General Info

My high school does not have a team. Can I play for another high school?
What is the difference between A Class and B Class teams?

Questions about IHSA Sanctioning

 When will the IHSA recognize lacrosse as a varsity sport?
 Why don't some teams want to participate in an IHSA state series?
 Will my school make lacrosse a varsity sport if the IHSA sanctions it?
 What changes will occur in the league when the IHSA sanctions boy's lacrosse?
 Why are the conferences being realigned? Is this mandated by the IHSA?

Website Content

Who is allowed to update information on this website?
I am a coach. What information should I put into the website?
My team information is wrong. How can I change it?  
How do I change the dates/times/location of a game?
How do I cancel a game?
How do I postpone a game?
How do I update game scores?  
How do I add a player to my team roster?  
How do I enter player stats?  
Why doesn't my school show up in the standings?

Website Security

How do I get an account?
What happens if I forget my username?  
What happens if I forget my password?  
How to I change my password?  

Q: My high school doesn't have a team. Can I play for another high school?
A: No, unfortunately not. Even though most Illinois high school lacrosse teams are club sports at their school, the high schools still must abide by the ISHA eligibility rules for lacrosse. These rules specifically prohibit players from training or competing on teams sponsored by schools they do not attend. Failure to comply puts all the high school sports programs at risk at the offending high school, not just lacrosse.

Q: What is the difference between A Class teams and B Class teams?
A: Just like there are eight classes in Illinois high school football, there are two classes in lacrosse. The A class is the more competitive league and tends to be comprised of more established programs. The A class teams compete for the State Championship and are recognized as the true Illinois state champions. The B class teams tend to be newer programs. The B Class teams compete for the Lacrosse Cup in their end of season playoffs. Unlike football whose classes are based on school size and recruiting area, the lacrosse classes are determined by competitiveness. First year programs must start with a JV team and must start in the B Class. Teams may advance to the A Class under two conditions: they win the Lacrosse Cup or they volunteer to move into the A Class ("win out or opt out"). The Awards page contains the lists of all previous winners of the State Championship and the Lacrosse Cup.

Q: When will the IHSA recognize lacrosse as a varsity sport?
A: The IHSA tentatively decided to sanction boy's lacrosse as an official IHSA sport starting in the 2011 season. The announcement was made on October 12, 2009. In the IHSA's announcement, they stipulated that at least 65 boys' teams and 40 girls' teams must agree to participate in the state series in order to go forward with the plan. On January 10, 2011, there were only 47 boys' teams and 33 girls' teams willing to participate in the state series, so the IHSA announced they would delay their support of the state series again. In February, 2012, only 51 boys teams agreed to participate in the proposed state series, so sanctioning was delayed for another year.  In February, 2013, there were still only 54 of the 84 boys' teams in the league which agreed to participate in an IHSA state series, so the IHSA again postponed their sanctioning. The IHSA will continue to review the situation annually until the requisite number of teams agree to participate in the state series.

Q: Why don't some teams want to participate in an IHSA state series?
A: Some schools which are new to the IHSLA do not have varsity teams and do not wish to participate in a varsity playoff series. Also, many schools operate under district bylaws which require a sport to be fully funded by the school in order to participate in an IHSA post-season play. Budget constraints prevent these schools from expanding their sports programs and therefore opt not to participate in an IHSA lacrosse state series.

Q: Will my school make lacrosse a varsity sport if the IHSA sanctions it?
A: Not necessarily. There is no obligation for a high school to make lacrosse a varsity sport after the IHSA sanctions the sport. It is up to the individual schools' administrators to decide whether or not to make a sport part of their varsity program. It is also the decision of the schools' administrators to determine the level of support, financial or otherwise, the program gets. It is likely that some schools will continue to have lacrosse as a "parent funded, parent run" club while other schools will migrate to "school funded, school run" programs.

Q: What changes will occur in the league when the IHSA sanctions boy's lacrosse?
A: The largest change is that the IHSA will conduct the championship series. The playoff games will be seeded, scheduled, and organized by the IHSA, and the championship game will be held at a location selected by the IHSA. Under IHSA rules, there is only one class of play until more than 300 schools participate, so the IHSA playoff series will not be separated into A-Class and B-Class brackets like in previous years. Seeding will be done on a roughly regional basis with regional winnners advancing on to the championship game. The playoff seeding will be "conference blind", that is, a team will not be required to win a conference to participate in the playoffs.

Q: Why are the conferences being realigned? Is this being mandated by the IHSA?
A: No. The conferences are being realigned internally by the IHSLA because the executive board believes it will help the sport of lacrosse in Illinois. By making the conferences similar to other varsity sports, the schools' athletic directors will have more opportunity to discuss lacrosse during regular conference meetings. After IHSA sanctioning, the conferences would naturally migrate in this direction as the athletic directors take more responsibility for scheduling. The IHSLA decided to be proactive on this issue.

Q: Who is allowed to update information on this website?
A: Coaches or designated team representatives are the only users authorized to change information on the IHSLA.org website. Each team may have up to three users assigned to update their scores, team information, rosters, stats, etc.

Q: I am a coach. What information should I be putting into the website?
A. Coaches are expected to manage all their own team information. Register for an administrative account and you will be provided editing privileges for your team. Once authorized, you will have editing access to the following information: (1) Team Details. You can change everything on the team details page except the team name, conference, class, and logo for your team. This includes the coachs' bios, school history, URL's to the school and team websites. (2) Player Roster. You can enter all players on the Varsity, JV and Frosh teams. (3) Stats. In the roster pages, you can update your players' cumulative season stats in several categories. Stats are automatically tabulated and displayed on the leaderboards for Varsity, JV and Frosh teams. (4) Home Fields. You will manage a list of venues that are used by your team as home fields. This list is handy for parents and fans that need directions to your games. (5) Field Locations. You will be able to update directions and the Google map URL's for your home playing fields. (6) Scores and Game Recaps. The winning coach is expected to update the game scores within 24 hours after the game. Game recaps and highlights are optional, but encouraged, and will be used in public RSS feeds. (7) News Items. If you have a news item that needs attention, you can create one. The news items appear on the home page and in the public RSS feed. All news items are editable by the website administrator and by other registered users associated with your team. 

Q: My team information is wrong. How can I change it?
A: Team information, such as team website URL's, school contact information, coach's names and bios, school history, etc. can be changed by any registered user with a Coach's level authorization or higher. Select "Team Info" from the customized menu. At the editing page, click the "Edit" button at the bottom of the entry form to change any of the school-related information.

Q: How do I change the dates/times/location of a game?
Q: How do I cancel a game?
Q: How do I postpone a game?
A: All game scheduling (dates, times, locations, teams), postponements, and cancellations are made by a the school's officiating assignor. Coaches and team representatives may not update the game schedules on the IHSLA website. Please call or email your assignor to make any changes to a game schedule, to postpone a game, or to cancel a game. By calling the assignor first, the IHSLA website and the assignor's website which coordinates officials to the games will be properly synchronized.

Q: How do I report game scores?
A: Games scores are expected to be posted by the winning team within 24 hours after the game. Scores are updated directly through the website. Scores may only be updated by registered users with Coach's level authorization or above. To change a score, login to the website. Then select "Game Scores" from the customized menu. Click on the edit icon next to the game you want to update. At the edit page, click the "Edit" button to change the scores and the game status, then click the "Update" button to save the changes. Please note: league and conference standings are computed from games that have a status of "Final". Failure to set the status to "Final" will cause the game to be ignored by the standings engine.

Q: How do I add a player to my roster?
Q: How do I enter and update player stats?
A: A team's player roster and stats may be updated only by registered users with Coach's level authorization or above. After login, select "Roster" from the customized menu. If no players exist in the roster, enter the first player by clicking the "Add a player" button. When a player is selected from the list on the left panel, the player details and stats appear on the right panel. Please note: the ISHLA.org stats are cumulative stats only and are not entered separately for each game. It is the responsibility of the team to accumulate game stats and summarize them by player for entry into the IHSLA site. The IHSLA site has recently been expanded to collect Varsity, JV and Frosh season stats.

Q: Why doesn't my school show up in the standings?
A: The league standings are recomputed automatically whenever new game scores are updated by a coach or team representative. It is the responsibility of the winning coach to update the scores within 24 hours after a game. The most likely reason your school does not show up in the standings is because the game scores were not updated or the game status fields were not set to "Final".

Q: I am a coach / team representative. How do I register for an account?
A: To ensure security and data integrity, registration is a multi-step process. First, navigate to the login screen by clicking on the "Login" button on the menu. Then click the link "Register for a team administration account" under the login dialogue box. At the registration page, fill out the fields and click the submit button. Registrants whose email address is already on the IHSLA contact list will automatically get assigned an account and editing privileges. Unknown registrants will have their requests reviewed by the IHSLA. The website administrator will email you confirmation of the review process, usually within 24 hours. Once you have been approved for editing, your menu will be customized to your authorization level and you may start updating your team information.

Q: What happens if I forgot my username?
A: Registered users may retrieve their usernames online if they know their registered email address. Navigate to the Login page, then click the "username" link in the line that reads "Forgot your username or password?". You will then be asked to supply your registered email address. When you submit, the system will immediately display any usernames associated with that email address.

Q: What happens if I forgot my password?
A: The IHSLA website now allows registered users to easily recover their usernames and passwords from the login page. Navigate to the Login page, then click the "password" link in the line that reads "Forgot your username or password?". You will then be asked to supply your username. When you submit, the system will send your password to your registered email address.

Q: How do I change my password?
A: Registered users may change their password once they are logged in. Follow these steps:

Step 1: After you've logged in, navigate to your profile page by selecting "Account Info" from the menu.

Step 2: On the "Account Info" page, click the "edit" link next to your password.

Step 3. On the "Change Password" page, fill out the change password dialogue and click "Submit". Your new password still must meet the same restrictions as your original password (at least 6 characters, one of which must be a number). Write down your new password and keep it in a safe place.

Step 4. You will stay logged in, but your new password will be in effect and your old password will be obsolete. Check it by logging out, then logging back in using the new password you just chose.