Our spring league, the Illinois Boys Lacrosse Association (IBLA), changed its age groupings for the Spring 2017 lacrosse season based on recommendations by U.S. Lacrosse, which is the national governing body of youth lacrosse.
The changes are as follows:
Majors – 7/8th Grade
– A, B & C levels
– 10 v 10. All counts
– Full length Long sticks allowed
Minors – 5/6th Grade
– A, B & C levels
– 10 v 10. All counts
– Full length Long sticks allowed
Juniors – 3rd/4th Grade
– A, B & C levels
– 10 v 10. No counts, except for 10 sec goalie count.
– No Long Poles, Sticks can be between 38 – 42 inches.
Mini’s – 1st/2nd Grade
– Flat Level all players should be equally dispersed
– 7 v 7 Game play (2, 2, 2 & Goalie)
– 2 – 20 minute halves
– Face off after every goal
Clarification on divisions
A = Top players in the program or 80% of player from the highest grade.
B = If your team has 50% of players from the highest grade, team must be in the “B” division.
C = This is a developmental division for new players of the game.
As a program, FCA Lacrosse is strongly in agreement with these changes to the league.
We are excited about the opportunity for growth and play for the Minis, lots of touches on a smaller field will be excellent and more fun for them.
Changing the top level to include both 7th and 8th grades will give us the opportunity to provide a team for the 8th graders that were 7th graders playing in the program last year.
We are really hoping that the new Clarification on divisions will provide a more clear directive for programs to place their teams in the correct positions. We will not decide our divisions for each team until after our evaluations, but we will use these “Clarifications” to guide our decision making process in evaluating players.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us via email: fcalaxchicagowest@gmail.com
