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How
many men's club players wear mouthpieces? How many wear shoulder
pads? The same driving argument behind the bikers desire to
remain "helmetless" while riding, has now officially entered Men's
post collegiate club lacrosse...
US Lacrosse, the insuring party for Men's club,
brought in specialists to read some factoids about the rate of injury
and claims for Men's Club in an effort to mandate wearing protective
gear nationwide. Here are some of the statistics: 47% of
all claims to US Lacrosse-backed Bollinger come from the 1,400 men's
club members. This is a handful of members in the scheme of the
85,000 member organization of US Lacrosse. Most offending
injuries in these statistics, apply to knees, followed by
shoulders, then by hands. Self-admittedly, the committee had
minor statistics for the same group pertaining to head, mouth or arm
injuries. I found this to be interesting as their statements
were surrounding mouthpieces and helmets (must be NOCSAE approved.)
After some discussion about trying to force club
players to adhere to a national rule, the question arose, "is US
Lacrosse trying to protect the player, or transfer the risk?" In
reality, if you think about the dynamic of players, most if not all,
youth players, will claim through their parent's insurance, all the
way through college. That makes that 47% actually about right
considering the risk profile. So, in the new bylaws, use of a
NOCSAE helmet is required, but all of ther gear is "strongly
recommended".
Also the age-old debate on one unified body of
rules raged on. By a vote of 7 to 1 (PNLA) adopted NCAA rules
will be the formula for the future unified Men's Club League.
PNLA will continue to play ILF rules as we voted and passed that
ruling according to David Vannoy.
Where might this come into play? in the
Fall of 2006, there may be a National tournament for Club champions.
PNLA may send 1 team to a centralized location for this tournament,
and the rules played will be the NCAA adapted rules. Stay tuned
for more details!
Fred Wilmot
Walax.com |
