US Lacrosse Issues Statement on Florida’s Latest Mandate for Girls’ Lacrosse

BALTIMORE, Sept. 29, 2014 — US Lacrosse, the national governing body for men’s and women’s lacrosse, today issued the following statement in response to the mandates approved by the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors. The comments were made by Ann Carpenetti, vice president of lacrosse operations, who was in attendance at Monday’s FHSAA board meeting.

“Prevention of head injuries in both men’s and women’s lacrosse continues to be a priority of US Lacrosse, and therefore, we appreciate the FHSAA Board’s concern about athlete safety and applaud their decision to mandate the use of US Lacrosse certified officials for all games. We look forward to working as a partner with the FHSAA to help support the training and certification of those officials.

“We are also encouraged that the FHSAA amended its previous mandate regarding the use of headgear for women’s players by requiring that these products be compliant with US Lacrosse rules and that, moving forward, these products must meet scientifically based performance standards.

“We have stated repeatedly that we believe head protection should be designed and manufactured based on a clear understanding of the documented mechanisms of head injury in women’s lacrosse, which is why we have worked diligently within ASTM’s collaborative process to develop a standard for headgear based on research data.

“That standard is now in the balloting process through ASTM, and we’re encouraged that upon approval, the standard will be required as part of any headgear intervention in women’s lacrosse in Florida.”