Rules
Beginning with the 2019 playing season, USA Lacrosse introduced a new checking category for 14U and 13U girls players. Called transitional checking, this rule is intended to provide a middle ground between full checking at the high school level and modified checking for 12U.
USA Lacrosse has released a new rules interpretation document that highlights the primary changes and updates in the 2025 girls’ youth rules.
The PDF document, available here as a free download, also explains the points of emphasis for the 2025 season. These include:
In 2019, significant rule changes were made in the high school and youth girls’ lacrosse rules. One of those changes, focused directly on increasing player safety, was the creation of a penalty zone.
The penalty zone is intended to simplify penalty administration for officials and address safety concerns around 8-meter free positions. Basically, the rule change stipulated that this area must be cleared by players for all 8m free positions awarded above the goal line extended.
USA Lacrosse has released a new rules interpretation document that summarizes the boys’ youth rule changes and points of emphasis for the 2025 season. The PDF document was developed to help prepare and educate the lacrosse community to the rule changes and is available here as a free download.
Key sections in the presentation include:
Every year, USA Lacrosse creates online charts that compare the variances in the boys’ and girls’ youth rules for different age groups. These free resources are now available for the 2025 season to assist players, coaches, and officials in properly applying the youth rules based on level of play.
From field size to equipment, from restart rules to checking, the charts outline the recommendations from USA Lacrosse for various age groups (6U & 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U).
Four live rules interpretation webinar sessions, hosted by USA Lacrosse, are still available in February to help coaches and officials prepare for the 2024-25 season.
The rules interpretation webinars cover boys’ and girls’ youth and high school rules, and the changes being introduced for the 2025 season. Each session includes both a USA Lacrosse staff member and a rules interpreter on the webinar to help answer any questions.
Use of the green card, managing safe play within the 8-meter arc, and offensive fouls inside the critical scoring area have been identified as the points of emphasis by both the high school girls’ and youth girls’ lacrosse rules committees for the 2025 season. The committees also approved some minor rule changes and editorial changes to the rulebooks.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and USA Lacrosse collaborate annually on boys’ rules changes and have identified changes and points of emphasis that will be effective for the 2025 youth and high school seasons.
(Nov 20, 2024) -- USA Lacrosse has announced the line-up for its 2024-25 Officials Speakers Series, designed to offer excellent information and insights for men’s and women’s game officials in advance of the 2025 season.
This year’s series features 12 live online presentations for the women’s game and 9 presentations for the men’s game. All topics - ranging from rules and rule interpretations, to managing the game and mechanics - are intended to support the continued growth and development of game officials at all levels of play.
USA Lacrosse will host a series of live rules interpretation webinars over the next few months to help coaches and officials prepare for the 2024-25 season.
The rules interpretation webinars are broken into four categories, covering boys’ and girls’ youth and high school rules. Each session for the specific topic will use the same base information, but will also include a USA Lacrosse staff member and a rules interpreter on the webinar live to help answer any questions.