Lacrosse Forums

What is the rational for womens lacrosse being so different than mens. I think the womens game should adjust to become more closely identified with the mens style. It would be much more interesting to watch the women mix it up like the men. I'm not saying that i think that the women need to hit harder or check harder. I just think that real pockets and less protective rules would add a different dynamic to the game. Anyone agree?

I agree, but it won't ever happen. But I completely agree.

Just look at the new rule for the keeper in womens lax and then you will know that any chance of the games getting closer is far far away.

I really love that way that women's lax is played and I wouldn't change it.

I gotta disagree. The women's game, when played at high levels, is a thing of beauty. Not to say that the men's game isn't, both are clearly different. I would like to see changes, but none of those changes include pads, body checking, etc.

Hey, got to disagree here. The mens and womens lacrosse are different sports that share the same name. Both have their good points and bad points. Why would you ever want to change the woman's game to be like the mens?

i disagree too. well played WLax is amazing, completly different from our game, but beautiful to watch. FWIW, i wish our game would become more like theirs, not the other way around. the finesse offenses that UNC ran in their heyday were awesome to watch and borrowed from the finesse and pinpoint passing of the womens game.

shooting space on the goalie when out of the crease
shooting and hitting the goalie should not be called
allow the follow through into the crease (not just the ncaa) on a shot
freezing on a whistle let players move

The first 3 would not change the way the game looks but would stop some of the whistles. The last one could make the game slightly different imagin how much faster this could make the game.

Any one else have rules they would like to see changed?

i would like to be able to have a bigger pocket, i dunno, its just a personal preferance of mine. i would say not as big as the pockets in the mens game, but they should be bigger than current size. my shots are definetly more accurate, and stronger when my pocket is just slightly illegal.

Unfortunately, there are some issues with these two rules that are preventing them from changing. One of which is the fact that rules committee seems to be completely removed from modern day society and sports culture.

There's the whole mess of a goalie becoming a field player when they leave the crease, yet can't score, blah blah blah. You'd have to change their classification in the rules, perhaps change the scoring rule that requires a field stick. It just appears that there are too many things attached to this change that make it a slippery slope for them to consider. In reality, it's not that hard to fix, but common sense is a rare commodity apparently.

The stopping on the whistle...oh man would that be an improvement. But it's much too much like the men's game for the current rules committee to consider (at least that's my theory). One of the reasons (I believe) the stopping on the whistle rule exists is because initially there would be an entire team of players surrounding the ball or one side of the field. Stopping on the whistle prevented that. Time warp to 10 years ago and the rules committee decided to impliment restraining lines and offsides; this eliminated the aforementioned problem....yet the stopping rule persisted. It also eliminated the need for individual positions for each player and paved the way for a men's style attack/midfield/defense positioning system, but that's another story (and a huge gripe of mine). My guess is it'll be another 10 years or more before we see the possibility of changing the stopping on the whistle rule...much to the detriment of the sport and to the detriment of all the ligaments and muscles of all the players who play.

Follow through the crease on shots...well, basically ILF or men's rules on the crease would keep me happy and content for a couple of years. Hopefully once the ncaa season rolls around and the impact of that rule is evident, they'll trickle it down to the high school level.

i superly duperly agree it would be so diffrent and interesting to see that, i mean full pads and everything(maybe with skirts)

I would like to see the men have a smaller pocket! Pockets on the men's stick's are to large. They have started to make changes this year but needs to continue. I DO NOT want the games to be similar BUT - here is a suggested change, make the men's stick more like the womans.

Some more:
Add a 8 meter to the mens game and get all those long sticks out from in front of the goalie. What are they doing standing in front of the goal looking to get hit by the ball?
Stop the slashes - a stick that is swung and hits ANY part of the body is a foul and penalized. What the heck is this interpretation that he was "going for the stick" when they are wacking at the attack player?
Stand in the whistles - why should a player be able to move on a whistle? They are out of position let them stay there and not correct where they "should" be.
Make the field longer, same size as the girls field - what are boys, whimps? Can't they run farther?


Anyone got some more rules that should be implimented to make the boys game more like the girls.

You can't hit the goalie in women's lacrosse? That's a joke....

I guess you would have to ask the boys that play the game which rules they would like to moved over from they girls game. I sure know what rules the girls would like to see from the mens game.

I did find your post cute though.

im sorry but that would suck. guys need to be able to whack each other or they are going to lose interest. girls however (by my interpratation) do not like to smash each other around. how often do you see girls roughhouse, wrestle?

all im trying to say is contact is nessacary for mens.

I would love to see the women's field game to be more like the mens. I'm coming from a background of playing women's BOX lax (where the rules are the exact same as men's box) and I decided to try the field game this past year. Personally it felt way to constricted, and with all of the whistles, there wasn't any flow to the game.

wow...i cant believe I just read that. you want the the Mens game to be more like the Womens game, by making it so theres no contact?!?! that would basically make it womans lacrosse and get rid of the entire Lacrosse pad industry. and then make shallower pockets and sticks more like womans? thats absurd, mens sticks provide a whole different aspect on the game. and its also absurd to not allow players in any gender of the game not to move after a whistle, its an opportunity to correct yourself, and i dont know if you know this, but Men cant be 5 yards from the player with ball, so they cant surround the player, i dont see the problem with moving. and in terms of the a longer field, how dare you call us whimps, we can run way farther and do run way more/further than Woman in lacrosse. it makes it a higher velocity of play and more scoring, thus more entertaining. and nobody even knows what the "8 meter to the mens game and get all those out from in front of the goalie" our you saying the crease should get smaller, or even crazier, THERE SHOULD BE NO LONGPOLES? and "they" are standing in front of the goal because they are covering their man. do they not do that in womans lacrosse? all of the things you have stated that should change make Mens lacrosse what it is. and Mens lacrosse is way more popular and has professional leagueS. so if anything, the Womans game should take some pages out of the Mens game book (not saying they should, to each sport, their own). You disgust me.

Wow, I can't believe I read that. You should re-read what Lax-Umpire wrote and then adjust your response accordingly. At no point did he suggest removing physical contact from the men's game. Never did he say there should be no long poles...or a smaller crease.

Seriously, re-read the comments and correct yourself, lest you like looking foolish.

oh im SOOO sorry to interpret "Stop the slashes - a stick that is swung and hits ANY part of the body is a foul and penalized. What the heck is this interpretation that he was "going for the stick" when they are wacking at the attack player" as getting rid of contact!... Not. How can you people honestly say that is not trying to get rid of contact. as players, we more often than not AIM AT OTHER PLACES THAN THE STICK. be that the elbow, the hands, the forearm. most of the time, the stick is being protected. if men were not allowed to hit any part of the other players body with their sticks, that would encourage illegal body checks, because that would be the only other way to dislodge the ball with the sticks we have. And you say that he is trying to get slashing taken away, well is he going to end world hunger, poverty, crime, and war as well? I dont think so. Slashing isnt encouraged in Mens lacrosse, you get penalized for a reason. And we do need the deep pockets, it provides more accuracy and speed to shots. Why does everyone think that EVERY MENS LACROSSE PLAYER HAS AN ILLEGAL POCKET????!!!? Some do, the majority DONT THOUGH!!!!, because we have ideals.What Lax-umpire suggests is total butchery and *******ization of Mens Lacrosse, and it sickens me that he or she would suggest it.

Wow um yeah... never.
a six foot pole is used as a last resort because if they get beat they can use a last ditch effort check that you can only do with a pole, what would adding an eight meter do to the game? Stop Slashes? are you serious? There would not be a need for the pocket depth and the pads and would become way to much like the womens game. Im an attackmen and even I like slashes. Stand in the whistles is rediculous, that rule should be abolished for womens. There are no do overs in mens you may get a second chance but not the same scenario. If you make the field longer it will slow down the game making it not the fastest game on two feet. When I watch some womens hs lax AAA state game last year for PA with conestoga the girls arent sprinting they are trotting around and tired the box is there for a reason. If women subbed as much as men the scores would be higher and the games faster.

The ignorance in some of these responses is astonishing. I for one, as a male player, would like to see some of the changes lax-umpire suggested. The men's game is getting out of hand in certain respects, and the changes he suggested would help reel in these issues. A knee jerk reaction to something only leaves you with one shakey leg to stand on...becareful with your responses boys lest you label yourselves something you don't like.

Just got back from the convention - great learning experience for anyone that has not attended.

MAN! Are there some people out there that do not understand the womans game. And really that is my point. The mlax and wlax games are different and should stay that way. There are good points to both games. I am tired of hearing how the wlax game should be more like the mens - why?

There are also some aspects of the wlax that would benefit the mens games (look out here they come again). Mens game needs some changes, in some areas. Keep an open mind - it's more fun.

If I had one rule in the womans game that would improve the mens - it would be the addition of the 8 meter. (for those that do not know - wlax has an area 8 meters in front of the goal in a sort of cone shape that no defensive player may stand without actively guarding an attack player)

If I had one procedure that I would add from wlax to mlax it would be to impliment a stick check just like the wlax have. (For those that do not know - every stick used in the wlax game is checked by the umpires before every game. If ilegal - they have an opportunity to correct before the game starts or the stick spends the game at the timers desk)

CTlaxer and lilaxgurl - thanks for the points of emphasis.

Wow, that every stick is checked thing is pretty hardcore. I don't really think that would work because a player can have two identical looking sticks and substitute an illegal one for the legal one or loosen the knots or something