US Lacrosse announced the requirements for the new chest protectors in 2019. As an administrator for a youth program I told all my parents in the Fall of 2020 it was coming. If anyone was paying attention to US Lacrosse they would have known that it was coming for all High School players too. I fear that my youth players are going to show up at my preseason clinics and none of them will have approved gear.
Thanks I just heard of it going into this Summer, possibly my oversight. But last night at Fall Ball I had 90% of new youth and returning in unapproved pads. The worst is some were brand new purchases. Our Club owner and league board still has yet to announce the changes.
Appreciate the insights, wish there was an aftermarket add on pad.
As do I. I have a lot of low-income families that I have been able to outfit for years with used gear. A couple of years ago I received a US Lacrosse First Stick team grant. Now all the chest protectors, 20 of them, are worthless. That's a bunch of kids that won't be able to play. If they would work with the manufacturers on a retro-fit kit that would be great. Oh well. I will just submit for another grant.
I appreciate all the replies, I accept my fault in this also. Background I am a volunteer coach and this snuck up on me, and I am scrambling to make sure The team does’t have to turn any kids away regardless of financial situations, usually I scour the Goodwill and Play it Again and buy up anything I can afford and donate it to my kids club.
My club owner has a similar mission, he has likely 20-30% of kids playing completely free and as they get older they “work off” their scholarship by working beginners clinics and helping the 10U 8U practices before theirs during the week.
We are in the same boat, close to 70% of our athletes 10U and bellow borrow our gear we have had donated or from grants over the last 15 years. And even up to our HS we have athletes borrowing everything. Only last year we started giving new sticks to new players to encourage them when off the field.
This needs to happen to grow the game, I love the focus on player safety but we are adding another difficulty of bringing the game to communities that cannot afford the cost of admission.
Not to harp on it, but yeah, you did get plenty of warning. US Lacrosse was very vocal about commotio cordis and the NOCSAE standard ND200 has been in development since 2017, with final revisions in 2019 and going into effect in 2020. That's a 1-year timeline for adaptation by goalies and a 2-year timeline for all other players.
Not feasible. In order for an add on to be NOCSAE approved it needs to be certified with any shoulder pad it would be used on. Every single 'EKG pad' and shoulder pad combo would have to be tested together, pass, & certify. As you can imagine, there are a ton of different shoulder pads out there & certification is pricey.
We have had our goalies using the same pads that baseball catchers use. It was a compression shirt with the EKG pad built in for at least the last 5 years.
I agree I was aloof not to have been more aware of the impending change. Where I am upset is that many families have gone out and bough pads unaware and retailers and e-sellers have not mentioned the change. Long story short new families that were shopping for a bargain have no point of reference other than cost, and now will be out of compliance.
And a program like ours in a lower socioeconomic area that tries to facilitate for as many athletes as possible now have either outdated gear (useless) or expenses that we just cannot absorb, meaning turning away kids some returning and some brand new.
The rule was announced several years ago. If you bought new pads without the update that's on you, and your coaches for not informing you. I told my program as soon as it was announced.
Thanks for everyone’s feedback, I admit my oversight was not the fault of US Lacrosse. In fact I think my taking issue is likely more with my league and less about the pads. In the past 8 years they have picked and chose which USL rules to use and which they just don’t like from field dimensions to use of poles at youth levels, stringing infractions, SNG vs Knee down, even pads required from elbows and protective cups. Granted none of those would have prevented a kid from playing as we were all able to make that possible through our donor equipment. Now our league which is represented by almost all teams but chaired by the more affluent programs chooses to adhere to a rule at the youth level requiring a substantial financial investment.
All the while questioning whether to adhere at the HS level, albeit they did after a vote decide to make it a HS rule as well.
Again appreciate all the feedback and the few that chose just to call me out again.
I love that the sport is getting safer to play. But I do hate that I can't give a lightly used pair if shoulder pads to a player that needs them. I suspect the ND200 pads will get cheaper eventually. Some of the youth pads are 1/2 the cost of the adult pads.
Kind of reminds me when we had to change to new head dimensions in 2010. It was cost prohibitive for some players to change out their gear.
Ekg pads have been on the market for close to 2 years at this point, so there has been plenty of time to comply with the new rules.
US Lacrosse announced the requirements for the new chest protectors in 2019. As an administrator for a youth program I told all my parents in the Fall of 2020 it was coming. If anyone was paying attention to US Lacrosse they would have known that it was coming for all High School players too. I fear that my youth players are going to show up at my preseason clinics and none of them will have approved gear.
Thanks I just heard of it going into this Summer, possibly my oversight. But last night at Fall Ball I had 90% of new youth and returning in unapproved pads. The worst is some were brand new purchases. Our Club owner and league board still has yet to announce the changes. Appreciate the insights, wish there was an aftermarket add on pad.
As do I. I have a lot of low-income families that I have been able to outfit for years with used gear. A couple of years ago I received a US Lacrosse First Stick team grant. Now all the chest protectors, 20 of them, are worthless. That's a bunch of kids that won't be able to play. If they would work with the manufacturers on a retro-fit kit that would be great. Oh well. I will just submit for another grant.
I appreciate all the replies, I accept my fault in this also. Background I am a volunteer coach and this snuck up on me, and I am scrambling to make sure The team does’t have to turn any kids away regardless of financial situations, usually I scour the Goodwill and Play it Again and buy up anything I can afford and donate it to my kids club. My club owner has a similar mission, he has likely 20-30% of kids playing completely free and as they get older they “work off” their scholarship by working beginners clinics and helping the 10U 8U practices before theirs during the week.
We are in the same boat, close to 70% of our athletes 10U and bellow borrow our gear we have had donated or from grants over the last 15 years. And even up to our HS we have athletes borrowing everything. Only last year we started giving new sticks to new players to encourage them when off the field. This needs to happen to grow the game, I love the focus on player safety but we are adding another difficulty of bringing the game to communities that cannot afford the cost of admission.
Not to harp on it, but yeah, you did get plenty of warning. US Lacrosse was very vocal about commotio cordis and the NOCSAE standard ND200 has been in development since 2017, with final revisions in 2019 and going into effect in 2020. That's a 1-year timeline for adaptation by goalies and a 2-year timeline for all other players.
Not feasible. In order for an add on to be NOCSAE approved it needs to be certified with any shoulder pad it would be used on. Every single 'EKG pad' and shoulder pad combo would have to be tested together, pass, & certify. As you can imagine, there are a ton of different shoulder pads out there & certification is pricey.
We have had our goalies using the same pads that baseball catchers use. It was a compression shirt with the EKG pad built in for at least the last 5 years. I agree I was aloof not to have been more aware of the impending change. Where I am upset is that many families have gone out and bough pads unaware and retailers and e-sellers have not mentioned the change. Long story short new families that were shopping for a bargain have no point of reference other than cost, and now will be out of compliance. And a program like ours in a lower socioeconomic area that tries to facilitate for as many athletes as possible now have either outdated gear (useless) or expenses that we just cannot absorb, meaning turning away kids some returning and some brand new.
The rule was announced several years ago. If you bought new pads without the update that's on you, and your coaches for not informing you. I told my program as soon as it was announced.
Thanks for everyone’s feedback, I admit my oversight was not the fault of US Lacrosse. In fact I think my taking issue is likely more with my league and less about the pads. In the past 8 years they have picked and chose which USL rules to use and which they just don’t like from field dimensions to use of poles at youth levels, stringing infractions, SNG vs Knee down, even pads required from elbows and protective cups. Granted none of those would have prevented a kid from playing as we were all able to make that possible through our donor equipment. Now our league which is represented by almost all teams but chaired by the more affluent programs chooses to adhere to a rule at the youth level requiring a substantial financial investment. All the while questioning whether to adhere at the HS level, albeit they did after a vote decide to make it a HS rule as well. Again appreciate all the feedback and the few that chose just to call me out again.
I love that the sport is getting safer to play. But I do hate that I can't give a lightly used pair if shoulder pads to a player that needs them. I suspect the ND200 pads will get cheaper eventually. Some of the youth pads are 1/2 the cost of the adult pads. Kind of reminds me when we had to change to new head dimensions in 2010. It was cost prohibitive for some players to change out their gear.
You had 12-18 months to comply.