The Hamilton-Wenham Youth Lacrosse program has experienced tremendous growth since its inception. During our first year the boys program consisted of one team, today we have seven, next year we may more. The girls program joined the Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League (MBYLL), and they will be fielding more teams. With this extraordinary and exciting growth, however, comes many challenges.
This year the U11, U13 and U15 programs have approximately forty plus players on the roster (about 20 players per team). The game of lacrosse only allows ten players per team on the field at one time. MBYLL games are limited to 4 ten-minute quarters, which means that actual playing time totals forty minutes. Trying to allocate equal playing time to all of the players during a game is our greatest challenge as coaches.
The HWYLA Board has spent much time discussing the issue of playing time during games and have formulated a policy based primarily, but not exclusively, on the following considerations:
1). Safety of the players, e.g. players younger than eight years old would not participate in U11 games; and,
2). Practice attendance, i.e. players must attend at least two out of three practices per week if they are to expect equal playing time.
The Board believes that maximum playing time during games should be earned. In addition to these considerations, the coaches have worked very hard to schedule extra games providing more game time for all players throughout the entire season.
A Developmental Program (U9) has been established in several towns. This program will allow our new and developing players to compete against others at the same playing level. We plan to allow our developing players to participate in the developmental schedule games exclusively.
It is the HWYLA Board's intention to provide all players with sufficient playing time during games. Our coaches are committed to providing equal playing time to those deserving it. We ask that you consider the difficulty of this task, and understand we are doing the best we can. We are confident that you as players and parents will be satisfied.
