Boys Lacrosse Officiating FAQs
This page has answers to common questions about becoming a boys lacrosse official. If you have questions that aren’t answered here, please email the Northland LOA president. (link: mailto:DamonKocina@gmail.com )
Can I become a boys lacrosse official even if I have no prior officiating experience and know nothing about lacrosse?
Absolutely! Of course, it’s easier if you have prior lacrosse or officiating experience, but we will teach you everything you need to know. It will be challenging and rewarding.
What are the game fees?
Game fees vary from year to year, but for new officials, you will typically start at $40 per hour game and get a $5 per game raise after working 20 games and completing a bit of additional training. High school off-season leagues and tournaments pay up to $62 per hour, and a high school JV/varsity double-header pays roughly $162. College games pay $95 per hour-long game. Some games pay travel fees as well.
What are the age requirements?
You can start Level 1 training when you are 13 or older, but you can’t do your on-field training or work games until you turn 14. Officials who are 15–17 exclusively work 14U, 12U, 10U, and 8U games, while 14-year-old officials work 12U, 10U, and 8U.
Adults can take Level 1 and Level 2 Training and be eligible to work youth and high school games. You can’t complete the Level 2 on-field training and work high school games until you turn 17 and have significant experience, but you can start working youth games as soon as you complete the Level 1 portion of the training.
What is the boys lacrosse season?
Boys lacrosse is practically a year-round sport in Minnesota thanks to domes. The heaviest season is mid-April to mid-June (with high school freshman, JV, and varsity games going on as well as youth leagues), but there are summer, fall, and winter leagues and summer and fall tournaments. The only times with few or no games are basically mid-August through Labor Day and November/December.
What time of day are the games?
In the spring, most weekday high school games have start times between 4:00 and 8:00 PM, with high school games all day on Saturdays and youth games all day on Saturdays and Sundays. There are typically no youth games on weeknights in the spring.
In summer, there are weekday youth and high school leagues (with games generally starting around 6:00 PM) and weekend tournaments (all day Saturday and Sunday).
In fall and winter, leagues and tournaments are almost exclusively on weekends.
What is the scheduling like?
Many new officials are concerned they will get assigned games when they are unavailable. We use an online sports official assigning system called ArbiterSports.com that allows you to block dates and times when you are unavailable to work. Of course, the more available you are, the more games you will get, but setting blocks allows you to control your schedule.
Your Arbiter account will be created by your assigner when you are ready for your on-field training. See the Using ArbiterSports.com page for more information about how the system works.
Where are the games?
Most games are in the Twin Cities metro area, but there are games in St. Cloud, New Prague, Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato, Grand Rapids, and Duluth.
ArbiterSports.com allows you to set travel limits, so if you don’t want to do longer drives you won’t have to. In some cases, we can assign you to games with a partner who lives near you so you can carpool to games (which seems to work especially well for college students who don’t have a car).
How many games do first-year officials work?
The number of games a first-year official will work depends largely on availability: the more available you are, and the farther you are willing to go, the more games you are likely to work. The older you get and the more experienced you get, the more games you are going to get. Some first-year officials who finish their training early and have good availability work 75 or more games in their first year and make about $3,300.
Youth officials often make $200–$400 per weekend in the spring, and high school officials working every day can make $1,000 per week.