Farmington Youth Athletic Association

The FYLA mission is to grow the sport of lacrosse in Farmington and for the sport to be a positive force in the lives of our youth. 

Your Lacrosse Association has adopted a "positive coach" and "honor the game" philosophy as taught by the positive coaching alliance www.positivecoach.org.

Youth athletes often join sports for fun and friends. As your lacrosse association, we are focused on building and improving lacrosse skills in our youth while offering that opportunity for friendly competition.

Sometimes coaches, parents and fans get into the competition and want the team to WIN no matter what.  As players play up to the high school varsity level, winning and individual statistics become even more important. 

But, for our youth in elementary and middle school, lacrosse should be about skill development first, fun second, and winning third.

Some coaches may step over the line and adopt a win-at-all-cost mentality, bully or berate their players, or yell at the referrees.  The FYLA Board will not tolerate this behavior.

The FYLA board will do our best to recruit and select the best coaches we can who uphold a positive coaching attitude and who have a coaching philosophy that is focused on skill development, friendly competition, and fun. 

A win-at-all-cost coach has only one goal – to win. A Positive Coach shares that goal (wants to win) but has a second goal that is even more important – to use the sports experience to help young people learn life lessons and positive character traits that will help them be successful throughout their lives.

Honoring the Game means that we ask all players, parents and coaches to respect the following:

• Rules: We don't bend the rules to win
• Opponents:  A worthy opponent forces us to play to our highest potential. 
• Officials: We treat officials with respect even when we disagree with the call 
• Teammates: We never do anything that would embarrass our team on or off the field.  
• Self: We live up to our own standards regardless of what others do.

The following 2 items are required to become a coach or assisstant coach in our association.

1) Background Check: In order to become a coach in our association, a background check will be required.

Find the form in our Forms page or at the following link:

http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0006/5298/BackgroundCheck.pdf
 
Return the completed form to an FYLA board member.

2) US Lacrosse Membership.   The leagues we play in require coaches to become US Lacrosse members.  This is required before the start of the season.
 
http://www.uslacrosse.org/TopNav/Membership/USLacrosseMembership.aspx
 
The cost is $50 for adults and it will be good for one year.  Print the invoice and attach to the expense reimbursement form:
 
http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/document/0006/5290/laxFYLA_Reimbursement_Form.pdf
 
Send the Expense Reimbursement form to our Treasurer 

FYLA
c/o Mary Stone
17807 Firebird Court

PCA CERTIFICATION

Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Certification is an additonal required item for any head coached in the MSSLax (Girls) league.

The document linked below describes the expectations for a double-goal coach.
 
http://www.positivecoach.org/pdffiles/coach_job_description.pdf

If you have other favorite coaching websites that are not linked here, please send Marc a list.

When you sign up for US Lax membership you will receive a 2011 Rule Book.  Please get familiar with the rule book.      Also, please review the MSSLAX rule modifications.

• Regulation Stick Pocket (no boys sticks)
• 5/6^th Grade- No stick checking
• 7/8^th Grade- Modified stick checking-stick is below shoulder level, check is downward direction
• No one but the Goalie is allowed in the crease
• No jewelry
• 4 goal lead rule (US Lacrosse rule), if you lead by 4 goals the other team gets the ball instead of a center draw
• 8 goal lead rule (MSSLax rule), "if your team leads by 8 or more points, your players must complete 3 passes before shooting on goal AND the other team gets the ball on the draw
• Youth 3 Seconds defensive position will turn over the ball

 The document attached provides league and coaching information (including rules interpretations, fouls, and cards) for MSSLAX Girls lacrosse.