022 season.
Category: Parents
WLF high school season update
The Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation has issued an update and additional guidance to the Wisconsin lacrosse community particularly in relation to the postponed high school season.
The WLF continues to closely monitor our ever-changing environment. Following state and local guidance, the WLF is extending the postponement of all organized activities until at least April 24, 2020. We are considering all options for both youth and high school.
Specifically, for high school, discussions continue around canceling the high school season outright, a shorted but viable season and extending the season. Any decisions around resuming organized lacrosse activities will be informed by our governing authorities and COVID 19 protocol guidance.
Until then, we hope all our players, coaches, officials and parents are safe & healthy.
WLF Postpones the Lacrosse Season
The Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation is greatly concerned about the health and safety of the lacrosse players, coaches and officials in Wisconsin as we all work through the challenges of the COVID-19 situation. The WLF Board is monitoring the situation closely and is taking our lead from our leagues, schools, and clubs as well as our government officials.
Lacrosse in our state has always been based on safety, fair play and honoring our game. Continuing that goal, the WLF Board of Directors has issued the following statement:
“In line with the Governor Evers’ executive order to close the schools, beginning Tuesday, March 17th, 2020, all practices, scrimmages, games and coaches’ contacts are postponed until at least April 6, 2020. All high school lacrosse clubs, whether associated with a school, multiple schools or independent must stop all in-person activities. Additionally, coaches and club organizers should not encourage independent gatherings (captain’s practices). Failure to adhere to the above will result in disqualification from postseason play.
It is our hope we can continue our season when schools re-open, but we also recognize this is a fluid situation and circumstances may change. “
The Creator’s Game has been in Wisconsin for hundreds of years and once we get past this it’ll be here for hundreds more.
Lax on.
Wisconsin 2019 Girls’ All American
US Lacrosse announced the boys’ and girls’ players selected as 2019 US Lacrosse High School All-Americans and All-Academic Team members. Over 1,200 boys and 1,300 girls players were recognized for their efforts on and off the field.
A US Lacrosse All-American is a player who exhibits superior skills and techniques and possesses exceptional game sense and knowledge. A US Lacrosse All-American is one of the best players in the United States, while also embodying excellent sportsmanship.
A US Lacrosse All-Academic honoree is a player who exhibits exemplary lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship on the field, and represents high standards of academic achievement in the classroom.
2019 Girls’ High School All-American
| Player | Graduation Yr | Position | High School |
| Aubrey McLaren | 2019 | Midfield | Whitefish Bay High School |
| Coryn Tormala | 2019 | Midfield | Arrowhead Union High School |
| Emily Becker | 2019 | Midfield | Indian Trail High School & Academy |
| Grace Tuttle | 2022 | Attack | University School of Milwaukee |
| Lauren Lex | 2019 | Defense | Whitefish Bay High School |
2019 Girls’ High School All-Academic
| Player | Graduation Yr | Position | High School |
| Anna Grasee | 2020 | Attack | Waunakee High School |
| Emma Hofman | 2019 | Defense | Arrowhead Union High School |
| Isabel Puchner | 2019 | Defense | Divine Savior Holy Angels |
| Lauren Flemma | 2020 | Midfield | Whitefish Bay High School |
| Stephanie Curry | 2020 | Midfield | Arrowhead Union High School |
2019 Girls’ Coach of the Year
| Samantha Adey | University School of Milwaukee |
2019 Jackie Pitts Award
| Michaela Fritz | 2019 | Midfield | University School of Milwaukee |
In addition to players named as All-Americans and All-Academic honorees, US Lacrosse selects winners of the Coach of the Year, as well as the Bob Scott Award for boys and the Jackie Pitts Award for girls. These awards recognize one player from each area who go ‘above and beyond’ in service to his/her team, school, and community.
Girl’s Rule Changes
US Lacrosse announced the 2018 rule changes and points of emphasis for youth and high school girls’ lacrosse. The US Lacrosse Rules Committee worked in collaboration with the National Federation of State High School Associations to develop the rules and points of emphasis.
The points of emphasis for 2018 highlight safety and the quality of the game:
- Illegal Defensive Positioning: Emphasize the three second and shooting space rules to ensure that offense has the ability to create safe shooting opportunities.
- Contact in the Midfield: Deliberate illegal contact (cross-checks/pushing) made to the body on players in a defenseless position must be carded.
- Crosse in the Sphere: Stress that it is the responsibility of the defender to keep her stick out of the sphere and throat area of the ball carrier. Violations are a major foul, and repeated violations may be carded.
- Professionalism: The rules committee continues to encourage all coaches, players, officials and administrators to conduct themselves in a professional manner before, during and immediately following all contests.
Several changes to the rules concern the draw, including the draw setup, which will require players to keep their crosses parallel to and above the center line. Players on the draw circle and the restraining line will be allowed to have their sticks touch the ground, making the draw consistent with other elements of play. Early starts by players not taking the draw will result in the ball going to the non-offending team at the spot of the ball, not the spot of the foul. An illegal draw by a player will result in a free position at the center line with the offending player placed four meters away and illegal draws by both players will result in a redraw.
Other changes include allowing the optional use of a 120-yard unified field for both boys’ and girls’ lacrosse to allow schools the option of lining one set of shared field markings, disallowing stick checks during timeouts and allowing table personnel to use a horn to notify officials of a timeout request by a coach.
At the youth level, rule changes include requiring pelvic protection for goalies, establishing guidelines for a goalkeeper free clear, and clarifying language that allows for legal contact during play, as long as the contact does not physically force an opponent off of her position or path.
A complete overview of all girls’ rules is available here
Tryouts for the WI National Girls Youth & HS Team
WI National Lacrosse Classic Tryout Saturday, January 13
9:00am – 12:00pm
Uihlein Soccer Complex
Tournament to be played – National Lacrosse Classic Tournament – July 16-19, 2018 Frederica, Delaware
Youth Team 2022/2023 (7-8 graders)
The National Lacrosse Academy provides a holistic approach to educating middle school players on specific sport skills, human performance, sport psychology, nutrition and sportsmanship. The Academy youth teams are each assigned an NCAA coach for the tournament and go through skill clinics and tournament games with that coach.
Register for youth: http://www.nationallacrosseclassic.com/events/wisconsin-girls-21-22
High School Team 2019/2020/2021 (9-11 graders)
The National Lacrosse Classic enables student athletes with an opportunity to gain exposure to the college admissions and athletic recruitment process. Due to NCAA regulations the high school girls do not have a clinic/skills portion of the event. The HS team will be coached by two WI coaches.
Register for HS: http://www.nationallacrosseclassic.com/events/wisconsin-girls-18-19-20
Wisconsin 2017 HS Team
Take a moment – see these great laxscapes from @MarianMLacrosse
Throughout our season @MarianMLacrosse has seemingly been at every lacrosse game in Wisconsin. They have a gift to catch the best laxscapes from our great state.
Why we pay so much money for our kids to do all their sports?
Someone shared this with me on Linkedin the other day and I thought it was worth sharing with our Wisconsin Lacrosse Community.
-Randy
One of my friends asked “Why do you pay so much money for your kids to do all their sports”? Well I have a confession to make; I don’t pay for my kids to to do sports. Personally, I couldn’t care less about what sport they do.
So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for?- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don’t.
– I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are “too tired” to go to their training but they go anyway.
– I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.
– I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body and equipment.
– I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates, gracious in defeat and humble in success.
– I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don’t get that placing or title they’d hoped for, but still they go back week after week giving it their best shot.
– I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.
– I pay for my kids to respect, not only themselves, but other athletes, officials and coaches.
– I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.
– I pay for my kids to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.
– I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.
– I pay so that my kids can be out on the field or in the gym instead of in front of a screen…
…I could go on but, to be short, I don’t pay for sports; I pay for the opportunities that sports provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!
~Unknown
LAXtravaganza Celebrates Milwaukee’s Youth Players, History of Lacrosse
Jim Calder has attended lacrosse events of every kind across North America throughout his four-decade career, so he knows when a community has truly embraced the sport. As he arrived at University School of Milwaukee’s campus for LAXtravaganza on Saturday morning, he quickly realized the Milwaukee market was pumped for the occasion.
“There’s a buzz,” said Calder, a longtime ambassador of the sport based in Canada who came to the Milwaukee Area Youth Lacrosse Association’s (MAYLA) annual event to deliver a presentation on the history of the sport.
“You know when things are dead, and you know when there’s a buzz, and there’s a buzz here. You can see people are excited.”
That excitement has translated to ongoing growth for lacrosse at just about every level of competition throughout Wisconsin, and the youth divisions are no exception.
According to Mary DiGiacomo, secretary of MAYLA and the director of LAXtravaganza, the 2017 edition grew to 90 teams playing across seven fields over two days. In 2016, the “festival” attracted 72 teams.
MAYLA uses the term “festival” to differentiate its event from tournaments that are run throughout the area. DiGiacomo said the association launched LAXtravganza in 2012 as an annual affair (it was canceled in 2013 due inclement weather delaying the start of the youth season) to celebrate youth lacrosse, so teams may keep score, but there is no final champion declared at the end of Day 2.
“We started this as a way to give back to what MAYLA provides the members of the league,” DiGiacomo said.
With hundreds of boys and girls participating in 171 games over two days, DiGiacomo estimated that between 2,800 and 3,300 spectators would attend LAXtravaganza 2017 – if the weather cooperated. Considering the dreary conditions most of the weekend, that expectation might not have been met.
However, the excitement was still palpable, especially because someone with Calder’s pedigree in lacrosse was in attendance. These days, Calder travels throughout this continent reminding athletes and parents alike about the historical significance lacrosse has in the cultural fabric of North America.
The Creator’s Game – as the First Nations of Canada call lacrosse – was first played by these tribes long before it evolved into its current format, and Calder is on a mission to make its participants aware of their role in the game.
“I think it’s important because it gives you respect for the game from the beginning because you understand you’re just a little tiny part of a thing that’s been going on 10,000 years,” said Calder, who has penned two books about lacrosse and is presently planning the 150th anniversary celebration of the game’s organization as a modern sport. “It’s important to understand that you’re playing a game unlike any other in the world – it’s a spiritual game.”
Each week WisconsinLacrosse.com will highlight select games from around the State of Wisconsin. Made possible by a donation from Amplify Lacrosse.
Please don’t yell at the youth officials.
I was at the Piggly Wiggly the other day and a young employee wearing a green apron, was stacking canned corn. It was clearly his first week on the job and I could tell he was doing the best he could. What caught my attention to this was a few adults standing about 20 feet from him, right there in aisle 5, screaming at the top of their lungs, “You’re doing it wrong! Learn how to stack cans! Go back to produce!”
Completely insane, right? Someone should call the cops.
Did this really happen? Sort of. But instead of a green apron and aisle 5. It was stripes and a lacrosse field. Short of the canned corn, the story is true.
Next time you are at your son’s or daughter’s youth lacrosse game. Take look at the young person who is officiating. He or she, has taken the effort to learn their sport from an entirely new perspective. They’ve passed the rules test and have spent multiple days in classrooms and field education for the right to wear the US Lacrosse patch on the sleeve of their stripes.
While most of these high schoolers only have a handful of years left to play the game, if they can master the art and science of officiating, they can stay active in lacrosse for the next 40.
Most of the young athletes who take the leap into officiating do so for lots of reasons, they can make a little money, their high school coach has encouraged them or they are looking to get a better understanding of their sport. Maybe they just want to work with younger players.
Every year we have a roomful of kids wanting to be officials and by the second season we’re lucky if a handful have returned.
So how come?
To be perfectly honest. It’s you. (yeah, I’m looking at you).
Think about it, the most important people in a young athlete’s life are parents, adult family, friends and of course coaches. But when they put on the stripes it’s those very same people screaming non-constructive feedback.
Like anyone new to the job, there’s stuff to learn. Nobody’s perfect on day one. (Heck, I have yet to be perfect after day 1400)
But here’s the deal. Lacrosse needs those kids. Not only to officiate the youth games of today and the high school games of tomorrow. These are the soon to be men and women who will officiate future national championship games.
Or not.
Please don’t crush them before they get started. Instead, do something completely unexpected.
Thank them.
Mark Jamieson is the Communications Director for the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation and a Certified US Lacrosse Level 3 Official.
Earlier this season he spent 2 completely miserable, cold, rainy, early Wisconsin spring days helping with the field training of the youth officials. Not once did any of the young people complain or quit early.
