Youth Officials

General Information

Youth (U.S. Lacrosse Level 1) Training is targeted at officials with little or no experience in officiating men’s lacrosse. The GLOA focus at this level is to provide training for officials interested in officiating games at the sub-high school level.

Reminder: This training is only for prospective Boys/Mens Lacrosse officials. If you are interested in officiating Womens Lacrosse, please visit the Georgia Women’s Lacrosse Umpire Board website.

This training is open to individuals 14 years old and up. If you are a high school player and interested in learning more about lacrosse, this training is ideal. Adults (over the age of 18 and high school graduate) who are new to officiating would benefit from this training as well. If you are interested in becoming a GLOA adult/high school level official, please visit our Adult Training information section.

The goal of Youth (Level 1) Training is to introduce officials to the basic rules and mechanics necessary to facilitate a safe and fair game.

Level 1 training prepares officials to:

  • Properly prepare individually and with a partner(s) in advance of contests
  • Maintain a safe level of play at each contest
  • Establish an authoritative presence on the field
  • Communicate effectively with voice and hand signals
    • With partner(s)
    • With coaches and scorer’s table
  • Understand and correctly demonstrate basic field positioning
  • Correctly identify if a team has possession of the ball in a penalty situation and how to apply the slow whistle technique
  • Understand and recognize differences between personal and technical fouls
  • Recognize and assess the most common safety fouls accurately and fairly

The GLOA conducts Level 1 training classes throughout the year. If there are no classes currently scheduled, you can still register as an interested new official. You will be contacted via email once a class is scheduled.