New Hampshire Youth Lacrosse Association Rules

Approved December 2022

1. Program Eligibility

1.1. Town recreation, school or private program must adhere to the New Hampshire Youth Lacrosse Association age restrictions.

1.2. Each Program is considered a league member in good standing having

1. Paid team fees, as determined by the NHYLA, including league fees and festival fees to the Treasurer by March 1
2. Completed team registration on NHYLA site by March 1.  There will be a late fee of $50/team.  Registration form includes agreement that the teams are formed in accordance with NHYLA player eligibility rules and regulations
   1. Each Program must have a particular Geo Descriptor that locates the base of their program (i.e. Exeter, Hampstead, Laconia, etc. Town programs may also add an additional name (i.e. Lakes Region, John Stark, etc.) but they must have a town that describes their location
3. Rosters are submitted to the NHYLA by April 1
   1. The roster must include all players participating on the team as well as any coaches (max 3) that will be on the sidelines for NHYLA scheduled games.  Programs failing to have the roster submitted to NHYLA will be accessed an additional $50.00 per team. Failure to pay the fine will result in the missing teams schedule to be pulled from the league for that season.   

2. Every roster entry must have the players name, town, age, grade and jersey number.  If any one of these pieces of information is not present, then the roster entry is considered incomplete and then in violation.  If the total number of violations represent 30% or greater of the possible, roster entries then this team is found in violation. 

3. For any team that is missing 30% of the required informationⁱⁱ that team will forfeit each game played until all the information has been supplied to NHYLA and verified.  If the team adds the information within one week of the game being played the actual results of the game will be officially recognized by NHYLA.  If the violation continues more than 4 weeks, then all games for that team will be forfeit for the entire season.  Admission to the NHYLA End of Year Festival will be revoked. 

4. Once rosters have been submitted to NHYLA and a player is listed on the roster, but no information is provided or there is missing information required by NHYLA the program will be notified by email and must rectify the missing information within 48 hours. Once the program has either added or fixed the condition preventing the information from being displayed, it must notify NHYLA. It is not the responsibility of NHYLA to fix the roster, but to only monitor and verify that the information is present and accurate as possible. 
   
   Failure to comply will result in the player being suspended until the information is brought into compliance.

4. Certificate of insurance must be on record with the NHYLA by March 1.  If no certificate of insurance is received, then that program will not receive a schedule.  A late fee of $50/team will be assessed to cover schedule change fees. 
5. All head and assistant coaches must be US Lacrosse level 1 certified – verification must be provided to the respective VP.
   1. Coach is warned by email with the program director being included in the message.  The coach must respond either by email or phone message within 72 hours after the message being sent.   The coach must then prove that they have contacted US Lacrosse to find out why they are in violation and start to rectify or show certification from US Lacrosse indicating they are in good standing. 

2. Failure to comply will result in a one game suspension to start.  Failure to comply within two weeks will result in a two-game suspension.  Failure to comply within four weeks will result in a suspension for the remainder of the season including the NHYLA End of Year Festival. 

3. If the team does not have a certified coach on the sideline, then that team cannot play.  That certified coach must be on the roster or the respective VP contacted with the roster update.

4. All coaches must be on the roster.  If not on the roster, then they are not allowed on the coach’s sideline.  Max of 3 coaches on the sidelines, may have more on the roster.
6. Each 8U team and small field 10U team may have one “parent helper” whose function is to assist the head and\or assistant coach in organizing the players on the sideline before and during games.  The parent helper does not coach or instruct the players in the game of lacrosse.  The parent helper must be a member of US Lacrosse and undergo and pass a background check.
7. All programs must have a minimum of one person attend an individual and separate boys’ AND girls’ rules review training annually.  It is recommended that all coaches attend the meeting.  Programs must certify that the information presented in the training has been presented to all of the individual program head and assistant coaches prior to the season’s first game.  Failure to certify this will exclude the entire program from the year-end festival.
   1. Rules training must be sponsored by a NHYLA registered program(s) and run by a US Lacrosse certified Youth Official Trainer.
   2. Note
      1. Training will not just cover the changes in the rules but the basics of the rules themselves.
      2. We must acknowledge that there will be a fee to the trainers to conduct these trainings.

8. Programs must submit required information per the Rules and By-Laws as requested by the NHYLA.  Failure to do so may result in suspensions, disqualifications from year-end festival or other penalty as determined by the NHYLA Executive Board

1.3. No Program will be allowed to be a member of the NHYLA who refuses to play a league scheduled game with another Program in their division. Any Program refusing to play another Program in NHYLA shall lose the privilege of playing any/all teams in the NHYLA to include participation in the year-end festival.

1.4. Should a challenge arise that questions a programs and/or players eligibility to participate in NHYLA, then NHYLA Officers, or a committee formed by the Officers, will investigate. If it is determined that an organization has purposefully broken rules and regulations of program and/or player eligibility, the organization will be subject to sanctions as determined and subsequently voted on by the NHYLA Board.

1.5. Only the respective VP can award forfeits. No team or program is allowed to forfeit a game.

2. Competition Committee

2.1. NHYLA will have a Competition Committee that will consist of the President, Boys VP, Girls VP and as many volunteers from all programs (limit 1 per program). 

2.2. Divisions will be proposed by the Competition Committee, by the January meeting, based off of the number of teams from the previous season.  The Competition Committee has the ability to create new divisions as needed, prior to the schedule being created, with the desired size of the division to be 12-16 teams.

Programs will have the ability to place their teams into the divisions that they want.  The Competition Committee will provide some guidelines/recommendations for division placement for programs with one or more teams in the same division.  The Competition Committee will review placement and work with programs to balance out the divisions as needed.  The Competition Committee has the final say in division placement.

The Competition Committee has the ability to adjust individual team up/down divisions after the 3rd week of the season.

2.3. Team must have played at least 2 games to be eligible to be moved.

3. Player Age & Eligibility

3.1. Each player and at least one parent must sign and submit a code of conduct pledge and contract at registration. The town is responsible for keeping the Code of Conduct on file for the current season and can be subject to an audit by NHYLA.

3.2. Teams will be based on grade level first, providing that current age eligibility requirements are met.

Grade levels are defined as follows:

• 14U - 8th and 7th grades
• 12U - 6th and 5th grades
• 10U - 4th and 3rd grades
• 8U- 2nd and 1st grades

US Lacrosse establishes eligibility guidelines in order to promote the game of lacrosse among the youth of America in a safe and sportsmanlike environment. To best achieve this goal, US Lacrosse believes that leagues, associations, and other organizers of youth lacrosse should seek to provide playing opportunities that, as much as possible, establish a "level playing field" among players of similar age, size, and ability.

Age and Eligibility Guidelines are not considered “game-day rules” and are not enforced as game-day rules by officials. Exceptions to age divisions cannot be made on game day and all coaches must adhere to classifications as determined by NHYLA.

Players who are participating in any high-school level program such as a high school freshman, JV-B, junior varsity, varsity or club team are not eligible for 14U competition in the same season. This means that a player who is age-eligible for 14U but plays on a high school level team shall not concurrently play on a youth league 14U team.

The following age groupings are determined as of the August 31st preceding competition.

• 14U: All players must be 14 years old or younger on the August 31st preceding competition.
• 12U: All players must be 12 years old or younger on the August 31st preceding competition.
• 10U: All players must be 10 years old or younger on the August 31st preceding competition.
• 8U: All players must be 8 years old or younger on the August 31st preceding competition.

Waivers for age eligible players to play down can be requested following NHYLA's waiver process. A waiver is required from the league, not the local town program. All waiver requests must include accurate details regarding date of birth, height, weight and level of experience. They must be submitted by March 1st prior to the start of the spring season to the respective VP.

3.3. Girls will have the option of playing either with the boys using boy’s lacrosse rules or playing girls lacrosse.

3.4. Boys currently do not have the option of playing in the girl’s league.

3.5. A player will play for the organization associated with his town as follows:

1. If the player’s town has a program.  They must play for that program or 
2. If there is no program in the player’s town, they must play for the program which is associated with the program town’s high school jurisdiction; or
3. If there is no program falling under the high school’s jurisdiction; the player can play for any program he/she chooses.  Players who currently play for a program outside of their town or outside of the high school jurisdiction must play for their town or high school jurisdiction, if the town in which they reside launches a new program or school jurisdiction changes to one in which a program is currently running. 

3.6. All players participating in NHYLA must be NH residents.

4. League Play, All field play will follow US Lacrosse youth rules unless specified below!

4.1. General (Boys and Girls)

4.1.1. Home team responsibilities-The home team is responsible for:

1. Securing Dedicated Scorekeeper and Timekeeper for the game. Preferably this is two separate people; however one person may do both timing and scorekeeping. However under no circumstances can this be a coach or assistant coach of the teams playing the game
2. Game clock
3. Scoreboard visible to both teams benches
4. Paying referees
5. Extra line judges, ball chasers etc., as needed
6. Provide alternate jerseys or pinnies if both team have the same color

4.1.2. Reschedule cancelled games. In the event that the 2 coaches are unable to come to an agreement then either coach can approach the perspective VP to set a date. The date chosen by the VP will be final.

4.1.3. Players shall be limited to one team roster to be filed with the VP of their respective division.  Players will be allowed to play up within their age bracket or at the next higher age bracket for no more than two (2) out of eight (8) league games.  Players playing more than two games on a higher (or older) team will be considered a member of that higher (or older) team from that point forward and only eligible to play for that team including in the year-end festival.

4.1.4. Head coach must provide a roster of their players to the opposing coach prior to the start of the game.  Roster must include at a minimum: team name and division, player first name, last initial, and jersey number.  Failure to provide a roster will be reported to the respective VP by coach and result in the offending team playing down by one (1) player for the first half of the game.  Second violation results in the offending team playing down by one (1) player for the entire game.  If a team has members “playing up” that day, then the coach should also provide a roster from that player’s primary team or list the team the player is on.

4.1.5. A coach or town representative must submit a report of an incident if requested by a respective VP within 72 hours of the request.

4.1.6. Tie breaker for team seeding are as follows:

1. Points = (Wins (in the division) * 2 + Ties)/Games played in the division: Note this is not system calculated, completed manually at end of season.
2. Head to Head
3. Strength of Schedule (Wins\Ties of opponents. Wins=2pt, Ties=1pt)

4.1.7. Any coach, player or individual ejected from a game must be reported to the appropriate VP within 72 hours of the event by both home and away teams through the Program’s Director.  This is regardless of the respective VP’s request or the timing of the respective VP’s request.  All related information must be provided by all parties at the time of report submission.

Any Coach Receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 1 minute or more must

1. Report the incident to their Program Administrator at the end of the game
2. Report to the NHYLA Boys/Girls VP within 48 hours
3. Penalties
   1. First Offense – Warning
   2. Second Offense – 1 Game/Event Suspension. Additionally, a NHYLA Executive Board member will attend all of his/her remaining games for observation. It will be the responsibility of the coach's Program Administrator to notify the NHYLA Executive Board members of the coach's remaining game schedule. There will be a fee of $50 per game, due at each game, to the attending NHYLA Executive Board member.
   3. Third Offense – Coach is suspended and must appear before NHYLA executive board for review.  Could result in multi-game suspension

Officials must notify the youth official coordinator after the game.

4.1.8. Any player who leaves the bench area during the game where an altercation is taking place, shall receive a two game disqualification for the next two scheduled league games or NHYLA event. All altercations must be reported to the respective VP within 24 hours of the incident.

4.1.9. NHYLA will follow the NFHS Concussion Management Guidelines as posted on the NHYLA.org website.

4.1.10. Players may have any eye blacking as long as it is not deemed obscene by officials and coaches

4.2. Boys Only

4.2.1. Playing Rules – 

2019 MAJOR RULE CHANGES All major rule revisions are listed below

 (Game Format) – Rule Change 1. (All Levels) 5.5 - “Targeting” body checks will result in a 3-minute non-releasable penalty and ejection from the game.

2. (All Levels) 6.3 – Holding with the portion of the crosse which is between your hands is now legal

3. (All Levels) 6.11 - Clarification that it is illegal for the offensive player to Ward Off their opponent to create separation and legal for a player with the ball with two hands on their crosse to contact the crosse of their opponent using their arm. 

4. (10U, 12U) 4.4 - In small sided play only, all players are released from their positions on the sound of the whistle during a faceoff. However, ALL players must play the ball until possession is gained and may not contact their opponent. 

5. (10U, 12U, 14U) 2.1.1 - Each coach is required to name a starting defender at the beginning of a game who will serve penalties when a Goalkeeper is charged with a penalty

4.2.2. No long sticks (42 inches or longer) will be allowed at the 10U and 8U levels. It is recommended at the 12U and 14U level that long sticks not be taller than the top of the player’s helmet.

4.2.3. Division: 10U – Will consist of both regulation field (10v10) and small field (7v7) divisions.  Teams must register for one of the divisions at the start of the season and cannot switch during the season.  Small field will follow 8U field guidelines.  10U small field will follow the same rules for 10U play.  Field size is not a game time decision.

4.2.4. Division: 8U – the field recommendation shall measure 40 yards wide by 50-60 yards long. The middle area of a standard field (restraining line to restraining line) should be used. The wing line shall serve as the goal lines.

4.2.5. Starting from a faceoff, 8U and 10U short field, players are required to attempt 1 pass or bring the ball through X before a shot on the goal.  Failure to do so results in the other team gaining possession.

4.3. Girls Only

4.3.1. Playing Rules:–

NHYLA YOUTH RULES 2023

Updated February 16, 2023

4.3.4. 10U – Will consist of both regulation field (12v12) and small field (7v7) divisions. Teams must register for one of the divisions at the start of the season and cannot switch during the season. 10U small field will follow US Lacrosse rules for 10U play.  Field size at 10U is not a game time decision.

4.3.2. Pass Rule (only applies to 8U, 10U, and 12U.  Does not apply to 14U) One attempted pass is required after the ball and the ball carrier completely cross their respective offensive restraining line before a shot can be taken at the goal. An additional pass is not required until the ball leaves the offensive side of the field beyond the restraining line. If a shot is taken before the pass is attempted, it is considered a goal circle violation and the ball is awarded to the goal keeper.

******“Hand offs” are not sufficient to be considered a pass in girls 8U, 10U and 12U. ******

4.3.3. Teams shall play under rule levels as defined by US Lacrosse rules Book current edition with clarification that 10U teams in NHYLA elect to play regulation size field with all appropriate markings.

4.3.5. Girls Uniforms – only as respecting team logos and permanent decorative and trim elements of team jerseys and kilts need not be strictly enforced.  All provisions regarding predominant colors, numbering, etc. remain in force.

4.3.6. Unsportsmanlike conduct by coaches and/or players will not be tolerated. Obscenities need not be used for language to draw a penalty. Tone, intent, and body language can all contribute to unsportsmanlike conduct. Players and coaches will exhibit the highest level of sportsmanship at all times.

5. Officials

5.1. The home team is responsible for paying for certified officials for their home games.

5.1.1. Boys Games – it is required to have 2 qualified officials at all 14U, 12U and 10U (regulation field) games.  8U and 10U (small field) requires 1 qualified official (2 recommended).

5.1.2. Girls Games – it is required to have 2 qualified umpires at all 14U, 12U and 10U (regulation field) games.  8U and 10U (small field) requires 1 qualified umpire (2 recommended).

5.2. NHYLA will schedule the officials for all NHYLA Girl’s league games.  If the program does not use the NHYLA scheduled officials, then the game will not count.  If the program schedules their own officials and the NHYLA scheduled officials show up as well, then the program is responsible for paying all the officials.  A program may schedule their own officials for a league game if agreed to by either the NHYLA President or Girls VP.

5.3. To all towns or programs that play in a NHYLA game or scrimmage; all officials must be certified by NHLOA, MDOC or US Lacrosse. The official’s certification must be current for the year and carry insurance. If the required officials, as stated in rule 5.1, are not present, then the game must not be played.  If the game is played, then both coaches will face suspension for the next NHYLA game or event.  First offense – 1 game suspension, Second offense – suspended until they come before the NHYLA executive board.

5.3.1. US Lacrosse Rules Test – every official* working NHYLA games shall take and pass the annual US Lacrosse youth rules test in order to officiate NHYLA youth games.  NHYLA Youth Officials must pass the annual youth test in accordance with US Lacrosse requirements, as well as ensure familiarity with respective nuances with the youth games and NHYLA specific youth rules.  *NHLOA officials will be subject to a youth rules review during their mandatory pre-season meetings.  This review will be conducted by US Lacrosse certified youth official trainer and a representative of NHYLA.

5.4. A current, accurate and up to date referee list must be made available through NHYLA by the respective Official’s Coordinators. It is the responsibility of the towns or programs to review the list and ensure the official’s that are hired are qualified as per rule 5.2.  Failure to do so will be possible grounds for the specified game being qualified as a forfeit or replay of game at the home teams expense.

5.5. If the referee deems that the game is out of control, he/she is to stop/end the game.

5.6. All towns must allow US Lacrosse patched officials, whether youth or adult to officiate over games in their town if assigned or hired (they must be current and insured).

5.7. Referees are responsible for reporting the final score to both the home and visiting coaches.  The referee(s) has/have the definitive say as to the final score of the contest.

6. Rules

6.1. The respective VPs, empowered by the authority of NHYLA organization, are responsible for rule interpretation, arbitration of disputes pertaining to rules and the management of the rules exception process.  Any determination delivered by the respective VP is reviewable by the NHYLA President and upon their request may be sent back to the respective VP for re-review or sent to a special review process determined by the NHYLA President.  Once the determination is approved the decision will be binding to all parties.

6.2. The Boy’s VP will be responsible for exceptions to the boy’s eligibility rules. The Girl’s VP will be responsible for exceptions to the girl’s eligibility rules.

6.3. All monies, except office operating expenses over $500.00, will be voted on before spending, by the Board of Directors.

7. Schedule

7.1. Each year the board shall determine which week the season will start. The objective is to try to have 8 games before the NHYLA festival during the 2^nd weekend of June.

7.2. NHYLA will set the required number of games based on the available weekends between the start weekend and the year-end festival.  Teams wishing to play more than the required number of games may do so, but only those required scheduled league games will count towards the seeding for the NHYLA year-end festival.  If teams are schedule more than the required minimum number of games, due to an odd number of teams in the division or teams moving divisions after the start of the year, only the first X (where X is the preset required number) games will count. Any NHYLA league games that are not played are not to be scored. Towns may not declare a forfeit (only the respective VP may declare a forfeit) and may not enter any score.

7.3. The home team coach has the responsibility to get the final score from the referee\umpire of the game, together with the away team coach, and enter the score into the current scoring system.

7.4. Season End Festival – NHYLA will host a festival consisting of tiers of all teams in a division.  Each tier will consist of 4 teams (the lowest tier may have 5 or 3 teams based on the number of tiers in a division).  Final standings of league games will be used to determine tiers.

7.5. NHYLA games will primarily be scheduled on Sundays, exceptions may apply.

7.6. Every member organization must be a “member in good standing” to receive the team schedule at the March meeting. All teams that are scheduled must be registered and appropriate fees paid.