TENNESSEE GIRLS LACROSSE ASSOCIATION

BYLAWS, updated September 17th, 2011

ARTICLE 1 - MEMBERSHIP

A.To gain membership in the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association (hereinafter referred to as "TGLA" or the "League") a candidate must:

a.Be a High school Lacrosse team, or a Lacrosse club, team or organization affiliated with a high school, or an "At large" team organized by the league to foster participation and growth of the sport in Tennessee.

b.Desire to apply for membership and indicate their desire to participate and promote the purposes of the League.

c.Be prepared to play a schedule consisting of lacrosse games with any member teams within the League, and be prepared to share equally in travel with opposing teams, at least every other year.

d.Send a representative to the annual League meeting or show good cause to be excised from attending the meeting.

e.Designate a representative who agrees to serve as a Director of the League.

f.Agree to provide and continue to provide visiting teams with adequate playing facilities and endeavor to provide appropriate dressing and shower facilities.

g.Agree to pay any dues or assessments as may be from time to time established by the Board of Directors.

h.Agree to abide by the rules of the League as they are promulgated from time to time.

i.Have its application of membership approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the Board of Directors.

B.An associate membership may be available to those Lacrosse clubs teams or organizations which are not affiliated with a high school, and desiring to participate in the TGLA but not able to meet all of the other qualifications for membership. Those Lacrosse clubs, teams or organizations desiring to obtain associate membership must apply for associate membership and signify conditions with which they may comply and conditions with which they are not able to comply. To be accepted as an associate member the application must be accepted by a two-thirds majority vote of the Board of Directors. Associate members may have a member attend the annual meetings and other meetings and participate but this member can neither vote nor appoint a Director to the Board.

C.A member or associate member may resign membership in the TGLA by resigning and sending its resignation to the League at its mailing address or to the president of the TGLA. Dues will not be refunded.

ARTICLE 2 - DUES AND FEES

All members and associate members shall pay such annual dues or other fees as agreed upon by the Board of Directors. Annual dues shall be paid to the League treasurer, or secretary if there is no treasurer, no later than January 13, prior to the start of the season.

ARTICLE 3 - ORGANIZATION

The TGLA is an operating arm of the Tennessee Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse, Inc. (the “Tennessee Chapter”), a Tennessee Non-Profit Corporation and a Chapter of US Lacrosse, Inc., the National Governing Body of lacrosse in the United States. As such, the TGLA is entitled to the Tennessee Chapter’s tax-exempt status as a Chapter of US Lacrosse and to the protections afforded members, volunteers, employees, officers and directors under the Tennessee Non-Profit Corporation Act. A Board of Directors, consisting of not less than three directors, consisting of one designated representative from each member, one designated representative from the Lacrosse officials’ organization(s), shall manage the TGLA. The president, the vice president, the secretary, the treasurer and the immediate past president (if available and willing to serve) shall be ex-officio, non-voting members of the Board.

ARTICLE 4 - OFFICERS

The Board of Directors shall elect a president, a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer and may elect or appoint such other officers, as they may deem necessary or desirable. Such officers may, but need not be, affiliated with any member or associate member. The same person, except the office of president and secretary, may hold any two or more offices.

ARTICLE 5 - TERM OF OFFICE

The officers shall preside for terms of one year. The president, vice president, treasurer and the secretary shall constitute an Executive Committee and shall act for the League between meetings and shall also act as an Arbitration Committee if necessary. The election of officers shall be by secret ballot with the nominee receiving the majority of votes cast being declared the winner. If no nominee receives the majority of votes, the ballots shall be recast with the nominee receiving the lowest number of votes being eliminated until one candidate receives the majority.

ARTICLE 6 - ELECTIONS

Elections shall take place at the annual meeting.

ARTICLE 7 - DUTIES AND POWERS

A.The affairs and property of the TGLA shall be managed by its Board of Directors. The Board may adopt such bylaws, rules and regulations that are deemed necessary to conduct its affairs.

B.The Executive committee shall have the power to transact routine business of the TGLA and carry out the objectives of the TGLA as agreed upon by the Board of Directors.

C.The president shall preside at all meetings of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. He shall appoint committee chairmen and have general supervision over the TGLA.

D.The vice president shall preside in the absence of the president and in the absence or incapacity of the president be vested with all the powers of the president to perform such as may from time to time be prescribed by the president or the Board of Directors.

E.The secretary shall send out meeting notices, keep a record of all meetings of the Board of Directors, and preserve the records of the League.

F.The treasurer shall have charge of all funds of the TGLA, shall disburse funds to pay the bills of the League and keep records showing all receipts and disbursements. Such records shall be open at all times to inspection of the president and any director. The treasurer is authorized to disburse funds up to $250. The signature of one other member of the Executive Committee is required on all disbursements greater than $250. The treasurer is required to issue an annual report and budget at the annual meeting

ARTICLE 8 - ABSENCES

In the event the president shall be unable to fulfill his term or in the event of his resignation or absence, the vice president shall assume his office. In the event any other officer is unable of fill his term or in the event of his resignation, the president may appoint a person to fulfill the unexpired term of the vacant office.

ARTICLE 9 - MEETINGS

The annual meeting of the Board of Directors shall be at such time and such place as the Executive Committee shall designate and shall, if at all possible, be held as the board designates. Such meetings shall be held for the election of officers and the transaction of other business that comes before the Board. Regular meetings may be held as scheduled by the Board. Special meetings may be called by the president, vice president or the secretary or upon written request of one-third of the directors. The secretary, or in his absence another officer, shall notify each director of the time and place of each meeting. The meetings may be held in person or by telephone conference or other reasonable means and any director may waive notice in person or by proxy either before or after a meeting. A director will be deemed to have waived notice if he attends such meeting in person or by proxy.

ARTICLE 10 - QUORUM.

A quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of the Board shall exist when proxy at such meeting represents either in person or a majority of the directors. If a quorum is present, a vote of the majority of the directors present in person or by proxy shall be the act of the Board unless law requires a greater number, the articles of incorporation or by these bylaws.

ARTICLE 11 - INDEMNITY

Any person who was or is party or it threatened to be made party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceedings, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (including any action by or in the right of the TGLA), by reason of the fact that he is or was a director or officer of the TGLA, shall be indemnified by the TGLA against expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, if he acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the TGLA (and with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, if he had not reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful), to the maximum extent permitted by, and in the manner provided by, the Tennessee Non-Profit Corporation Act.

ARTICLE 12 - AMENDMENTS

The Board of Directors shall have the power to alter, amend, repeal or adopt bylaws. Such altering, amending, repealing or adopting of bylaws shall be made only at a meeting of the Board of Directors after the Directors have received at least a two-week notice of such meeting giving notice of the alterations, amendments, repeals or adoption of new bylaws to be considered at the meeting. Such action shall require a vote of two-thirds majority of those Directors attending such a meeting at which a quorum is present.

ARTICLE 13 - GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

In the event any coach or team representative has any bonafide dispute with another member or associate member organization due to an act or inaction of that organization involving the League, sportsmanship or other problem, he may request that the dispute be resolved by the League. Such dispute shall be referred to the Executive Committee for investigation and resolution. In the event a member or members of the Executive Committee is associated with one of the affected or involved organizations, the Executive Committee, less such Executive Committee member or members may appoint a replacement or replacements for the purpose of this arbitration.

ARTICLE 14 - CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

The league champion will be determined in a tournament held two weeks following the end of the last regular season game: The rules for the Championship tournament are listed in the Guidelines section of the Bylaws: The tournament site will be rotated between the regions. The Executive Committee will determine the seeding in the tournament. Rules of the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse League are as follows:

A.For all League contests, only bonafide players for the member organization or associate member organization shall be entitled to play. To be eligible a player must:

  • Be a student in good standing in a High or Middle school.
  • Play for only one member or associate member during the year.
  • For any team associated with a High School the player must attend the school or reside in the community, which the school serves. Any player who is either not a member of a school sanctioned team and or who is a member of a school sanctioned team but who is not also covered by that school’s athletic insurance policy must be a member of US Lacrosse.
  • If the school the player attends does not have a team the player is assigned to the "At large" team in their community.

B.Teams are limited to a maximum of 50 players and rosters are closed on March 1. Game schedules must be finalized by March 1. Rosters and Schedules must be submitted to the league Secretary by March 1.

C.In the event a player changes location during a season, and desires to play for a new team, said participation must be approved by the Executive Committee.

D.All contests between members and/or associate members shall be played under approved NFHS rules .

E.It shall be the home team's responsibility to timely and appropriately notify the current presiding officials’ board. It shall be the home team's responsibility to have the playing field, including goals and table area, available and appropriately marked. The home team shall be responsible for providing the score board, timing devices and timekeeper and will pay all of the agreed fees and costs of the officials.

F.All contests shall be officiated by officials assigned by the Appointing Authority.

G.In the event a member team or an associate member team is unable to appear and play a scheduled contest, it shall notify the other team as soon as possible, but at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the scheduled time of the contest and notify the Appointing Authority or the assigned officials. Each team must play each scheduled contest and the failure to do so or the failure to appropriately notify the opposing team of cancellation shall be referred to the Executive Committee for review and appropriate action. Recipients of such notifications must acknowledge receipt of said notification (It is not sufficient to merely leave a message).

H.In the event any player team or person associated with a member organization shall commit any act considered excessively un sportsmanlike or otherwise detrimental to the purposes of the League, such may be reported by any member team or official to the Executive Committee for investigation and appropriate action.

I.In the event any home team fails to give proper information to the Appointing Authority and/or fails to appropriately notify the assigned officials of the time, location or cancellation of a game with sufficient time to avoid travel by the official, the official shall be paid for the contest by the home team. In the event the problem is due to the visiting team's failure to appear and/or appropriately notify the home team, the visiting team shall be responsible for such costs in addition to any other action deemed appropriate by the Executive Committee.

J. Any fans and supporters will abide by any rules concerning conduct, use of alcohol, parking or other rules required or requested by the host team or host institution.

  1. When a player is suspended for one or more games, said games must be regularly scheduled games contained in the official schedule.
  1. Any new coach of a girls team must take the online US Lacrosse level 1 coaches certification , prior to March 1.
  1. Every team must be compliant with USL equipment guidelines.

Current Year Guidelines

TGLA GUIDELINES, 2011 Season (as of September 2011)

Players/Coaches/Teams

  1. Middle School Eligibility on High School Teams
  2. Eighth Grade players are not eligible to play for a HS program.
  3. Exceptions: if a team is under 15 players they can petition to bring up 8th graders to play up to a full roster of 15.
  4. Any team that plays with an 8th grader that has not been petitioned for, results in a forfeit for every game that 8th grader has been on the roster.
  5. Participation as an eighth grader shall not reduce the number of semesters a student is allowed to participate after enrolling in the ninth grade.
  6. If an eighth grader plays on a high school team, then that player is not eligible to play on a middle school team. A player may be on only one team roster.
  7. Seventh graders, and younger, are not eligible to play on high school varsity or junior varsity teams.
  8. Rosters and At-Large Teams
  9. Rosters must be emailed to the TGLA Secretaryby February 14, 2012. The roster emailed to the TGLA Secretary must be the roster used for all games (no alterations from original roster allowed).
  10. The TGLA promotes school-specific teams. If the school a player attends has a team, then that player must play on her school team. If the school a player attends does not have a team, then that player must play on the at-large team if one exists in the area. (As of September 16, 2006, girls who have played for two years on a school team and are not students at that school will be “grandfathered in”. Thegrandfather rule would not apply when a school splits off from the at-large team to become a school- specific team; only players fromthat school may be on the team.)
  11. It is the school a player attends, and not the school for which a player is zoned, that determines eligibility.
  12. In the case where a school-based team is lacking in players or has a “combined team” with another school, the TGLA Executive Committee can designate that team as an at-large team. Coaches may petition the TGLA Board to roster non-school players in special circumstances, such as the absence of an at-large team in the area.
  13. If a player is released/cut from a school-specific team, the player must request and be granted a transfer waiver from the TGLA Board before her name may appear on another roster. This does not mean that the at-large team or another team must accept that player.
  14. TGLA Board approval is required for the creation of at-large teams and for the addition of a player to the roster after the deadline for submission of final rosters.
  15. Teams granted At-Large Status will be asked to submit a Charter for the team when a roster is submitted. A part of the Charter should briefly address the plans for “growing” the team and a transition timeline for spinning off as a school-specific team. Each year teams are required to request At-Large status. After having At-Large status for a period of two years, it is in the discretion of the Executive Committee as to whether or not At-Large status will be granted again in future years. The teams’ Charters and Rosters for the two year period will be reviewed when making this decision.
  16. Any game in which an ineligible player participated will be forfeited by the offending team.
  17. Any team whose roster is not submitted by the due date will forfeit all games until the roster is received and approved by the TGLA Executive Committee. (Exceptions are to be approved in advance by the Executive Committee.)
  18. New Team Guidelines (for teams coming on board after the annual meeting)
  19. Will not be assigned to a TGLA region for 2011 and therefore may play any teams and any number of games desired.