"...must have a ball stop."

[3rdPersonPlural]

OK, I know that those silly foamy things that one adheres to the assigned spot in the stick is know as a ball stop, but what is NOT a ball stop?

A foamy thing that is from a different kind of stick?

A foamy thing that has been augmented with athletic tape?

A foamy thing that is old and visibly cracked and gouged?

A foamy thing that is VERY dilapidated, perhaps >50% gone?

A foamy thing that is VERY dilapidated, perhaps >50% gone but covered with a strip of tape?

A foamy thing that is VERY, VERY dilapidated, perhaps >90% gone but covered with a strip of tape?

Several layers of Athletic tape with not much evidence of a foamy thing under it?

A single strip of Athletic tape with not much evidence of a foamy thing under it?

A single strip of Duct tape with not much evidence of a foamy thing under it?

Just the glue residue from a foamy thing with perhaps a few dried bits of foam stuck to it?

A 4 inch strip of bicycle tube taped to the head in the right place?

A 10 inch strip of same tubing?

Where do you draw the line, and, most of all, why bother?

[bellies_lax_17]

are ballstops just remnants from the days of fully wooden sticks? i read somewhere that they have no real function on todays sticks, but that they exist there only because the rules call for one

[RockStar]

The rules don't tell you what a ball stop is.

(do they even explicitly define the consequence of not having a ball stop in NCAA or NFHS? I'm pretty sure some rule sets require a ballstop but don't assign any consequence, so it's a rule as meaningless and unenforceable as a statement that the pocket's netting has to be roughly triangular).

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, because the rules don't tell you anything about what a ballstop is or isn't, essentially anything that the stick owner claims is a ballstop, is a legal ballstop (provided that it doesn't make the stick illegal in any other way).

With so many rules that do matter, there's no need to have you guys struggling to enforce the ones that don't.

[NBClaxgoalie07]

I heard that a rule change said that ballstops weren't required anymore. Is that true?

[LaxRef]

I heard that a rule change said that ballstops weren't required anymore. Is that true?
True for NCAA. False for NFHS.

[Big-Red]

the only thing I think they do is protect your stick when a fast pass comes flying and hits the throat/ballstop instead of the mesh/pocket.

interesting that anything can be used as one however.

[LaxRef]

the only thing I think they do is protect your stick when a fast pass comes flying and hits the throat/ballstop instead of the mesh/pocket.

That explains why you'd want to have one, not why you'd want to require one.

[BlueJaysLaxFan]

Well, once the rules were changed so that ball stops were not required to be from the crosse manufacturer (Federation rule change for '06), this does become open ended.

[cch3ung]

Are HS goalies required to have a ballstop?

[3rdPersonPlural]

Well, once the rules were changed so that ball stops were not required to be from the crosse manufacturer (Federation rule change for '06), this does become open ended.


That's just it, BJ! A ball stop should now be defined as anything that accomplishes the function of a ball stop vis a vis safety, fairness, and fun...ness.

Since that function is by all accounts zero/zip/nada on those three relevant official's metrics, I submit that 'unadorned head plastic' is an adequate ballstop.