Fl g Is Down
The Scoop: Gentlemen, what is a slash?
Jimmy Tighe: Any time that contact is made when a player doesn't have a chance for the ball in the stick. That's the first thing. If he's making an attempt to get the stick and get the ball then it's a legitimate attempt. The second thing is how hard and how wild he swings the stick. So if he swings again just like a check, a body check, with excessive force, that's a slash.
Paul Quill: He covered it pretty good. You know, obviously the rule book gets very technical, where a clean stick check can be. And the book pretty much only says that the clean stick check must be on the glove or on the stick. Now we know all the time that the kids get checked on the arm, and we don't even think for a second that we're going to call that a slash, because as Jimmy said, is he making a legitimate attempt to take the ball away?
JT: If I'm coming in from the side and I whack you in the arm, I couldn't have gotten your stick, because I'm going to hit you in your arm first. I'm coming in from the side, or from in front of you, and I swing the stick, and it hits you in the gut, that's tough. It would have been where the stick was, but you moved the stick.
PQ: And that's a big thing that I always look at. Is this kid actually making a legitimate attempt to dislodge the
ball, or is he just whacking him? As the legendary coach Tony Manzelli used to say, never in his fifty years of coaching lacrosse has he ever seen a stick go through a kid's back, come out the other side bloody, and checks the ball out of the kid's stick. So if a kid just whacks a kid on the back, that's a slash. You know, there's clearly no way he's going to dislodge that ball. He's making no attempt to dislodge that ball.
The Scoop: And of course at the youth level, we have to make sure that the player has both hands on his stick as well.
JT: That really dictates a lot of the slashes. Because if you've got one hand on your stick and you swing it, I can usually say that you don't have control of your stick, unless you're an upper level player. So that's one way to sell it. And the final one might be if he swings over a ninety degree angle, in other words, as his stick comes back, if it's at a ninety degree angle to his body, I'm buying. Once it goes beyond that ninety degree angle, you're putting too much gusto into it, and that's my easy call.
PQ: You know, we talk about, is the attempt reckless? Is it vicious? We have to determine that. And my determination of reckless and vicious might be different than the coach's. A lot of coaches are of the opinion that if a stick comes down on the kid's glove that you can hit him as hard as you want, and that's not true either, because if it's reckless and it's vicious, that can still be a slash even if you come right down on the glove. I've made that call more times than I can remember and have the coach go absolutely bonkers because he got him on the glove, it can't be a slash. Yes it can be a slash, coach. I understand he hit him on the glove, but as Jimmy said, he pulled that stick all the way back with one hand and it came whipping around. It was
vicious and it was reckless and it was completely out of control and that's a slash.
Darrell Benson: They've hit the key points and Paul just hit two of the key words in the rulebook: Any uncontrolled swing of the crosse is considered a slash. And in fact in the rulebook uses the words reckless abandon, which is a great phrase, and I always say that to coaches: "Coach, he swung his stick with reckless abandon." And the other point is that it has to be a direct blow to any part of the opponent's body other than the glove
"Stick Checks"
The Scoop sat down with three Senior EMLOA Officials for a conversation about stick checks in MBYLL youth lacrosse. Joining us for a candid conversation about the rules were Darrell Benson (President of Eastern Massachusetts Lacrosse Officials Association), Jimmy Tighe (EMLOA Assigning Authority), and Paul Quill (NW Region Officials Coordinator). Combined, they have over 70 years of officiating experience.
A Candid Conversation with EMLOA Officials
32 The Scoop / Spring '15
Mass Bay Colonials member Drew Litner gets slashed during the World Lacrosse Championships
The Scoop: Gentlemen, what is a slash?
Jimmy Tighe: Any time that contact is made when a player doesn't have a chance for the ball in the stick. That's the first thing. If he's making an attempt to get the stick and get the ball then it's a legitimate attempt. The second thing is how hard and how wild he swings the stick. So if he swings again just like a check, a body check, with excessive force, that's a slash.
Paul Quill: He covered it pretty good. You know, obviously the rule book gets very technical, where a clean stick check can be. And the book pretty much only says that the clean stick check must be on the glove or on the stick. Now we know all the time that the kids get checked on the arm, and we don't even think for a second that we're going to call that a slash, because as Jimmy said, is he making a legitimate attempt to take the ball away?
JT: If I'm coming in from the side and I whack you in the arm, I couldn't have gotten your stick, because I'm going to hit you in your arm first. I'm coming in from the side, or from in front of you, and I swing the stick, and it hits you in the gut, that's tough. It would have been where the stick was, but you moved the stick.
PQ: And that's a big thing that I always look at. Is this kid actually making a legitimate attempt to dislodge the
ball, or is he just whacking him? As the legendary coach Tony Manzelli used to say, never in his fifty years of coaching lacrosse has he ever seen a stick go through a kid's back, come out the other side bloody, and checks the ball out of the kid's stick. So if a kid just whacks a kid on the back, that's a slash. You know, there's clearly no way he's going to dislodge that ball. He's making no attempt to dislodge that ball.
The Scoop: And of course at the youth level, we have to make sure that the player has both hands on
his stick as well.
JT: That really dictates a lot of the slashes. Because if you've got one hand on your stick and you swing it, I can usually say that you don't have control of your stick, unless you're an upper level player. So that's one way to sell it. And the final one might be if he swings over a ninety degree angle, in other words, as his stick comes back, if it's at a ninety degree angle to his body, I'm buying. Once it goes beyond that ninety degree angle, you're putting too much gusto into it, and that's my easy call.
PQ: You know, we talk about, is the attempt reckless? Is it vicious? We have to determine that. And my determination of reckless and vicious might be different than the coach's. A lot of coaches are of the opinion that if a stick comes down on the kid's glove that you can hit him as hard as you want, and that's not true either, because if it's reckless and it's vicious, that can still be a slash even if you come right down on the glove. I've made that call more times than I can remember and have the coach go absolutely bonkers because he got him on the glove, it can't be a slash. Yes it can be a slash, coach. I understand he hit him on the glove, but as Jimmy said, he pulled that stick all the way back with one hand and it came whipping around. It was
vicious and it was reckless and it was completely out of control and that's a slash.
Darrell Benson: They've hit the key points and Paul just hit two of the key words in the rulebook: Any uncontrolled swing of the crosse is considered a slash. And in fact in the rulebook uses the words reckless abandon, which is a great phrase, and I always say that to coaches: "Coach, he swung his stick with reckless abandon." And the other point is that it has to be a direct blow to any part of the opponent's body other than the glove