Although I did not get as much done as I hoped yesterday, I have most of the summer league information together. The schedule and time frame are still being worked out, for example. In fact, if you are leaving the metro for college in August, can you please email me to let me know the last date that you will be able to play.
Originally I intended to kick off the league on Thursday, June 3 to give the Valley guys a week off following the league championships (still leaning that way). Now I am leaning towards starting a week earlier - Thursday, May 27. Let me know what you think of the two potential start dates.
Based on the quotes and responses I have received so far, we are looking at $30 per player in league dues this summer. Those dues cover your reversible, replacement balls (we lost quite a few last summer and through box league), and goal maintenance. We will probably do things MLL style and use orange balls again, but it is also possible that we go with white. I am still open to naming teams after sponsors for a small investment to offset some of the cost of the reversibles. Otherwise we'll go with team names chosen by the captains.
"Captains?" you ask. That's right. Unlike last summer we will have fixed teams on Thursday nights. Unlike the box league, the teams will be drafted by set captains. Right now two of those captains are set in stone; we will probably have two per team. Captains will also assist in assigning referees during their teams' off weeks.
"Referees?" That's right, we will have referees this year. The team(s) that is (are) not playing during a given week will be responsible for providing refs for the game of the week. I am not expecting anybody to be professionally certified or anything. Lord knows that you cannot do much worse than some refs. Mainly the refs' job includes maintaining general order, setting up face offs, verifying goals & possession, and running the clock. About the same as what I did during the box league. I am not expecting a lot of penalties nor do refs have to know the rulebook inside and out.
Our rules will be based on the current (2010) NFHS rules. There may be some modifications based on the number of players, such as eight player set ups (1-2-3-2) or the allowance of a fifth d-pole (common practice in many leagues I'm told). But I really want to keep it as close to "real" lacrosse as possible. Once again I am allowing hockey gear to be used, but I still strongly encourage everybody to get lax specific gear.
Nearly everything is ready to go. Once I get the remaining last minute details worked out, I will send an email and post it here, on the CILA website, the Forums, and on Facebook.
