ZONE 5 PENALTY REPORTING & SCHEDULING POLICIES
PENALTY REPORTING
1. Clubs (and their teams) need to self-report when a player is ejected from the Zone game within 24hrs (i.e. receives a game misconduct (GM), match (MP) or gross misconduct (GRM) penalty). Teams also need to self-report when a team exceeds the Total Penalty Minutes policy (i.e. if a team accumulates 26 penalty minutes in U11 or below, or 36 penalty minutes in U13 or above, the head coach of the team will receive an automatic game misconduct as per OLA’s Automatic Discipline Policy). It is essential that team managers and/or coaches are checking the game sheet following each zone game for penalties that come with a suspension/fine (as per OLA Automatic Discipline Policy) and reporting it as per Zone 5 policy. This includes the automatic GM to the head coach when a team accumulates 26 penalty minutes or more in U11 or below, or 36 penalty minutes or more in U13 or above). It is also important to check for incorrectly coded penalties on the gamesheet. Our experience in past years has been that new scorekeepers and/or referees don’t understand the penalty coding in GameSheet and can accidentally apply a more severe penalty than was actually called leading to penalties that look like they should suspensions. Note: tournament games & corresponding infractions are handled at the tournament and don’t need to be reported to Zone 5.
2. Self reporting means that the club (recommend president, or team manager with cc to president and rep director) must report the infraction via email (please include the game #, date) to (i) OLA Zone 5 Director <olazone5director(at)gmail.com> , (ii) the OLA Zone 5 OIC <jeanclauderickard(at)gmail.com>; and (iii) with a cc to the OLA Zone 5 Past Director <PastZone5Director(at)gmail.com> by email within 24 hours of the occurrence. We will review the game sheet and advise on next steps as per OLA’s Automatic Discipline Policy.
3. The player/coach/trainer does not participate in game action until suspensions are served fully. Suspended players/coaches/trainers must be noted in GameSheet for subsequent games in order to document that the suspension was served.
4. Failure to report any of the above infractions within:
- 24 hours = $100 fine
- 72 hours = $200 fine
- beyond 72 hours = $500 fine and immediate suspension of the head coach of the team in question until dealt with by the Zone 5 Discipline Committee
If a team uses a player/coach/trainer who should have been suspended and their participation was not approved by the Zone 5 Director, the player in question will be suspended indefinitely and club fined $500. For all subsequent offenses involving the use of a suspended player, a $1000 fine will be levied per violation.
The OLA Automatic Discipline Policy is in effect for all participants (players, bench personnel, volunteers) of the u9, u11, u13, u15, u17 and u22 and corresponding girls’ divisions of OLA box lacrosse (the 2023 version is linked, and I’m not aware of any changes for 2025). All fines and suspensions are automatic once they have been recorded on the OLA game sheet and signed off by the referees. It is the sole responsibility of the penalized team to adhere to the OLA’s Minor Box Automatic Discipline Policy throughout the entire season.
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GAME CANCELLATION OR RESCHEDULE
The zone has a game cancellation & rescheduling policy. For rescheduling, as long as there is a minimum of 14 days notice (10 business days) then there will be no fine.
- Reschedule with less than 14 days (or 10 business days) notice $100
- <48 hours notice / No Show = $500
Club schedulers have worked together to establish the initial zone game schedule. While there are a couple issues still to sort out, games are being uploaded into GameSheet to facilitate electronic gamesheet use. Games can be rescheduled/canceled as per zone policy. Once schedulers have agreed on a schedule change an email must be sent by one of the club schedulers (cc’ing the other scheduler) to the Zone 5 scheduler (i.e. Zone 5 Past Director <PastZone5Director(at)gmail.com>). The Zone 5 scheduler will then update the game accordingly in Gamesheet Inc.
Please remind your teams that rescheduling a game should be avoided if possible. We require a strong commitment from teams to play the games as scheduled. Clubs have reserved floor time and need to pay for it even when game is rescheduled (some clubs in the Zone have are subject to a 30-day cancellation policy on their municipal floor time contracts), families have made plans, schedulers have spent countless hours trying to get everything organized and referees are trying to balance their work/life schedules. The Zone will be assessing fines for these incidents when it is not a mutual request to reschedule/cancel.
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SCORE REPORTING
All Zone 5 clubs are required to upload teams rosters and use the GameSheet Inc iPad scoring app for zone games in 2025. Scores recorded through GameSheet Inc will be automatically synced with MyLaxrankings.com. Alerts can be set up by clubs/teams to receive notifications of scores and/or penalties electronically.