William P.

Sullivan
21200 S. La Grange Road #365, Frankfort, IL 60423 301(815) 301-8538 wps013@gmail.com

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Ann Kitt Carpenetti Managing Director of Game Administration US Lacrosse 113 W. University Parkway Baltimore, MD 21210

VIA EMAIL to acarpenetti@uslacrosse.org

Dear Ms. Carpenetti,

I am writing this letter to you based upon our team's experiences during a Lacrosse tournament in Washington, IL which was held on May 19 and 20th, 2012. During this tournament, there were many good games and there was also a significant amount of hard-hitting at all levels of play. In one high school game, I witnessed hard hits turn into fighting on the field, after which several players were ejected. The second day of the tournament, our team, the Orland Park Chiefs, faced the Peoria Lightning. Despite being classified as a "U-13" game, meaning that players could be no older than 12 years of age, many of the players from the Peoria team were significantly larger and heavier than our players, leading several parents to question whether age restrictions were being followed. The Peoria team played extremely rough throughout the whole game, but toward the end of the first half, the Peoria players made hits that were undoubtedly intended to injure our players. In fact, at the end of one play, one of the Peoria players actually grabbed one of our players around the chest and body slammed him on the ground. Video of this event can be viewed at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srBHhglAJNg. A penalty was called, but the Peoria player was allowed to continue playing. Other video footage from the game showed Peoria players chopping our players in the heads with their sticks, checking them in the backs, and taking running start to intentionally knock down our players. Despite these intentionally malicious actions, no players were ejected from the game. One Peoria player who was allowed to continue playing after an illegal "take out check" in the video above later hit one of our players so hard (after a whistle) that our player had to sit out the rest of the game with a shoulder injury. Video of this hit can be viewed at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlgRqA0y5Ho.

Ann Kitt Carpenetti May 22, 2012 Page 2 of 3

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Several of the team parents discussed our concerns with a gentlemen named Matt who was the director of the Washington tournament. He was very receptive to our concerns. Matt stated that many of the kids on the Peoria team play hockey and that they aren't as good at controlling themselves during lacrosse games. I told him I believed that he was making excuses for inappropriate, dangerous, and malicious conduct and that he wasn't addressing the issue of our players being injured. Matt also stated that the Peoria coach was in his first year coaching lacrosse and he probably wasn't as familiar with the rules. Again, I told him that making excuses for inadequate coaching was not addressing the issue of our players being intentionally injured on the field. Matt told me that he was a lacrosse referee himself and that he instructed other referees on proper rules for the game. Matt viewed the video clip of our player being body slammed and stated that the Peoria player's actions were entirely unacceptable, that he would personally watch Peoria's next game, and that he would call the game and Peoria would forfeit if there was any unnecessary roughness. I asked him why he wasn't disqualifying Peoria from the previous game based on this player's and other players' actions. He stated that there was nothing he could do about rule violations after the fact because it would create a "firestorm." He posed the question to me of how he could justify taking a retrospective action like that and I referred him to the online guidebook and rules for boys lacrosse on the US Lacrosse web site. I even offered to pull the guidebook up for him on my phone. Matt did not want to see the guidebook at that time, but promised to be at the next game. When we returned home from the Washington tournament, I forwarded copies of the video of the body slam to the parents of our team members and our coaches. Many of the parents were very upset by what they saw. One of the parents stated that she heard other players from the Peoria team bragging about how they injured our players during the game. We were also informed by a coach that lacrosse is growing quickly in popularity and that the lack of certified coaches and referees may encourage some coaches to flaunt US Lacrosse rules and may hinder the willingness of referees to properly enforce US Lacrosse rules. The culture in which players are lauded for maliciously injuring members of the opposing team and in which coaches and referees are hesitant to mete out punishment for such actions must change immediately. Rules mean nothing if they are not enforced. If certification (and the threat of losing certification) is necessary for coaches and referees to become familiar with the rules and to properly enforce the rules, then US Lacrosse should put certification of coaches and referees high on its list of priorities. Failure to address this issue may have legal implications for referees, coaches, and even the US Lacrosse organization itself. While players and parents are required to sign a waiver of liability, such waivers generally do not apply to reckless or intentional actions. Legal liability for sports injuries is not uncommon. For example, in Gauvin v. Clark (537 N.E.2d 94), a court held that a hockey player who hit an opposing player with hockey stick could be held liable if the injured player could demonstrate that a reckless disregard of safety occurred. In Griggas v. Clauson (128 N.E.2d 363) a court imposed liability on a basketball player who assaulted a player on the

Ann Kitt Carpenetti May 22, 2012 Page 3 of 3

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opposing team during a game. In Averill v. Luttrell (311 S.W.2d 812), a baseball catcher was liable when he punched a batter in the head. Even professional athletes have had liability imposed upon them for malicious actions. In Hackbart v. Cincinnati Bengals, Inc., (601 F.2d 516) the appellate court ruled that a Cincinnati Bengals player could be held liable for hitting a Denver Broncos player in the back of the head and causing a neck fracture while the Broncos player was watching the end of a play on the field. I can't imagine that players, coaches, or even this organization will escape liability if rules are not followed or enforced and a player is severely injured by the malicious acts of an opposing team member. The blog post titled "The Time Has Come to Remove Violent Collision from Men's Lacrosse" on the US Lacrosse web site (http://www.uslacrosse.org/Blog/tabid/2819/EntryId/30/The-TimeHas-Come-to-Remove-Violent-Collision-from-Mens-Lacrosse.aspx) could not have come at a better time. Expulsion from the game for malicious hits should be mandatory, not discretionary. There should be mandatory reporting to US Lacrosse of players expelled for malicious hits and those players with repeated expulsions should be barred from membership in the organization or barred from playing the sport permanently. Checking and hits are a part of the game of lacrosse and players will undoubtedly suffer injuries even under the best circumstances. However, a failure or a hesitancy to enforce the rules regarding violent or malicious actions and a failure to have rules that sufficiently discourage and penalize such actions threaten not only the safety of our players, but also threaten the popularity of this great sport and the viability of this organization. As Mr. Stenersen stated in the blog post above, "If we dont accept this important responsibility [of protecting player safety], the games violent reputation will surely impede its continued growth." Sincerely,

William P. Sullivan

The Time Has Come to Remove Violent Collision from Men's Lacrosse

Written by:Steve Stenersen 5/21/2012 2:22:00 AM

The issue of high speed collision in boys and mens lacrosse is an immediate concern with respect to rule evolution and enforcement. Lacrosse was never intended to be football with sticks, yet violent collisions of similar force regularly occur on the lacrosse field due to bigger, stronger, faster playerscoaches who encourage big hitsand officials who either dont feel empowered or refuse to enforce current rules. The issue of high speed collision in boys and mens lacrosse is an immediate concern with respect to rule evolution and enforcement. Lacrosse was never intended to be football with sticks, yet violent collisions of similar force regularly occur on the lacrosse field due to bigger, stronger, faster playerscoaches who encourage big hitsand officials who either dont feel empowered or refuse to enforce current rules. Id like to see rule changes proposed that severely penalize hits to unprotected/defenseless players. For instance, in a loose ball situation, I believe we should consider eliminating the opportunity for a player who has no intention of playing the ball from running full speed into another player who is playing the ball. This may be viewed as blasphemous to some who relish the violent component of the game, but even the NFL has embraced similar rules because of growing concerns about player safety. The minimum penalties associated with existing rules focused on player safety simply arent sufficient to change player behavior; allowing an official the latitude to call a 1, 2 or 3-minute penalty for a rule violation involving player safety rarely results in a 2 or 3-minute penalty. Id like to see the minimum penalty for unnecessary roughness, illegal body checks, and contact to an opponents head increased from 1 minute to 2 minutes, and expulsion should be an acceptable call for each of these infractions if theyre viewed as sufficiently violent. Im not sure why some coaches dont seem to appreciate that a 1-minute penalty is not a fair punishment for an infraction that results in the loss of a player to injurynor is it a sufficient deterrent to the violent behavior in the first place. One final thoughtUS Lacrosse recently reduced the distance from a loose ball within which legal body contact can be made from 5 yards to 3 yards as part of our national youth rules. The intent was to reduce the momentum and resulting intensity of collision between players that could lead to injury. Because adult players can accelerate at a much faster rate and carry frames that easily weigh twice as much as U15 players, this rule is completely transferrable to the high school and college levels, as well. Coaches, officials and fans who support violent collision as an essential part of the game dont fully appreciate the potential for serious injury, particularly with respect to the long term effects of concussion, for both the player being hit and the player who initiates contact. Player safety, not tradition, must be the primary focus of proactive efforts to evolve the rules of the game. If we dont accept this important responsibility, the games violent reputation will surely impede its continued growth.

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