Two weeks ago, my heart broke… twice. In the short span of 48 hours, my favorite two teams’ dreams were dashed. To first have to watch our Maryland women’s lacrosse team, and then watch our men’s team lose consecutively to the same University of North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA championship title match? That, my friend, is true torture; speaking of Tar Heels, “what are thoooose” anyway?
However, while watching the games, I couldn’t help but notice something rather odd. Relegated behind my shattered heart, I saw something that I didn’t really understand, and that was the gear that the lacrosse players donned. The men’s team had some sweet helmets and lacrosse pads, while the women’s teams only played with goggles and protective facial gear.
Surely, playing with helmets is much safer than playing with minimal gear, especially considering the health risks associated with head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy from repeated concussions. But if so, why then is there a double standard for female and male lacrosse players and their safety?
First of all, there are inherent differences between men’s and women’s lacrosse with additional rules in women’s lacrosse preventing body checks and head collisions, by which sticks within seven inches of another player’s head constitutes a major punishable foul. Even so, concussions in women’s lacrosse remain quite common, and are second only to football as largest cause of concussions in sports with the majority of concussions originating from collisions, stick to head contact and falls.
So where are the helmets? They’re still not in the women’s game because according to the U.S. Lacrosse Sports and Safety Committee Chairwoman, Margot Putukian, “studies have shown that players who don’t wear helmets tend to keep their heads up and away from contact, while helmeted players […] are more likely to put themselves in harm’s way.”
Instead, these studies reveal rather conflicting results. From 1986 to 1996, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association “required that all women’s lacrosse players at public high schools wear ice hockey helmets,” which was eventually discarded because it led to a “more aggressive style of play” that resulted from the helmet requirement. On the other hand, over at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, all varsity and junior varsity women’s lacrosse players wear rugby helmets, which ultimately reduced the number of concussions incurred by women’s lax from seven in 2011 to three in 2012.
Sure, helmets aren’t perfect. They mainly serve to protect against skull fractures and traumatic brain injury and can only blunt hard collisions, but surely something is better than nothing.
Yes, concussions may still occur when the brain rattles around the skull, but even so, how can we be sure that helmets will actually increase aggression and cause more concussions? While not a perfect analogy, think about your driving; does the existence of seat belts and other safety equipment cause you to drive more recklessly? I sure hope not, and it’s time we protect our athletes better. As long as parents, officials, coaches and policymakers continue to suppress aggressive plays in the sport, the addition of helmets should only serve to prevent unnecessary head injuries in women’s lacrosse.
Max An is a senior physiology and neurobiology major. He can be reached at maxandbk@gmail.com.
