It’s official: helmets have been mandated in the state of Florida.
On June 10, the Florida High School Athletic Association ruled that all participating members of the FHSAA will have to wear helmets in 2015. These participating FHSAA programs will be the only teams in the nation state-mandated to wear this form of protective head gear.
“The board did vote on mandating a helmet for the 2015 season,” Alex Ozuna, an Assistant Director of Athletics and the lacrosse administrator for the Florida High School Athletic Association, confirmed Wednesday. “A board member brought up this recommendation to the board for an action item. It was discussed during the operations committee, and we had individuals from US Lacrosse present to kind of give the committee a background on where they currently are in the process of standardizing specifications for a soft helmet for the girl’s game.”
Ozuna continued: “The item was taken to the Board of Directors. The whole entire board reviewed and took into account what was said by the individuals from US Lacrosse and decided that because it is a major safety issue in our state — they took into account how long the process has been for US Lacrosse to get to this point — and moving forward that they wanted to go ahead and take the steps now instead of having to wait one, two, possibly three years for an actual product with the specific standardize specifications that US Lacrosse was going to implement.”
Melissa Coyne, the Women’s Game Director at US Lacrosse, was one of two US Lacrosse representatives present at the FHSAA board meeting and was disappointed in the decision to mandate helmets in a sport that has no standard or definition for what a women’s lacrosse helmet is. “The mandate is very vague. Just simply, that they would mandate women’s lacrosse players to wear a helmet. They did not indicate at any point during that meeting what that would be.”
Coyne continued, “Obviously, that caused concern amongst a lot of members attending the meeting and for US Lacrosse, as well. I find it to be extremely irresponsible for any governing body to suggest an equipment intervention that has not been tested for nor is relevant in the game it’s going to be used… I’m disappointed they would make such a short-sighted and vague mandate.”
The decision comes at a time that many close to the sport have advocated that player safety calls for head protection and that helmets are a necessary leap to ensure that all participants are out of harm’s way as it pertains to concussions and head trauma injuries. However, many others have jumped on the opposition’s side of the argument: mandating helmets in the women’s game will only make matters worse.
The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports is among them.
In a position statement dated December 2013, the NCAA addressed misperceptions regarding helmets and their prevention of concussions among student-athletes. “It should be noted that there is no helmet that can prevent a concussion,” the statement reads before touching base on what many have argued the premiere reason against helmets in women’s lacrosse: putting helmets on female players will only make the game more physical. The statement reads:
“When considering the use of this optional equipment during practice or permitted competition, athletes and coaches should take the time to read the qualifying statements provided with such a product addressing its limitations, particularly to prevent serious head injuries. Wearing such a device may provide a false sense of security in the area of concussion protection by the player, their coaches and their parents. In addition, placing headgear on a student-athlete may indirectly justify striking them in the head by opponents, especially in sports where this has never been the intent (for example, soccer, basketball, women’s lacrosse).
Moreover, a false sense of security in the area of concussion protection increases the likelihood that players, coaches, and parents will consider the medical condition to be adequately addressed and may place less importance upon avoiding head impact, reporting concussion symptoms, and returning to play prior to full recovery following a concussion.”
Also among those in favor of keeping the game helmet-free, the FHSAA girls lacrosse advisory panel comprising high school coaches within the FHSAA schools and an official. “The vote was strictly just the board members of the Florida High School Athletic Association. This topic was presented to our girls lacrosse advisory panel,” Ozuna said of the board’s vote against the advisory committee’s decision. “The panel did turn down this request to mandate helmets — so, they denied the recommendation; but, this recommendation was brought up by a board member at our board meeting and that’s what was voted on.”
In a historic move for the sport of women’s lacrosse, the decision made by the FHSAA already has the lacrosse community abuzz with questions: What were the factors behind this decision? Will this impact participation numbers in the country’s fastest-growing sport?
But, namely, the initial reaction has been: What type of helmet will be worn by these players?
The FHSAA cannot answer that question right now.
“The vote happened yesterday (Tuesday), so as a staff right now we’re just looking into a number of different things. We’re not quite sure where we’re going quite yet,” Ozuna said in regard to what type of helmet will be worn since no equipment provider in the sport offers a women’s lacrosse helmet, nor has US Lacrosse announced specification standards for what a women’s lacrosse helmet should be. "It’s a little premature to kind of guess where we’re going to go — whether it’s a soft or hard. If it’s a soft helmet, which helmet would it be? We’re not there yet. We’re looking into it.”
It is with that decision — that there has been no specific piece of equipment taken into account with this mandate — that disappoints the governing body for the sport the most. Expressed Coyne:
“US Lacrosse had no input into this decision. We were afforded very little time to talk or present on the subject other than within the operation committee. We were not consulted previous to this meeting. I had a single conversation with Alex Ozuna in which I laid out what US Lacrosse has been doing in women’s game safety and the head gear standard. He was very understanding of where we were and asked Bruce [Griffin; US Lacrosse’s Health & Safety Director] and I to come to attend the meeting to present that to the committee — which we did; but, we were not afforded that some opportunity at the board level. A discussion was limited to 20 minutes. It was taken up mostly by the [board member] who proposed the mandate. It seemed as if the members of the board had no interest in hearing what we had to say, which is disappointing.
…We honestly believe that players who want additional protection should be able to wear it — it’s our intention to make that standard optional. We understand that there will be state associations that want to mandate it and, in this case, we were hoping to work with the FHSAA… There is nothing out there that is designed for the women’s game and I see a tremendous amount of liability for that association should they provide some type of head gear for the girls not designed for the game and a young woman is to be injured. I would imagine that that would create a very interesting situation for them.”
Is US Lacrosse the "National Body" or just an organization in the sport. I didn't think they (USL) had any jurisdiction on the sport and what HS do; they suggest that is all.
It is the purely each states decision on what they will do.
