Let's Talk About Checks

Bay-Bee, let's talk about you and m- sorry. This is an article about applying new body checking rules in lacrosse.

When I was 16 years old I hit someone in a lacrosse game for the first time. It was legal, no flag was thrown, and I remember every detail. How he fell, how his left shoe came off, how I looked down at my bent F-10 shaft and smiled so big that I had to catch my mouthguard with my lower lip so it wouldn't fall onto the ground. My coach yelled, “Oh my god!” How my teammates' faces were a combination of shock and smirky joy.

I remember all of that - because it felt good.

Like…too good.

When I contrast it to how I felt after I scored my first college goal - a blind rip from the high wing that hit the goalie’s glove, dropped down, and rolled across the goal line - it’s not the same. There was still joy, but if I’m honest - it wasn’t like that hit or any hit after that.

I tell you this because I want you to know before we get into my proposal that I don’t want to take hitting out of lacrosse.

But I do want to fix it.

This past week I witnessed an ejection in a high school game for the first time. It wasn’t because of a fight or any extracurriculars - it was a high hit that happened after the attackman got rid of the ball and was sandwiched between two other players.

The attackman was mine. And I immediately thought he was unconscious and hurt very badly. In the end, he turned out okay, but the defenseman who hit him was given a three-minute locked-in penalty and he was ejected. It helped us win the game, and I didn’t react very strongly other than to ask for an ejection in a low tone as the ref walked past me to the scorer’s bench.

Earlier this season, a similar hit occurred in a JV game and I lost it.

“Why are you hitting like that in a JV game?!” I screamed. In maximum coach voice. Six times. It elicited a reaction from the opposing coach who dressed me down aggressively, but I walked away. That time my player was okay, too. But I was seething.

As I got in my car to drive home a friendly old man came up and shook my hand and thanked me for coaching the Jayves. I still don’t know who he was or which team he was affiliated with.

I was still mad the entire drive home…And for the next two days.

Okay, fine - I’ve been thinking about it for a week.

Here is where I’ve landed.

This is my three-part proposal:

• Any player who leaves their feet for a hit shall be ejected from the game. I don’t mean diving to the end line, or diving to save a shot - I mean a defensive player throwing themselves at a player on the other team to initiate physical contact. Ball or no ball. Three-minute locked-in penalty. Ejection.

• Any player who bodychecks a defenseless player (either from behind or unable to move out of the way) with the ball will receive a two-minute locked-in penalty.

• Any player who bodychecks a defenseless player without the ball will receive a three-minute locked-in penalty, with a possible ejection at the referee’s discretion.

Referees across the country are doing their best to enforce more strict regulations on contact with the helmet. And it has been making a difference depending on the voracity with which the ref applies those new guidelines. But the real danger in lacrosse is not stick checks that brush against the helmet. It’s full-on football hits on defenseless players. Anyone who tells you differently has not watched enough lacrosse or is a football coach.

Lacrosse is not football. Physicality has its place in the game. But it is not the main characteristic that it should be defined by.

I would love to debate this with anyone. I want all the smoke. Come for me in the comments. I am ready for you.

Because deep down in my bones - I know that I’m right about this.

And that my 16-year-old self was wrong.