state associations sanction boys lacrosse
state associations sanction girls lacrosse
Nebraska is not one of them yet.
Kentucky and Tennessee crowned first champions in 2025. Nevada begins in 2026-27. Source: NFHS 2024-25 participation survey.
“I have lots of friends in the sport and I used to be in it and it was really hard to get recognition in school and in clubs if it’s not school sanctioned”
“Lacrosse has been very heavily growing in Nebraska and the competition level is only getting better. These kids deserve their sport to be sanctioned. It’ll allow more kids to have a chance to play and will increase competition even more.”
“My granddaughter played in Washington state & has now gone on to play in college at Univ. Of Utah for the club team -they do not have a Div1 team. The sport has been fantastic for her, more girls need this sport to be added.”
“Lacrosse is awesome! It's a physical sport and doing something is better than doing nothing. It teaches how to be a team player and trains you how to have a good work ethic outside of sports!”
“The game is growing as is, but in order to sustainably succeed and continue to improve, we need to have it become a sanctioned sport”
“The creators game needs to be shared... it's medicine.”
“I love playing lax imma highschool student in wood river nebraska. I feel like everyone should have an equal opportunity to play and potentially receive scholarships”
For athletic directors and principals, the national federation your school already follows has lacrosse built in.
The NFHS publishes the official high school playing rules for boys and girls lacrosse, updated for the 2026 seasons.
NFHS Learn offers Coaching Boys Lacrosse and Coaching Girls Lacrosse courses, built with USA Lacrosse.
Lacrosse is counted in the NFHS national participation survey, reported by 28 and 29 state associations.
Sanctioning Nebraska high school lacrosse would join a sport that is adding states and players across the country.
High school players nationwide in 2024-25, a record participation year
State associations sanction boys (28) and girls (29) high school lacrosse
Kentucky and Tennessee crowned their first state champions. Nevada begins varsity play in 2026-27.
Girls lacrosse ranks among the ten most played high school sports for girls
Source: NFHS 2024-25 High School Athletics Participation Survey
Nebraska Needs More Coaches & Teams
Boys lacrosse has the highest high school to NCAA advancement rate of any sport in the NCAA table. Girls lacrosse is second only to ice hockey.
Share of high school players who reach NCAA rosters
Share of high school players who reach NCAA rosters
Source: NCAA Probability of Competing Beyond High School, 2024-25 dataset. Women's ice hockey (32.1%) is the one sport above lacrosse for women.
Team sports lower rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation while steering kids away from unhealthy behaviors such as substance use.
Playing on a team raises student interest in attendance and academics. Kids show up for school when a team is waiting for them.
Team sports build an inclusive school environment, deepening social belonging and engagement for students from every background.
Participation builds social health and overall well-being, laying a foundation kids carry far beyond the field.
The ask is emerging sport status, not a full championship sport next season. This is the point most often misread. Emerging status is the NSAA’s own on-ramp. It establishes the playing rules, the registered officials, and the eligibility standards while participation is monitored, before anything becomes permanent. Girls wrestling entered this way in 2020 and was fully sanctioned the following year.
A yes vote makes lacrosse available. It does not commit your building to a program. Schools can offer nearly any activity on their own. Interscholastic competition with standardized rules and a state championship is what requires recognition by the state association. Sponsorship stays a local decision, the same as every other activity the NSAA recognizes. A school that is not ready can vote yes, sponsor nothing, and still open the door for students in districts that are ready.
Net participation is the standard, and it protects the sports you already run. The measure is students added to activities minus any drawn away from existing rosters. Lacrosse has to bring in students who were not in an activity, not move them between teams. That standard is the safeguard for every program already on your calendar.
Recognition is what unlocks cooperative sponsorship. NSAA guidelines let member schools apply for cooperative sponsorship in any activity the NSAA recognizes. Until lacrosse is recognized, that option does not exist. After recognition, up to four schools in contiguous districts may combine for lacrosse alone, on a two-year agreement, and each school keeps its own class in every other activity. A cooperative request is denied if it would reduce participation at either school. The NSAA wrote cooperative sponsorship for the conditions athletic directors actually face, naming declining enrollment, the cost of supporting a program, lack of facilities, and the difficulty of staffing quality coaching.
Equipment is bought once and reissued for multiple seasons. Schools own the helmets, pads, and sticks, so cost per athlete falls every year the gear stays in service. USA Lacrosse awards equipment to new and developing programs through its First Stick Program, which distributes more than $1.2 million in sticks, protective equipment, and coach training each year. Booster clubs, activity fees, and grants carry the balance.
Adding girls lacrosse adds female participation opportunities. Title IX reaches teams a school operates or sponsors, so girls playing outside the school system sit outside that protection. The NFHS identifies adding girls sports as a direct route to proportionality for athletic directors working toward compliance.
The support structure is already built. The NFHS publishes the playing rules for boys and girls lacrosse and offers coaching courses through NFHS Learn, developed with USA Lacrosse. Lacrosse is counted in the NFHS national participation survey. No athletic director has to invent any of it.
Athletic directors carry every sport in their buildings. Our job as a community is to bring them solutions, not burdens.
The Nebraska Lacrosse Connection is building a game every kid can reach.
Sanctioning connects lacrosse to schools, where every student can find it. Co-ops let smaller schools join in without fielding a full program, so opportunity reaches every corner of the state.
Girls deserve their own fields, rules, and spotlight. We champion girls programs and sanctioning that puts the girls game on equal footing, so every girl who wants to play has a place to do it.
Lacrosse should stay within reach of every family. As pay-to-play costs climb and private equity moves into youth sports nationally, we stand for school-based, low-cost lacrosse where price never decides who plays.
Our new directory connects teams, clubs, leagues, officials, suppliers, and services across the state. The job board lists open roles in the Nebraska lacrosse community. Browse both, or add your organization.
Browse the DirectoryView Job Openings
Want to be listed? Register your organization. Listings are reviewed before they appear.
