These questions and answers address Boys and Men's Lacrosse Only.
More specifically, new Lacrosse officials start by officiating Middle
School, JV and Varsity High School games. Officiating College Lacrosse
requires 2-3 years prior Lacrosse officiating experience.
Q: When is the season
of Lacrosse (time of year)?
A: Boys High
School Lacrosse in Oregon normally begins second week in March
and concludes with State Championships games very end of May.
Q: How long is a Lacrosse game?
A: High School
plays 4 12-minute periods with a 10-minute half time. (approx
1:45 hrs total). College plays 4 15-minute periods with a
10-minute half time. (approx 2 hrs total)
Q: When are Lacrosse games played (days and times)?
A: High School
Lacrosse games are played primarily during the week (Mon –
Fri), though there are some games (when travel times are long
for teams (such as Roseburg playing in Portland) where there
might be a Sat or even Sun game. Game times will also vary
depending upon JV game before Varsity game and how much travel
for visiting team, but in general, games start between 4:00
pm and 7:00 pm and last approximately 1:45 hrs. Schedule is
online and can be found at: www.ohsla.net/BHS/gameschedule.asp
Q: What are the requirements for becoming an official
for Lacrosse?
A: For new
officials, we require that they attend training. Training clinics
are normally held in Jan/Feb/Mar, prior to the season beginning.
The training clinics are offered both in the North Zone -
Portland Area and in the South Zone (in Salem and Eugene both)
each year. There has been a 10 week training program that seem to be really working well and we continue to build upon that program.
You must also purchase your official’s uniform and misc. items
for officiating Lacrosse. You must also join US Lacrosse for insurance and compliance reasons.
Q: Where can I find Lacrosse Officials uniforms and
gear?
A: In Oregon,
Honigs www.honigs.com
800-468-3284 (In Salem) is your best bet.
They have about 100% of what a new high school official would
need and about 90% of what a college Lacrosse official needs.
Another alternative is “The Officials Corner” 800-333-5299
(in Pennsalvania) www.theofficialscorner.com
Both locations can send out FREE catalogs if you call
their 800 number.
Q: My son plays, does that effect whether or not
I can officiate?
A: No, this
would not keep you from officiating. The game assigners would
however like to be alerted to this fact. In scheduling, we
try to be as non-biased as possible. You may get a couple
of your son’s/daughter’s games and you may not, just depends.
Q: Is there an Age Requirement for officiating lacrosse?
A: For officaiting High School ball (JV or V) you must be a minimum of 18 years of age and can not be attending High School. For youth lacrosse, there is no age limit.
Q: Who is playing Lacrosse in Oregon and where?
A: Well, there
is Youth, JV, Varsity, College, Club and now Professional Lacrosse in Oregon.
In the High School, we break the areas into Zones; those zones
and number of teams are listed here: (from
South to North / NorthEast Number of Teams are Varsity teams)
Zone-1) Roseburg (1 Team)
Zone-2) Eugene (7 Teams)
Zone-3) Salem (3 Teams) South Zone
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Zone-4) Portland (26 Teams) North Zone
Zone-5) Hood River (1 Team)
Zone-6) Hermiston (1 Teams)
Zone-7) Bend/Sisters/Redmond (4 Teams)
Zone-8) Corvallis (1 Team)
You can see the exact VARSITY teams here: www.ohsla.net/bhs/
You can see the exact JUNIOR VARSITY teams here: www.ohsla.net/BHS/bjv.asp
JV programs are continuing to grow and popping up in numerous
High School programs.
Also, middle school or youth Lacrosse is continuing to grow
quickly, especially in the Portland area.
For Oregon College Men's Lacrosse, there is Univ of Oregon,
Oregon State Univ., Willamette Univ., Linfield College, and
Lewis and Clark College. Team Web site can be found at: www.oregonlax.com/mcg/
Club (Lacrosse beyond college) is currently 2-3 teams in Portland
and 1 team in Eugene.
Q: How much do Lacrosse officials get paid and how
often?
A: For 2008
Season, we went to a 2 level system for officials. A level-1 varsity official will be paid $45 per game and a level-2 varsity official will be paid $65 per game. Officiating Solo
is 1.5 times your normal game rate. Travel compensation is $20 per
zone traveled outside of your home zone. For Portland Officials Only, there is an added $5 for a Zone-4 (Portland Area) game officiated by a Zone-4 Official.
JV officials are paid $35 per official per game, regardless of years experience. Officiating Solo
is 1.5 times the JV game rate, hence ($45)
Payment of officials normally happens twice in the season,
once half way through the season and then at the end of the
season.
Payment is done through the oregonlax.com website for both Varsity and now JV as well (new for 2006).
Q: Is there travel involved in being an official?
A: Yes and No.
Though we strongly encourage officials to travel to other
Zones to (1) see other teams and (2) officiate with other
officials than just the ones in your Zone and (3) help out
with shortage of officials in certain zones and busy weeks.
It is not required that you travel outside of your zone, however
it is encouraged.
Q: Are officials compensated for travel?
A: Yes, a $20 per zone traveled outside of your home zone.
For instance, if you lived in Eugene and officiated games
in either Roseburg or Salem there would be an additional $20
for travel. If you travel to Portland to officiate a game,
there would be $40 for travel. Due to the distances
between teams in Zone 4 (Portland), there
is an additional $5 travel compensation for officials
in Zone 4 officiating games in Zone 4. This will automatically
be done by the payment piece on the web site.
Q: How many officials are on a single game?
A: For high
school (JV and Varsity) there are two officials assigned to
each game and hence run a 2-Man
mechanics. Come time for playoffs, we assign three officials
per game and run 3-Man
mechanics. We often will assign three officials towards
the end of the season to help prepare officials for working
a 3-Man crew, verses the normal 2-Man crew.
Q: How many games might I expect to officiate in
a season?
A: This totally
varies, but in a season, one might pick up anywhere from 5-20
games. Often, there are cancellations, so being available
for games other officials can not officiate will increase
that number.
Q. What about Lacrosse Official’s Uniforms (what,
where, how)?
A: From top
to bottom:
· Black pin-strip cap
· Black and white striped official’s jersey
(short or long sleeve, but prefer crews to match. Ideal
to have both)
· Black undershirt (can be any black T-shirt)
· White Shorts
· Black Belt
· Two yellow, weighted flags
· Lacrosse Score Card with pencil
· Coin (for coin toss)
· Whistle (Finger whistles such as the Fox-40 work
very well)
· Small tape measure (for measuring Lacrosse sticks;
should be upto 72”)
· Knee-high white socks with black tops (not striped)
· Black Cleats (prefer solid black, but some white
stripping allowed)
· 20 Second Timer
Q: How much conditioning (in shape) is required?
A: Good Question;
Answer: Get in Shape!! There is A LOT of running back and
forth in Lacrosse; a lot more than people think. The field
is 110 yards by 60 yards and Lacrosse is known to be the “fastest
game on grass”. Expect to run and even sprint 50-60 yards
at times to get into position for an hour and half to two
hour game.
Q: How does a season’s scheduling work?
A: Scheduling
of the games, locations, and times are done approximately
4-6 weeks prior to the season beginning and is done by coaches
and league commissioner. Those games are then entered into
the www.ohsla.net
web site, where Fred Zensen assigns North Zone games and Bob Koreski assigns South Zone games. We try to schedule the entire
season ahead of time, but if it gets a little hectic, often
the first half of the season will be assigned and then later
the second half of the season. Officials can login and Accept and/or Decline games, view their schedule and submit for payment from the web site.
To do a good porion of this, you must LOGIN first.
Q: Do I have to join anything before officiating?
A: Yes.
You are required to be a member of US Lacrosse.
Their annual dues cover for the benefits that are offered, including insurance and much more. Click here for a US Lacrosse Membership Information. If you are
interested in joining US Lacrosse, speak with Fred Zensen
(contact info at bottom of this page).
Q: Where can I obtain a Men’s Lacrosse Rule Book?
A: Attend the annual clinic and you will receive that years
rule book. You can also purchase additional ones from “The Officials Corner”
800-333-5299 or from the Oregon league.
NOTE: High School Lacrosse works from the National Federation Rule Book (NFHS) and College Lacrosse works from the NCAA Mens Lacrosse rule book (NCAA).
The NCAA rule book is normally offered online in a PDF version for free. See Officials Main Page for Link to current year's rule book.
The NFHS Rule has not been offered online in years past. There is however, each year, a DIFFERENCES between the two rule books document made each year to help those officials that officiate both High School and College lacrosse. That document is normally also linked from the Officials Main Page
Q: Are there other opportunities to officiate Lacrosse
beyond Boys High School?
A: Yes, there
are now summer and fall leagues in Portland and Eugene and
I believe Corvallis and Salem. There is also Club Lacrosse,
though I would be sure and know the rules and your mechanics
well before jumping in there… ( ha ha ). There are also mini
tournaments throughout the year, where numerous teams come
to one location and have mini, round robin or short games.
The PNLA tournament in Portland (third week in April – Delta
Park, Portland) is the largest Lacrosse tournament in the
northwest, where there are some 10-12 games going on at once
for a Saturday and Sunday (mostly club and some high school).
Skills can most definitely be picked up there and meeting
other officials from all over the northwest.
Q: How does a Lacrosse official move through the
ranks?
A: New officials
start with high school games for the first 1-3 years. Ideally,
if there are enough officials to go around, first year official
would officiate JV games first year with a couple Varsity
games possibly towards the end of the season. After officiating three
full seasons of high school Lacrosse, officials are eligible
to request to officiate college games, but there are a number
of factors involved here and is not a given. I can tell you
this however, it is 10 times faster than football.
Q: How is lacrosse like other sports?
A: Lacrosse,
I beleive, is a "cross" between Hockey and Soccer.
The game is played on a grass field, the similar width and
length to a soccer field.
You can go behind the goal (which is 6' x 6') similar to hockey.
It is physical contact, similar to hockey.
The positions are similar to soccer, where there is a goalie
(1), defenseman (3), midfielders (3), and forwards (3) (called
"attack" in lacrosse).
Similar to hockey, players where helmets, shoulder pads, arm
pads, hockey type gloves, and rib protectors for protection
as it is legal to hit (make contact) with players with position
of the ball or within 5 yards of a loose ball.
Q: ?
A:
If you have questions that have not
been answered above, please ask!! Nothing is considered a
stupid question, okay, maybe a few, but please ask anyways...
We will immediately respond with an answer and potentially
post it to this page so others can learn from the Q/A as well.
Send email questions to:
Brian Platz
brian@oregon.com
(503) 373-4728
|
Primary Contacts to speak with if you are interested
in officiating Lacrosse in Oregon.
|
| Fred Zensen |
|
Brian Platz |
| North Zone - Portland, Hood River,
and Hermiston |
|
South Zone - Salem, Eugene, Roseburg |
| (360) 574-5773 (hm) |
|
(503) 373-4728 (hm/wk) |
| (503) 808-2385 (wk) |
|
(503) 373-9848 (fax) |
| (360) 606-5104 (cell) |
|
(503) 510-6140 (cell) |
| laxrefzee@aol.com |
|
brian@oregon.com
|
|
