Box Lacrosse Referees on Long Island

This page is for league directors, club directors and rink or facility managers who run box or indoor lacrosse on Long Island. If you're staffing spring field games, start with our lacrosse referees on Long Island guide. If you need table help more than floor officials, see scorekeepers and timekeepers for hire. If a box night is already short, skip to the request form.

Box lacrosse isn't small-field lacrosse

USA Lacrosse describes box lacrosse, also called indoor lacrosse, as a game played inside a multi-sport rink with its own rule set, separate from the field game. The playing surface is enclosed by boards, and each team has six players on the floor: five runners and a goaltender. For an organizer, that changes several things at once:

• There's a shot clock. USBOXLA's rulebook requires at least one 30-second shot clock in every box. Someone has to run it, and the floor officials have to manage it when it fails.
• There's a penalty bench with its own door. USBOXLA requires a penalty bench door separate from the player bench door, and the referees are responsible for keeping players from opposing teams apart on the penalty bench.
• The crease works differently. USBOXLA describes a goal crease with a 9-foot radius. Attackers can't reach into it to play the ball, and a defending team in possession inside its own crease has five seconds to clear the ball.
• The clock usually runs. For its Novice through High School Elite divisions, USBOXLA's official game is three 15-minute running-time periods with a 2-minute intermission between periods, and stop time only in the last minute. Each team gets one 30-second timeout.
• The physical setup matters. USBOXLA calls for boards at least 3'6" high, free of obstructions, and doors that open away from the playing surface. It says a game shouldn't start with dangerous items exposed.

None of this is exotic for an official who works box regularly. It's a real problem when a field-only official is sent to a rink with no warning. That's why we ask which rule book you use before we confirm anyone.

Crew size: what the rule books actually say

Box crews are set by the rule book your league adopts, not by habit. These are the published starting points:

Rule set	On-floor referees	Table / minor officials
USA Lacrosse box rules (2023 rulebook)	A minimum of two officials, one designated as the head official with final say	Official scorer and penalty timekeeper receive goal and penalty reports; a visible game clock and a separate 30-second shot clock are required
US Box Lacrosse Association (2024 Rule and Situational Book)	Two referees per game, one designated head referee who takes the opening face-off of each period and settles disputes	A game timekeeper for each game; the shot clock can be run by the head referee with a remote or by the timekeeper
World Lacrosse box rules (international events)	Three on-floor referees, one designated head referee	Host club supplies a game timekeeper, two penalty box attendants, an official scorer and a 30-second clock operator
House rules / clinic scrimmage	Whatever your sheet says	Whatever your sheet says. Send the sheet.

For most Long Island youth and adult box nights, the practical answer is two referees on the floor plus one person at the table. Multiply that by the number of boxes running at the same time, then add standby. Our how many referees does a game need guide covers the outdoor defaults. For box, use the table above and your league's rules.

The table is part of the crew

In field lacrosse, many youth games get by with a parent keeping score. Box leans on the table more heavily. Under USBOXLA's rules, the game timekeeper:

• checks before the game that both teams have listed every player in uniform on the official score sheet, including captains and goalies;
• keeps an accurate record of goals, assists and penalties, with the time each happened;
• records when each penalty starts and ends, and is the only person who tells a penalized player when he or she may leave the penalty bench;
• tells the referees when a player picks up a fourth penalty, which the rulebook treats as a game ejection;
• completes the score sheet after the game, including the referees' signatures.

The referees, in turn, have to check that the timekeeper is in place and the timing and signal equipment works before the game starts, and they report every penalty, goal and assist to the table. When the table is a volunteer who has never run a penalty clock, games slow down and arguments start. If you can't staff the table reliably, put it on the request and we'll quote a table official along with the floor crew.

Rinks, turf boxes and facility logistics

Box lacrosse on Long Island is often played in hockey rinks with the ice out, in indoor turf facilities with dasher boards, or in multi-sport arenas booked in tight blocks. That has three effects on officiating:

1. Ice time sets the schedule. A rink that flips between hockey and lacrosse often has a hard changeover time. If the first game starts late, every game after it gets squeezed, and the last one may be cut. Assign crews by box and time window, for example Box 1 from 6:00 to 9:00, not by game number, so a late start doesn't leave a game without officials.
2. Officials overlap with hockey. The same facilities run hockey nights, and many of the officials who skate hockey or work other winter sports are already booked. Our hockey officials page covers the ice side of those buildings.
3. The facility decides on safety calls. Tell us who at the building can stop play for a board, door or lighting problem. USBOXLA's rulebook is clear that a game shouldn't start with dangerous items exposed. Our officials will raise it, but the facility has to fix it.

Facilities also often ask for an insurance certificate before officials can work their floor. If yours does, say so in the request. Our referee insurance certificate guide explains what to ask for.

Equipment and uniform questions to settle before night one

Equipment questions take more of officials' time in box than in field lacrosse, because players switching from the field game bring field habits. A few points from the USBOXLA rulebook come up again and again:

• Helmets must be NOCSAE-approved, and all players on the bench must wear their helmets when they're not on the floor.
• Mouthguards are enforced in stages: loss of possession, then a two-minute minor, then a five-minute match penalty if a team keeps breaking the rule.
• Footwear has to be safe. The rulebook names rubber-soled lacrosse or basketball shoes as the standard.
• Goaltenders must wear the padding set for their age group, and their equipment must follow the natural shape of the body.
• Bench personnel are capped. USBOXLA allows no more than four non-playing personnel on the bench and one team person in the penalty bench area.

Put your league's own equipment rules on the one-page sheet, especially for younger divisions that use modified rules. The referees enforce what you send them. They won't make up house rules when they arrive.

When to book box lacrosse officials

Type of night	When to request	Why
Season-long weeknight league (same boxes each week)	Before the fall field season ends	Officials prefer a standing block, and the hockey season is competing for the same evenings
Weekend box tournament or showcase	Two to three weeks out at minimum	Several boxes need two-referee crews at the same time, plus table officials and standby
Holiday-week or winter-break makeup	As soon as the rink confirms the ice-out time	Availability drops even when the building is open. See our winter sports booking guide
Already short for tonight or this week	Now	Last-minute coverage is what EmergencyRefs is built for

What to put in your request

The box requests we can confirm fastest include:

• facility name, address, parking and which door officials should use;
• a grid of boxes and the hours each runs, plus the building's hard end time;
• age or grade divisions, boys', girls' or coed, and any division using modified youth rules;
• the rule book (USA Lacrosse box, USBOXLA, World Lacrosse or house rules) and a link to it or your sheet;
• crew size per box and whether you need a timekeeper, scorer or shot-clock operator from us;
• whether the shot clock and horn are working, and who controls them;
• how many standby officials you want and on which nights;
• the facility's insurance certificate requirements, if any.

If you only know the sport and the start time, send that anyway. We'll call back and fill in the rest with you. A specific request just gets confirmed faster.

Fees

We don't publish a box lacrosse rate card. The number of boxes, hours, crew size, table officials, standby, the length of the season and how close to the date you book all change the quote. Send the details above. The quote on your request is the number to plan around. Ask on the callback how cancellations and schedule changes are handled before you commit to a full winter block.

What we will not claim

We don't list Long Island box leagues we "officially serve," and we won't promise that every box on every night can be filled from a request sent the evening before. We won't tell you an official has box experience if they don't. If the best available official for a short-notice fill is a strong field official without box experience, we'll say so on the call so you can decide. What we do is put officials on your floor for the blocks you need, with standby if you ask for it, once the request is specific enough to assign.

Frequently asked questions

Rule references: USA Lacrosse, "Box Rules" overview and 2023 Box Lacrosse Rulebook; US Box Lacrosse Association, Rule and Situational Book 2024; World Lacrosse, 2024 Box Lacrosse Official Playing Rules. Rule books change between seasons. Your league's adopted version controls.