In the last decade, women’s lacrosse has introduced more rules, mouth guards,and goggles to keep the game safe. Now the question is whether or not helmets should be added to the required headgear, as some believe they could potentially prevent head injuries such as concussions.
With the current rules and regulations of the game, some players feel that hard helmets are unnecessary. Nicole Sciabarra, a junior, has played lacrosse for Wilde Lake for the past two years. She believes that women’s lacrosse should not be changed in any way. “Adding helmets would hinder the game,” Sciabarra says. Sciabarra argues that having helmets would make the game more physical.
Rachel Lazris played lacrosse for the first time last year and agrees that hard helmets would change the aggressiveness of the game. “I don’t think they have to have more helmets because there isn’t much contact, but if they want to make it more contact then they should require helmets.”
Kelsey Diven, a field player, is also not supportive of adding helmets to the game. “I think if they required headgear then they would need to change the rules. So then women’s lacrosse would more resemble men’s lacrosse,” says Diven. “I probably wouldn’t even play anymore because of the more physical play.”
Brian Houstle plays men’s lacrosse at Wilde Lake. “While without helmets the girls are more protected. With helmets girls will feel as though they can not get hurt so they may injure their head more,” Houstle said. “The same thing happened with football. When they have had leather helmets, fewer head injuries happened. Now with stronger helmets, the players lead with their heads and they now have higher amounts of head injuries,” says Houstle.
Kate Glaros has played lacrosse for nine years and feels differently about the helmets.“I see the benefits of wearing helmets because I often worry about getting hit in the head when I’m driving to goal. I don’t want to get injured and I feel that having helmets would offer more protection,” said Glaros. “I also would embrace a change in rules to allow more aggressive and physical play which could only happen if we had helmets.”
Fear of their game changing concerns many players. And helmets would change the game according to Isabelle Doyle. “ We play women’s lacrosse because we like it how it is, and changes in the game could take away from the enjoyment we have from playing it,” Doyle said.
