Anonymous wrote:Agree. Helmets won't change the behavior causing the concern. Enforcement of rules will.

my boys have played lax for 6 years, rec, travel, box. I have never seen bad behavior meaningfully corrected by officiating - the responsibility begins and ends with the coaches. Played teams w hacks (even crosschecking into facemask) but my kids never had a concussion - Helmets keep kids safe

Helmets are for liberals, like socialism it won’t succeed.

Agree. Helmets won't change the behavior causing the concern. Enforcement of rules will.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the hells wrong with being aggressive anyway?

-aggressive successful woman.

Nothing, so long as it is within the rules which, for lacrosse, impose significant limits on contact in the women's game that differ from the men's game and, which, in my view make it a better and more interesting one where speed and skill are more important than physical strength.

+1 Better enforcement by refs and coaches would rectify 9 out of 10 occurrences of dangerous play. The other 1 out of 10 is basically a risk you have to be willing to take.

Refs need to hand out red cards like candy until the girls have trained themselves to not make dangerous checks near the head/neck/face, and coaches need to pull their girls from the games if they see a girl making dangerous checks that are not being called by the refs. As soon as girls start getting red-carded or pulled, they will change their behavior. Until then, it seems like anything goes. Hopefully no girl will die or experience a traumatic brain injury in the meantime.

The responsibility here rests firmly on coaches and refs to enforce safe play, and on parents to encourage their girls to play safe.

Anonymous wrote:What the hells wrong with being aggressive anyway?

-aggressive successful woman.

There is a difference between being aggressive dangerous with your stick AND aggressive assertive play. If you don't know the difference then you or your daughter should not be playing.

Anonymous wrote:What the hells wrong with being aggressive anyway?

-aggressive successful woman.

Nothing, so long as it is within the rules which, for lacrosse, impose significant limits on contact in the women's game that differ from the men's game and, which, in my view make it a better and more interesting one where speed and skill are more important than physical strength.

Wearing helmets or not is not the issue. The problem is consistently enforcing the current rules. To enforce the rules you need better training for coaches and referees. A helmet didn't prevent our goalie from sustaining multiple concussions. Are parents really going to stop shouting "stop swinging at her head" when the girls wear helmets -- no. Rightfully so, no parent will want players swinging at heads with or without helmets. Make the rules clear to coaches and refs, coach the players on the rules, and enforce the rules.

Anonymous wrote:Helmets don’t prevent concussions -FACT.

This is basically it. They can prevent contusions, but in some cases can actually increase the extent of brain injuries.

My preference would be for the soft padding (like in rugby) instead of hard helmets. Proven safer and accomplishes the actual intended goal.

I played many years ago, before helmets or goggles, when sticks were made out of wood and catgut. I still have a scar from getting checked in the face.

Helmets don’t prevent concussions -FACT.

What the hells wrong with being aggressive anyway?

-aggressive successful woman.

Considering I know three girls that have gotten concussions from lacrosse within the past six months I can’t see why the girls would not wear helmets. It won’t make them more aggressive. Accidents happen and the girls I know that ha d gotten concussions have gotten them when they were hit in the head by accident with either a stick or a ball. Helmets for sure. It must come from the parents insisting on it and if you get enough parents insisting on it the leagues and schools will have no choice but to follow suit.

My daughter and her team already have been for a year.

-Colorado

Man, when I played against the girls team in middle school, we had an unfair advantage since our sticks had pockets, and the girls didn't.

It made things even more lopsided.

Whether wearing a helmet makes the wearer more aggressive is an interesting point but, from what I've seen, the game has grown more aggressive at a pace faster than helmet uptake and I don't believe that helmets are a cause. Refs also need to do their job and to call penalties without regard to the equipment being worn (or, as I sometimes see, the relative skill of the players involved). Coaches need to instruct safety first -- especially at the early years when checking is introduced. This obviously can help, but I don't think will ever eliminate sloppy sticks around the head.

At the end of the day, if wearing a helmet can protect a child from injury, I don't see a very good argument for at least allowing a helmet to be worn by those who choose to wear one. I'm not sure that mandatory helmets are coming in the near term, but I think it is probably inevitable at some point.