Out of Bounds Rules in Women's Lacrosse

Video Transcript

"Alright, first I want to talk a little bit about the boundary line because it's a different type of boundary than in other sports, it's a "soft boundary". Which basically means that when the ball goes out of bounds, it's not who hit it out, it doesn't give it to the opposite team, it's whoever is closest to the ball when it goes out of bounds that gets possession of the ball and gets to bring it on. So if a loose ball crosses the boundary, all the players run with their sticks out in front them because they're trying to get as close to the ball as possible so they can gain possession. The only time when that changes is when a player intentionally throws the ball out of bounds or intentionally steps out of bounds with the ball, then the ball is turned over to the other team. Now we're just going to talk a little bit about the restraining lines because they can be a little difficult to understand. Basically, what they are is a hard boundary, that if a team has the ball and they're offense shooting on this goal, they may have seven players above this restraining line and the team that's on defense, they'll have seven of their players above the restraining line and their goalie. So eight from the team on defense, seven from the team on offense and the remainder of the players must stay below the restraining line and it goes vice a versa if you're on this side of the field as well. You would have eight from the defending team, seven from the offending team and the remainder of the players on the rest of the field. And these are hard boundaries; you cannot have any part of your body cross over these lines if you are not allowed to be there."