I am not worried about their safety so much as the safety in general. I have two kids in the youth ages, and about the last thing I want to see more of is teams loaded with older kids playing down. The other things I really don't care for are the chippy games and retribution mentality of the game from the coaching level on downwards. How about spin the ball fast and score first. Hit first and hit hard...I don't think I lost the inference on that comment. Sorry, I just see too much of a vested interest in the game now being controlled by the thugs on one sideline loading up 16 year olds against 14 year olds, and thugs on the other sideline coaching kids to do something about it other than play straight up good lacrosse. In my estimation these kids want to play and have some fun, and also compete. Everything wrong with lacrosse is over the age of 40 dressed like a 14 year old making it worse for the real 14 year olds.
If a tournament allows players to play down and it is a tournament that requires a US Lacrosse # - then that tournament has real potential liabilities if a kid were to get hurt. If a tournament "knows in advance" that teams have older players playing down, then that is even worse.
