Reminder: Member Program Guidelines & Compliance
In order to encourage good member program behavior and to protect those teams that have followed MAYLA’s mission and spirit of the league, MAYLA has developed operational and organizational guidelines with categories of member program status to ensure that all teams support and nurture MAYLA’s efforts. A copy of these guidelines can be found here.
Note that MAYLA recently responded to requests for clarification regarding its position on so-called "in-season tournaments", which are tournaments scheduled for dates on which MAYLA games are to be scheduled. MAYLA's letter of interpretation can be found here.
Key MAYLA Dates
Looking Ahead — Calendar Year 2022
March 5: Annual Coaches Meeting
March 15: MAYLA schedule is released
April 1: Certificates of insurance, lightning policy, action plans due
April 1: Coaches certification deadline; background check status
April 10: Officials on-field training and scrimmages
April 16-17: Easter Weekend — no games
April 23: Opening Day
May 8: Mothers’ Day — no games
May 28-29: Memorial Day Weekend — no games
TBD: Laxtravaganza!
June 11-12: Closing Weekend
More dates to come!
Recruiting Officials
There has been a substantial decline in the number of active and available officials, throughout the country and most sports but affecting lacrosse at the youth level in the State of Wisconsin. Games simply cannot be played without the requisite number of officials; the impact is critical.
We ask programs to help recruit at least one lacrosse official for each of the girls’ and boys’ games. Officials need to be at least 16 years old.
Grants are available for officials — information is on the MAYLA website. And, training dates are upcoming; see the section “For Officials”, below.
Organization Standards & Best Practices
USA Lacrosse, in collaboration with leading experts in the sports industry and the country’s most impactful member leagues, has developed standards that should be incorporated by youth lacrosse programs nationally. They are criterion for every league to measure progress and create a plan for continued success. These standards can be found here.
The goal for each program, chapter or league should be to become an organization where diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of the values and culture of the program. Bringing together varied life experiences and perspectives adds significant value to your community and reinforces the concept of inclusivity.
Best practices and resources for working toward this goal can be found here.
Reminder: Registering Players
Please remember to review MAYLA’s policies as you are registering players. (See the Program Manual Guidelines). No member club should register any player from outside of their school district boundaries. If parents or guardians want to register their player(s) with your club but they do not live within your respective school district boundaries then you should refer them to League Commissioner Robin Buckley, who will provide direction as to which member club they should be joining. Open-enrollment players must register in the club associated with the school district where they go to school. If a parent lives in a school district that does not have a MAYLA member club, that parent should contact League Commissioner Robin Buckley. If a parent lives in a school district that does not have a MAYLA club but that school district has a club from a different association, then they should be registering with the club associated with their school district. MAYLA member clubs must not recruit players from outside of their school district boundaries. If a family attends a parochial / private school, that family should register with the MAYLA member club that corresponds to the school district boundaries within in which their primary residence is located.
Contact Information
Many programs have had elections or otherwise changed leadership. If your program has experienced a change in its leadership, please contact Mary DiGiacomo or Emily Anderson with those names and email contacts so that we can be sure that everyone receives the information they should be.
COVID & Youth Sports — Additional Resources
US Lacrosse has put together a lot of thoughtful information regarding COVID and the Return to Play. Much of that information can be found here.
For additional information on COVID and youth sports, please check out this website from The Aspen Institute’s Project Play.
105.7FM The Fan – Youth Sports Show
On his Youth Sports Show, Mike McGivern recently interviewed Jay Bitter (Marketing & Communications Director), Kevin Kane (Past President), and Robin Buckley (League Commissioner). This segment and may be helpful for interested parents and even new programs.
Find the recording, here.
