FAQs
What is Massachusetts Youth Lacrosse?
Massachusetts Youth Lacrosse is a confederation of over 150 individual town-based youth lacrosse organizations. Formed in 1992, MYL is one of the largest community-based youth leagues in the United States. Town member programs play a local travel schedule against their neighboring town teams, supported by an all-volunteer Board of Directors and full time operational staff.
Why do I need a membership with MYL?
All athletes and register with the league to ensure eligibility requirements are met as well as to provide secondary accidental medical insurance as well as a general liability policy. MYL Memberships provide year round insurance for the player, coaches and town programs. While the local town organization is the athlete’s primary home and organization, there are vital league-wide announcements and policies that need to be communicated directly to our constituents (players, coaches, officials, and town directors) which will periodically come in the form of email through our website.
Do I need to register my child with USALacrosse?
No. If your child is planning to play in MYL you are not required to register your child with USALacrosse. We provide our own insurance for all participants who have registered or register for the upcoming and/or ongoing lacrosse season during open enrollment.
Where can I get a MYL Membership?
If your town program is on an OTTOSport site, you will purchase your MYL Membership during the registration process on your town's site! If your town does use an integrated OTTOSport site, they will direct you to the proper MYL Membership link when you are registering on their site.
Why does a MYL Membership cost $45?
MYL Memberships cover a wide range of league and town related expenses each season. MYL memberships cover the required secondary accidental medical insurance policy for each athlete. The membership also covers the required insurance for your player's coach, and for the town programs general liability insurance needed to use and/or rent fields in your town. The remaining cost covers vital league administration expenses including, but not limited to, scheduling, officials assignment, web hosting, coaching education certification, Jamboree operations, regional support, administrative and technical support staff, and a number of auxiliary programs and experiences including clinics, camps, tournaments, and lacrosse-related events throughout Massachusetts and New England.
Who do I contact for technical support?
For all questions and issues relating to technical support for MYL, please email support@massyouthlax.org and our technical administrator will respond in a timely manner. Please include all pertinent information including names, town programs, and a detailed description of the issue(s).
Which town programs participate in MYL?
MYL is one of several town-based youth lacrosse leagues in Massachusetts and every town program has a choice in which league it joins. However, MYL continues to be the largest league in Massachusetts (and New England) and one of the largest and most nationally acclaimed in the United States. For a complete list of MYL member town programs, please see the “Classic League” tab of our homepage.
Who is eligible to play in MYL?
MYL is comprised of male and female athletes between 1st – 8th grade who live in any MYL city or town. Kindergarteners are also eligible to play in the 1st/2nd level if the parents and town program feel they are physically and emotionally mature enough. Female athletes can elect to play for an MYL boys or girls team, if the town program allows them to play for their boys team.
MYL is grade-based with an age qualifier. Athletes and teams are designated by the following grade-based levels: 1st/2nd (formerly U9), 3rd/4th (formerly U11), 5th/6th (formerly U13), and 7th/8th (formerly U15). While a player’s current academic grade dictates the level they play in, it is possible that they have “aged out” of that particular level if their birth date falls before the cutoff date. For a chart of the current age requirement dates, please see “Rules” tab.
MYL Classic games take place every Sunday in the spring with the exception of Easter Sunday and Memorial Day weekend. The season typically starts the first weekend in April and ends the first weekend of June. Game times vary from town-to-town, but most games take place between 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM. MYL Select games typically take place Friday evenings or Saturdays during the spring season. Some towns also play midweek games as additional contests or as make-up games.
When do the practices take place?
Each town program dictates their own practice schedule based on field availability. The town director and/or team coach will provide the practice schedule to the families directly.
MYL “Classic” refers to the travel league that all MYL towns and teams participate in with games on Sundays. The “Classic” program invites balanced teams from all levels to play 8 competitive local games from the first weekend in April until the first weekend in June (typically).
What is a “balanced team” and why does MYL require them?
If a town has multiple teams at a level, the league requires the town to “balance” them, meaning the rosters are compiled of an equal number of upper and lower grade athletes, experienced and new athletes, advanced and developing athletes, as well as positional players. In theory, if the two (or more) teams were to play against one another, the game would be very competitive. MYL does not believe in “stacking” teams or designating “A” players and “B” players and segregating them based on their ability. Youth athletes want to play with their friends (all their friends). As a teaching league, the “balanced” format has been a part of the league’s DNA since its inception and many high school coaches, medical experts, psychologists, and industry leaders believe in this philosophy and format for the development of the athlete and the prolonged success of a town’s high school program.
There are no standings for MYL Classic League, which is first-and-foremost a teaching league. During a contest, the score IS kept. At the end of the game, one team wins and one team loses. But after the handshake, each team leaves the field and prepares for their next week’s game none-the-wiser. There is no “Win-Loss” record in MYL Classic.
There are no Championships nor playoffs for MYL Classic. Each team is scheduled 8 spring games with no postseason. However, to satisfy the competitive drive for our older players, the league offers Mass Select which does have a postseason based on standings in the form of a Championship single-elimination tournament.
What is the MYL Select League?
Mass Select is an additional program offered to towns that wish to enter older teams of advanced athletes into a highly competitive and simultaneous spring experience. Each select team is scheduled 7 regular season games with standings and power rankings. A postseason in the form of a single-elimination tournament crowns league champions across 7th/8th and 5th/6th levels for DI, DII, and D3 and D4. All Mass Select players must play for (and act as role models on) their MYL Classic team in order to be eligible to participate in Mass Select.
MYL hires an individual or company to collect data from the town programs in the winter and compile the spring schedule for all MYL Classic teams. From 2018-present, MTCO (Measure Twice, Cut Once) has been scheduling MYL games. Mass Select games are scheduled by a hired Select League Scheduler. Midweek games and other “pickup” games are scheduled between the towns directly.
If your town program uses a OTTO website, the town site and the league site are integrated and synchronized and the up-to-date game schedule can be viewed on either site.
How do I get notifications on my smartphone?
By downloading the OTTO app to your smartphone and logging into your account.
There is a wide variety of coaching backgrounds in MYL. Any adult who registers and completes the National Background Check, CORI Check and Abuse Prevention Training Course can coach a youth lacrosse team and MYL provides support, education, training, and certification to specifically help new coaches and to retrain returning ones. Every town has different tactics for recruiting volunteer (and paid) coaches. Whether or not you are a parent, whether or not you have playing experience, whether or not you’ve coached youth sports before, all are welcome and encouraged to give back to their community through coaching or managing youth sports and helping to grow lacrosse in Massachusetts by being a positive role model and a teacher of this game as well as the game of life.
What is the MYL Coaching Education Certification?
MYL encourages all, but requires at least one coach per MYL Classic team and all coaches for Mass Select teams to receive Coaching Education Certification. CED Certification lasts two years and certified coaches receive a badge which is to be worn at all times during MYL events. Coaches who are MYL certified take multiple online courses with a curriculum that focuses on rules, strategies, fundamentals, teaching, positive behavior, health and safety issues, as well as teaching proper physicality techniques. In addition to the online courses, coaches seeking certification are required to attend an MYL-sponsored coaching clinic every two years for a review of the online curriculum as well as a presentation of new and updated drills, theories, rules, and league policies.
MYL Classic and Mass Select games are officiated by certified referees who belong to either the Eastern Massachusetts Lacrosse Officials Association (EMLOA) for boys games or the Eastern Massachusetts Womens Lacrosse Umpire Association (EMWLUA). Senior EMLOA and EMWLUA officials are assigned to MYL games for 3rd/4th, 5th/6th, and 7th/8th levels. For Girls Game Junior Officials (High School aged officials) Mass Youth Lacrosse supports the adminstration, scheduling and training of Junior Officials in partnership with EMWLUA. For Boys Associate Officials, each town program is required to sponsor and support high school aged Associate Officials who can act as the second official for older levels or as the primary official for a 1st/2nd level game.
What rules govern the youth game?
MYL plays by USA Lacrosse Youth rules (which are based on – but not identical to – National Federation of High School rules). However, there are MYL “modifications” that are voted on by the MYL Competition, Rules, and Game Administration committee and are specific to Massachusetts Youth Lacrosse. These rules can be found in the MYL Pre-Game checklist.
After the MYL Classic season ends, MYL hosts a four-day (two-weekend) festival at Devens, MA in which over 400 teams from all over the state compete in a trio of abbreviated games over 12 grass fields. Sponsors, as well as food, equipment, merchandise, and other retail vendors, attend to nearly 20,000 visitors making this the signature event of the season.
What are the Mass Select All-Stars?
Each Mass Select team nominates an athlete to represent the team at the Mass Select All-Star games at the end of the season. Over the years the All-Star games have taken place in July or August prior to a Boston Cannons home game at Harvard Stadium, at Babson College, and, since 2022, at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy.
What are the Mass Bay Colonials?
In 2014, MYL asked each town to nominate an extraordinary athlete and leader to try out for a league-wide team that would participate in the World Lacrosse Championships in Denver, Colorado. 44 athletes from 5th – 8th grade became the inaugural members of the Mass Bay Colonials. In December 2018, the second group of Mass Bay Colonials traveled to Orlando, Florida for the Orlando Lacrosse Open. In December of 2022, one boys and one girls Mass Bay Colonials team traveled to Austin, TX to participate in the Lax at The Ranch Tournament.
What happens after the MYL spring season?
While the all-volunteer Board of Directors and MYL Operational Staff operates year-round, the spring season (for athletes) comes to an end at the conclusion of the MYL Jamboree in June. Most athletes will play for summer club teams, attend camps and clinics, participate in fall/winter programs, and explore other lacrosse offerings. Mass Youth Lacrosse also supports off season camps and clinics, all at a low cost, for MYL athletes.
Every effort will be made to keep this website up-to-date with relevant information. We encourage all MYL participants to follow the league (as well as its sponsors and endorsed affiliates) on social media. As an all-volunteer organization, we encourage people who wish to give back to their community to get involved with their local town organization. We are also eager for feedback and will update this FAQ page with additional questions we see regularly through the feedback button on the homepage.
