New Guy to Learn the Game

[bainsey]

I seek advice from veteran officials. I've decided to take up officiating youth lacrosse, a sport I know next to nothing about.

I presently officiate scholastic basketball and soccer, plus a little adult softball in the summer. There isn't a high school lacrosse team within 50 miles of here, but sooner or later, it'll grow enough interest for a few teams to spring up.

I signed up for a one-day training class to take place late next month. In the meantime, is there anything I should read/watch to be better prepared?

[golfdesigner]

I was in your shoes four years ago. The state put out a call to recruit lacrosse officials because lacrosse was growing at the high school club level so fast, they expected to see it become a sanctioned sport at the state level. I have been officiating high school basketball for 40-years and high school football for 10-years. If you do other sports, then you understand off-ball, officiating your primary, etc. If you understand hockey rules, there are many similarities. I didn't/don't follow hockey so some of the lacrosse penalty enforcements were a little foreign to me.

For me training was available through a local officials association. I participated in the training, have done a lot of reading, picked up the lacrosse rules app for my iPhone/iPad.

Additionally, US Lacrosse has a great website US Lacrosse | National Men?s, Women?s and Youth Lacrosse with training videos available. There is also a fair amount of college and pro lacrosse on TV. Those games are a little different, but it never hurts to watch the game, movements of offense and defense, etc.

I did 3-high school varsity contests yesterday, 33-degrees, snow, sleet, rain, with no sunshine. Still had fun and enjoyed it. Last game went OT and was won in sudden-victory about 2-min into OT.

Good luck.

[i011763]

Go watch some games in person. Get the basic flow of the game and watch the officials work the game. Keep in mind that the rules for youth U9, U11 and U13 are not the same as high school. To make it even more "interesting" some leagues also have additional rules. Ask the coaches before the game if there are league rules (once a team is up by X goals there are no faceoffs) that you should know about before the game. Have fun!