Mountain Lacrosse Playtime Guidelines

Mountain Lacrosse believes that practices and games are equally important to developing player’s lacrosse skills, both individually and as a team.  Therefore, all players are expected to attend all practices and games.  That said, MLAX recognizes that illness and scheduling conflicts do occur which prevent players from attending practice and/or games.  The following are age appropriate guidelines intended to guide coaches, players, and parents with regards to game playing time, practice time, and playing different positions.

Younger Grades (1^st- 3^rd grades):

• All players should expect to play an equal amount of playtime during games.
• All players should expect to play all positions at some point during the season, including goalie.
• MLAX recognizes and encourages multi-sport athletes, however, we also ask that families respect other teammates experiences and recognize that consistent absences from practices and/or games can cause significant disruption and angst for coaches and/or teammates.

Middle Grades (4^th – 5^th grades):

• All players should expect to play an equal amount of playtime during games, however, certain teams may elect to start moving players into certain positions which will affect actual on-field playtime.  In this case, players should expect to play an equal amount of position appropriate playtime during games.
• As players start to align themselves with certain positions (attack, middie, defense, goalie), they must recognize that different positions may play more or less during a game due to their position.  For example, a goalie may be on the field an entire game, while a middie will constantly come off and on the field.
• In addition, player commitment to the team starts to become more important with regards to game playtime.  Players that consistently miss or show up late to practice can expect to play less than players that consistently make practices on-time.  We call this “equitable” playtime.
• Clear, consistent, communication of expectations amongst coaches, players, and parents is key.

Older Grades (6^th-8^th grades):

• For upper level teams (White/Red), players should expect to be playing in certain positions consistently and thus on-field playtime will be position appropriate.
• For upper level teams, all players should still expect to play an equal amount within their position (ie. all attack should play equal, all defensemen should play equal etc.).
• For a lower level team (Blue), players may still play multiple positions.  As such, position appropriate playtime still applies, but as the positions change, so will on-field playtime.
• Player commitment to the team is now a significant determinant of playtime.  Players that consistently miss or show up late to practice can expect to play less than players that consistently make practices on-time.  “Equitable” playtime will be standard.

• Clear, consistent, communication of expectations amongst coaches, players, and parents is key.

If playtime becomes an issue, please follow the 24hr rule and then use the following lines of communication:

• Player communicates to coach.
• Then parent communicates to coach.
• Then parent communicates to board member via League Administrator (info@mountainlax.com)