Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

I have a question about these new rules but I'd like to preface with the fact that I'm a youth official. I understand that you guys just enforce the rules but don't really have much of a say in them and may not even agree with them.

My question, what is the deal with all of the taping restrictions? Why no donuts? I understand it being illegal if you lack a cap over the butt end of the stick since that can be dangerous, but I had a buddy with a pre-molded rubber donut butt end. What is the problem with that? Also, I saw a mention of tape being illegal for every part of the stick except for the hold a rubber butt on. What is the rationale behind that? My understand of the current rule changes is that they have been put into effect to either speed the game up, prevent cheating, or keep it safer. How do these rules achieve any of these things?

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

Originally Posted by elementlaxer

My question, what is the deal with all of the taping restrictions? Why no donuts? I understand it being illegal if you lack a cap over the butt end of the stick since that can be dangerous, but I had a buddy with a pre-molded rubber donut butt end. What is the problem with that? Also, I saw a mention of tape being illegal for every part of the stick except for the hold a rubber butt on. What is the rationale behind that? My understand of the current rule changes is that they have been put into effect to either speed the game up, prevent cheating, or keep it safer. How do these rules achieve any of these things?

Why rules about tape? Some uses of tape do create an advantage.

Donuts? Already illegal for youth under NFHS rules. As for NCAA, there is a rumored pending memo to allow them.

Tape to secure an end cap? A couple of wraps is fine.

Tape illegal for every part of the stick? Whatever mention you saw is ill informed; don't believe everything you read. "Taping or adding another covering designed to improve the grip" is legal. (NCAA 1-19, NFHS 1-8)

(Irrelevant for youth -- Tape is illegal on the plastic head (NCAA). Contrasting color tape is required for the face off, to allow officials to determine that gloves are off of the plastic prior to the whistle.)

Rationale? The underlying rationale is that "A crosse that has been altered in such a way as to give an advantage is illegal". (NCAA 1-10, NFHS 1-8) Why does anyone put a donut onto a crosse, if not to create an advantage?

IMHO, the blanket prohibition of alteration is the only necessary rule; all examples of illegal alterations should be in ARs / Situations. It is not possible to list every possible alteration in the rule book. Again, a player will only alter his crosse to gain an advantage, even if it is only a perceived advantage.

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

Originally Posted by MElaxRef

IMHO, the blanket prohibition of alteration is the only necessary rule; all examples of illegal alterations should be in ARs / Situations. It is not possible to list every possible alteration in the rule book. Again, a player will only alter his crosse to gain an advantage, even if it is only a perceived advantage.

The "altered to gain an advantage" rule is vague and unenforceable. Basically anything someone does to their pocket, legal or no, is altering the stick to try to gain an advantage.

I don't get the current limit on shaft circumference. I mean, I am sure they didn't want people to have plastic heads attached to two-by-fours, but I am not sure how they came up with the current number (probably back in the wood shaft days). This is relevant, because that's used as the basis for prohibiting donuts: they make your shaft circumference too big. Never mind, of course, that end caps already do that.

No one has ever convinced me that a donut is a huge advantage, although some people speculate it allows people to generate more force with their sticks when slashing. And, if they are a problem, I am not sure why we would allow them within 3 inches of the butt end in NFHS lacrosse.

So, I can't give a good explanation for this rule. As you say, I will just enforce it even if I don't completely understand the rationale or agree with it.

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

MElaxRef, I can see what you're saying about gaining an advantage by putting the tape on the throat or something along those lines, but there are certain things that really don't add any sort of advantage but are just a feel thing for the player. I used to use a tape donut as a butt. It got called illegal by a ref before a game and I started using a rubber butt. It didn't change the way I played. I didn't feel like I had lost any sort of advantage, but the change in feel really threw me off. Tape doesn't really gain an advantage so much as it gives a player a feel for their own stick. I don't see any way tape could give a player a significant advantage. However, I have no say in how these rules end up being enforced, so I will accept that sometimes rules are passed that may make great sense up at the rule making committee, but doesn't translate well at all to the actual field.

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

Tape on the shaft is legal by rule, but I think the tack they are taking is that you can't use it to exceed the 3.5" circumference (interpretation still evolving). As I said, I don't know why 3.5" is the magic number.

I think the NCAA "no tape on the head of a non-GK crosse" rule is mostly about face-offs: players were covering the throat with tape so the officials couldn't tell if they had their hands on the plastic. But technically no player in possession can have the hand on the plastic—LF25 will have some comments to insert here—so I think maybe they just decided to apply it to everyone.

Again, I think people do lots of stuff with their sticks to make it cradle/throw/shoot/feel better. That stuff certainly gives an advantage—or else no one would do it—but I think most would agree that it is not an unfair advantage.

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

elementlaxer - I understand that players want to personalize their sticks. When I played, you had to reshape the gut wall every time it got wet; everybody was a stick doctor.

I disagree with LaxRef that the rule about alterations is vague and unenforceable. I think that the rule is pretty clear and that a list of examples (ARs) can make the rule even clearer.

Some advantages are explicitly deemed to be legal, such as the allowance for tape or another covering to improve grip.

Other advantages are explicitly deemed to be illegal, but only because they were discovered (usually by an official) and reported to the rules committee (often by a coach who was upset that his player had been penalized).

Players are always a step ahead of the rule makers. Look at the innovations now addressed by rule or mechanic:

The alteration for 2013, reportedly, is cutting off some of the shaft end of the plastic (to the screw hole?). Easier to thumb the ball or quicker to get a hand onto the plastic during a faceoff? So now we get a memo, so that we can call something that isn't in the rule book, yet.

What is next, a grip that slides up and down the handle? Would that give an advantage? Should it be flagged?

Re: NCAA Stick Spec Questions

But tweaking your pocket is certainly an alteration, and that is legal! So, without a list of what is legal and what is not legal, just saying "You can't alter it to gain an advantage" is worthless.

Now, with some better writing, it could all be tightened up to be clear. State that you can string the pocket any way you like as long as it meets specs and passes all field tests/satisfies A.R.s. State that the head cannot be modified in any way except for dyeing the plastic. State that the shaft cannot be modified in any way except to change the overall length (by cutting off excess length from the butt end), by applying an end cap (required for hollow shafts and optional for other shafts), and by applying tape to the shaft (but prohibit doughnuts if you like).

But the current wording is about as vague as the old "the head must be roughly triangular in shape."