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NCAA men's rules are largely unchaged for 2009
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/12
INDIANAPOLIS—The NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Rules Committee discussed the current rules of play and made only minor adjustments at its annual meeting, August 6-8. The committee’s actions must be considered by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel before final implementation. The Playing Rules Oversight Panel is scheduled to meet September 3.
The group reviewed the major changes made last season to the faceoff procedure and pace of play and believes these were positive adjustments.
“We had some extensive discussions and believe our rules are in very good shape,” said Willie Scroggs, senior associate athletics director at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and chair of the committee. “Adjustments made in recent years have achieved our intended goals.”
The committee also discussed how it plans to approach the two-year rules process, which all NCAA rules committees are using. The next edition of the rules book, which will be printed this fall, will cover the 2009 and 2010 competition seasons. After the 2009 season, the committee plans an extensive survey that will include significant rules proposals.
“This is a change in the way we do business, but we believe it is a positive change,” Scroggs said. “We hope to use the time to fully investigate some different ways to play the game and continue to monitor how it is played at the college level.”
The committee approved two points of emphasis for the upcoming season. Sportsmanship issues, particularly during warm-ups is the first issue the committee believes requires some additional attention from administrators and coaches. Protection of the head and neck area continues to be a concern of the committee and data from the NCAA’s Injury Surveillance System indicates that concussions continue to be one of the most common injuries in men’s lacrosse.
One rule adjustment the committee made deals with a player that loses a piece of required equipment during play. For example, an attacking player that drives toward the goal loses a shoe during play, but shoots and scores. Previously, the goal would be disallowed and the defending team gains possession of the ball. Under the committee’s proposal, the goal is still disallowed, but the offensive team retains possession.
“The committee believes this is a positive change,” Scroggs said. “This rule remains a safety issue, but we believe the previous rule unfairly penalized the attacking team.”
Boys' lax rules changes intended to minimize riskPhillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/7
Beginning next season, boys lacrosse players must wear gloves that cover the palms. Gloves that have the palms cut out or were manufactured without palms will not be legal.
This clarification of Rule 5-5 is one of nine changes made by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Boys Lacrosse Rules Committee at its July 15-16 meeting in Indianapolis.
"The previous wording of the rule did not specifically prohibit a player from wearing gloves manufactured without a palm," said Kent Summers, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Boys Lacrosse Rules Committee. "This revised wording clarifies that the gloves must cover the fingers and palms to minimize risk for players."
In an ongoing effort to minimize risk, Rule 1-9-2d was clarified regarding players wearing tinted eyeglasses. Players may wear tinted eyeglasses if they do not also wear a clear helmet eye shield. If a helmet eye shield is worn, the players must have clear glasses.
A note addition to Rule 1-9-1 states "The tooth and mouth protector shall be of any readily visible color other than white or clear and must cover all of either the upper or lower teeth with adequate thickness."
"This note aligns with the Point of Emphasis from the 2008 rules book and clarifies that a mouthguard that covers either the upper or lower teeth with adequate thickness is legal," said Summers.
Rule 1-7-4 was added to explain the diagram showing the tabletop test for determining a "relatively straight" crosse. The distance from the tabletop to the bottom edge of the head cannot exceed 2¾ inches at any point.
Three rules concerning substitutions were altered for clarification purposes. Rule 4-24-2f - which explained that special substitutions may take place while play is suspended, except when equipment violations occur - was deleted.
The verbiage of Rules 4-22-2a and 4-23-3 was revised to more accurately represent the intentions of the rules. Substitutions may occur when a goal is scored, a time-serving penalty is reported, a time-out is called or the timekeeper sounds the horn after a sideline out of bounds. This eliminates the need for coaches to call for a substitution horn after a goal or penalty. In addition, although a horn may sound, regular substitutions may not take place after play has been suspended for non-time serving violations or inadvertent whistles.
To align the rules book with lacrosse tradition, Rule 7-3 was changed to state "if the ball was in the goal area when play was suspended, play shall be restarted laterally outside the goal area nearest the spot of the ball at the time of the whistle." The ball should be brought to the alley for the restart instead of to the "top of the box."
Finally, Rule 7-6-4 explains that if neither team has possession at the time of simultaneous fouls, the ball shall be awarded according to the alternate possession rule, or, when a faceoff is pending in this situation, a faceoff will be held. This change clarifies that scheduled faceoffs take precedence and alternate possession should only be used to determine possession when there is no other way to award the ball.
In addition to the nine rules revisions, the committee also established three Points of Emphasis for the upcoming season: 1) mouthguards, 2) flagrant misconduct and 3) the NFHS Authenticating Mark on game balls.
Boys lacrosse had 71,524 participants in 1,588 schools during the 2006-07 season, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS.
NCAA women's rules proposed to address safety
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/23
The NCAA Women's Lacrosse Rules Committee proposed alterations to its rules to adjust player behavior and address a growing concern for the safety of the sport. The committee's actions, which were approved during its June 16-18 annual meeting, must be considered by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel before final implementation.
The committee voted to alter the progressive process of its carding procedures. In the proposal, a player that receives a card will leave the field for three minutes and no substitute will be allowed. Previously, the offending team did not play short until a fourth card was issued.
Red cards, which are in place to penalize egregious and flagrant actions, will include an automatic suspension in the next contest. As was the case last season, two yellow cards do not result in a red card.
"In reviewing the current state of our game, it became clear that we need to change some player behavior," said Karen Borbee, (Penncrest) outgoing chair of the committee and senior woman administrator/women's lacrosse coach at Swarthmore College. "When a card is administered, the penalty will be immediate with no substitution allowed for the carded player. This sends a strong message that safety is our top concern."
These actions are part of a commitment to work jointly with US Lacrosse, the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association and National Federation of State High School Associations to address participant safety at all levels.
The committee also made slashing and dangerous contact around the head area a point of emphasis for next season. Stick to body contact, a point of emphasis last season, continues to be a concern and will be emphasized again.
"As this exciting game continues to evolve and the athleticism of our student-athletes increases, participant safety remains to be a main guiding principle," Borbee said. "We need to change what has become accepted behavior in the game. Officials will be instructed to err on the side of safety."
The committee reviewed numerous proposals from the coaching community and made several proposed adjustments to the rules, including:
• Ball. The committee approved the use of an orange ball and will allow a slightly textured ball next season.
• Substitution Procedures. These rules were clarified in an effort to clean up the substitution box and more efficiently manage these procedures.
• Stick Checks. The committee is mandating that at least two stick checks be performed by officials on each team in each half. Also, coaches will have one additional stick check request during play.
A complete listing of rules changes will be distributed to member institutions and posted on the NCAA Website for comment before the oversight panel considers the proposals. This should occur in late July.