Parent's Guide to USA Lacrosse 12U Girls Lacrosse 2026

From the 2026 girls youth rules (Appendix B):

• Jewelry: not allowed. The only exceptions are a securely taped medic-alert medal with the information visible, and close-fitting cloth sweatbands. Anything else counts as jewelry.
• Barrettes and hair clips: allowed, as long as they don't endanger other players.
• Eye black: one solid stroke with no logos, numbers or letters. It can't extend past the width of the eye socket or below the cheekbone.
• Hard braces, casts and splints on the hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, upper arm or shoulder: allowed only if padded with closed-cell, slow-recovery foam at least 1/2 in. thick.
• Knee and ankle braces: if unaltered from the manufacturer's design, they need no extra padding.
• Close-fitting gloves may be worn.

USA Lacrosse may approve reasonable accommodations for disability, religious or other individual circumstances, as long as they don't create risk or an unfair advantage.

Under the 2026 girls youth rules (Appendix B):

• Legal girls sticks are required at 12U. Certified sticks and molded heads are listed on the USA Lacrosse website.
• Pocket depth: at 12U and 14U, with a ball in the pocket of a horizontally held stick, the top of the ball must be visible above the top of the entire sidewall.
• Free ball movement: the ball must roll freely through the whole head, side to side and end to end, and fall out easily when the stick is turned upside down. It must not get wedged anywhere.
• Holes: no gap in the pocket larger than 1.5 in.
• Shooting strings: no more than two, not crossed, attached within 3.5 in. of the top of the head. A bottom string shaped like an inverted "U" may be within 6.5 in.
• Loose strings: strings or leathers hanging off the stick can be no longer than 2 in.

Officials can check any pocket on the field.

Goalkeeper sticks are 35.5-52 in. long, including the end cap. They can have an unlimited pocket depth, as long as the ball moves freely.

Under the 2026 USA Lacrosse girls youth rules, 12U plays full field:

• 12 v 12, including goalkeepers
• Standard-size goals and NOCSAE game balls
• Four 10-minute quarters, running clock (14U plays 12-minute quarters)
• 2 team timeouts
• Traditional lineup, with a draw to start each quarter and after goals
• Mercy rule: once a team leads by 4 goals, the trailing team can waive it to keep draws after goals
• Time-serving cards: a carded player's team plays down a player

The field is 90-100 yards long and 60-70 yards wide. Anything the youth rules don't modify follows the NFHS (high school) girls rules.

Yes, but only modified checking. Under the 2026 girls youth rules:

• 12U modified check: an attempt to knock the ball out of an opponent's stick, where the checking motion goes down and away from her body and stays below the shoulder of the player with the ball.
• Sphere: in youth lacrosse (14U and under), the protected sphere around a player's head is 12 inches. In high school it's 7 inches.
• Next steps: 14U moves to transitional checking: checks outside the 12-inch sphere and away from the body, or down and away and below the shoulder when checking from behind. At 10U and younger, there's no checking at all.

Under the 2026 girls youth rules for 12U and 14U:

• Defenders may not start stick-to-body contact. Incidental contact can happen.
• A defender may not touch an opponent's body with her stick held horizontally, meaning below the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions.
• A hand or forearm holding the stick doesn't count as part of the stick, so it may contact an opponent's body.
• A defender may not "ride" an opponent by holding her stick against the opponent's body as they run.

USA Lacrosse's 2026 points of emphasis remind players and coaches that the stick must never be used to hit, push or displace an opponent's body.

Forcing through is a major foul committed by the player with the ball: trying to force her stick through a defender's stick. A defender in a legal position isn't penalized when an attacker forces through.

Safety rules in the 2026 girls youth rule book that apply at 12U:

• 3 seconds closely guarded: a player with the ball can't hold it for more than 3 seconds while closely guarded. If she does, the ball goes to the defender. "Closely guarded" means the defender is:
  • within a stick's length
  • holding her stick with both hands
  • in position to legally check
    This applies at 12U but not at 14U or in high school.
• No deputy goalkeeper at 12U. Deputies are allowed at 14U.
• Self-starts: players must pause before self-starting after a foul.
• Draws after goals: once a team leads by 4 goals, the mercy rule applies and draws after goals stop, unless the trailing team waives it.

At 12U, cards are used as in high school: a carded player serves time off the field, and her team plays down a player while she's out. This is different from 10U and younger, where no cards are used and the team never plays short.

Unsportsmanlike behavior: USA Lacrosse has zero tolerance for language or actions that are derogatory, discriminatory or hateful, including discrimination based on:

• race, color or religion
• ancestry or national origin
• gender, gender identity or expression
• sexual orientation
• disability

USA Lacrosse requires officials to penalize this with game ejection or a red card.

The 2026 girls youth rule book includes the Concussion Recognition Tool. The key rule: any athlete with a suspected concussion should be removed from practice or play immediately, and should not return until assessed medically, even if the symptoms go away.

Call an ambulance if there's no licensed health care professional available and any of these red flags appear:

• neck pain or tenderness
• double vision
• weakness or tingling in the arms or legs
• severe or increasing headache
• seizure, or loss of consciousness
• vomiting
• increasing restlessness or agitation
• one pupil larger than the other

Other signs of a possible concussion:

• slow to get up after a hit to the head
• confusion, or a blank look
• balance problems
• headache, dizziness, nausea, sensitivity to light or noise
• feeling "in a fog"

After the injury: don't leave her alone for the first 1-2 hours, and don't send her home by herself; she needs to be with a responsible adult. Don't remove a goalkeeper's helmet unless you're trained to do it safely.

CDC HEADS UP guidance adds: no return that day, and not until a health care provider gives clearance.

USA Lacrosse's lightning policy in the 2026 girls youth rule book says:

• When thunder is heard or a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt is seen, the storm is close enough to strike. Suspend play and take shelter immediately.
• Thirty-minute rule: wait at least 30 minutes after the last thunder or lightning before play resumes.
• Any thunder or lightning after the 30-minute count has started resets the clock for another 30 minutes.

Programs are expected to plan ahead, with someone assigned to monitor the weather and an evacuation plan that identifies nearby shelter.