The Greater Eastside youth Lacrosse League (GELL) is the largest boy's youth lacrosse league in Washington State. GELL's membership is primarily the community-based programs that feed into Washington State's KingoCo Conference high schools. GELL spans 23 programs (18 members and 5 guest programs) with 110 teams and 500 games in spring 2020. GELL Member programs develop youth in the sport of field lacrosse. The league provides spring and fall game schedules for grade-based divisions; K-2, 3/4, 5/6 (55, 56, 66), 7/8 (77, 78, 88). The spring game schedule, our main season, runs from March through May. The fall game schedule runs from September through November.
GELL “One Program In-Season” Rule (adopted by vote of 14-1-2 on 10/12/2017, ammended by vote on 12/15/2022)
All youth players within all GELL member and guest programs may only play for one program during the GELL spring season. On 12/15/2022, the GELL Directors adopted an ammendment to this rule to align with WHSBLA. This ammendment moved the start day from the Monday of President's Day weekend to the Monday before the first GELL game. All GELL divisions follow the same start date. The end day is midnight on GELL Championship Day (typically the Satiurday of Memorial Day weekend). The dates are published in the official GELL Season Calendar and may change prior to the start date. This rule includes any activity with a lacrosse stick and/or lacrosse ball (i.e., tryouts, practices, and games of lacrosse). Only lacrosse activities are prohibited. This rule does not apply during the optional fall ball season.
Spring 2023 GELL “In Season” dates: 2/27/2023 through 5/27/2023
Any GELL program with a player who violates this rule will be subject to a financial penalty and possible sanctions to be determined by the executive board. Intra-program swing players, as specified in rule 4.11, is allowed.
GELL “Play For” Rule Language Clarified to align with precedent
GELL Rules are periodically updated when the language needs clarification to align with precedent. In this case, the language of GELL rule V was updated to provide needed clarification based on the consistent outcomes of similar waiver requests received.
Over the past few years, GELL has seen an increase in waiver requests from the families of players who attend a school that has a lacrosse program affiliated with a neighboring league that, for various reasons, in a given year, does not field a team either in a given division or in any division. A small subset of these families have submitted waiver requests to GELL requesting to join a GELL team based on their residence address. The GELL has consistently denied these waivers.
The language of the GELL "Play For" rule V was updated to provide clarification that reflects the consistent rulings for this type of waiver request. The rules amended are V.2.c and V.5. The 2021 GELL Rules can be found in the GELL Documents Folder.
GELL “One Program In-Season” Rule (adopted by vote of 14-1-2 on 10/12/2017, ammended by vote on 12/15/2022)
All youth players within all GELL member and guest programs may only play for one program during the GELL spring season. On 12/15/2022, the GELL Directors adopted an ammendment to this rule to align with WHSBLA. This ammendment moved the start day from the Monday of President's Day weekend to the Monday before the first GELL game. All GELL divisions follow the same start date. The end day is midnight on GELL Championship Day (typically the Satiurday of Memorial Day weekend). The dates are published in the official GELL Season Calendar and may change prior to the start date. This rule includes any activity with a lacrosse stick and/or lacrosse ball (i.e., tryouts, practices, and games of lacrosse). Only lacrosse activities are prohibited. This rule does not apply during the optional fall ball season.
Spring 2023 GELL “In Season” dates: 2/27/2023 through 5/27/2023
Any GELL program with a player who violates this rule will be subject to a financial penalty and possible sanctions to be determined by the executive board. Intra-program swing players, as specified in rule 4.11, is allowed.
GELL “Play For” Rule Language Clarified to align with precedent
GELL Rules are periodically updated when the language needs clarification to align with precedent. In this case, the language of GELL rule V was updated to provide needed clarification based on the consistent outcomes of similar waiver requests received.
Over the past few years, GELL has seen an increase in waiver requests from the families of players who attend a school that has a lacrosse program affiliated with a neighboring league that, for various reasons, in a given year, does not field a team either in a given division or in any division. A small subset of these families have submitted waiver requests to GELL requesting to join a GELL team based on their residence address. The GELL has consistently denied these waivers.
The language of the GELL "Play For" rule V was updated to provide clarification that reflects the consistent rulings for this type of waiver request. The rules amended are V.2.c and V.5. The 2021 GELL Rules can be found in the GELL Documents Folder.
