Rules
The USA Lacrosse Rules Committee and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) have announced the boys’ high school rule changes and points of emphasis for the 2026 season. USA Lacrosse writes and publishes a stand-alone youth rule book for ages 14U and below, and works in collaboration with the NFHS on the rules for boys' high school lacrosse.
Four primary points of emphasis were identified for the upcoming season.
The USA Lacrosse Rules Committee, working in conjunction with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), has announced the girls’ rule changes and points of emphasis for the 2026 season.
Key rule changes include the following:
Rule 2-4-5 — Stick checks may be requested at any point during a quarter break, halftime, a team time-out, prior to the start of an overtime period, prior to the start of a draw, and immediately following goals in regulation and overtime periods.
The National Federation of State High School Associations has announced boys’ and girls’ high school rules changes that will be implemented for the 2026 season. The changes were proposed during rules committee meetings last month and subsequently approved by the NFHS’s board of directors. USA Lacrosse collaborates with the NFHS on the rules for high school boys' and girls' lacrosse.
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.