The lacrosse ball: its size, its standard and its colour.

A lacrosse ball is hard, and the medical sources on this site record head, face, eye and chest injuries from ball impact; those are covered under safety. This page is about what the ball must be under each rule book and standard. It does not say any ball is certified, safe or legal: the standard, the rule in force and the officials decide.

World Lacrosse: the ball in the rule books

World Lacrosse's rule books set the ball's dimensions directly. None of the three read for this site names the NOCSAE ball standard. World Lacrosse also lists a men's field version 1.1 (January 2026) and a women's field version 1.1 (March 2025), which were not read.

Men's field Rules 14.2 and 14.3 add that the home team supplies the game balls, and that ball persons must be at least 10 years old and wear helmets, gloves and, where appropriate, boxes or cups.

Colour differs between World Lacrosse's own books

The men's field rule names white or orange rubber and does not mention yellow. The women's field rule allows any solid colour, with yellow at World Lacrosse events, and the sixes rule allows any solid colour World Lacrosse provides. Each book governs its own game.

The NOCSAE standard: ND049

NOCSAE, the standards body whose standards US lacrosse rules cite, lists ND049, "Standard Performance Specification for Newly Manufactured Lacrosse Balls", among its lacrosse standards, with ND149 as the laboratory guide for certifying new balls. NOCSAE says ND049 covers the weight, compression deflection load, circumference and coefficient of restitution (bounce) of new balls as makers supply them.

Editions and dates

• ND049-19: listed by NOCSAE as effective March 2020.
• ND049-19m25: NOCSAE's ND049 page gives this as the current version, but the page is not consistent about which version it calls current, so the date of this edition is unconfirmed. NOCSAE's Standards Committee agenda for 13 February 2026 describes it as a modification: references to two other NOCSAE documents (ND001 and ND021) were replaced with their text, construction and materials requirements were brought in from ND021, and the document was reformatted. NOCSAE treats a modification as editorial, unlike a revision, which changes a test or performance value.
• The current edition's test values were not read for this site, so no current compression or bounce figure is given here.

A superseded edition, for history

NOCSAE's ND049-15m17 (modified March 2017, effective June 2017) is now marked superseded or withdrawn. It required a smooth ball with no seams, of solid elastomeric material, weighing 5.0 to 5.25 oz and measuring 7.75 to 8 in around, with a compression-deflection of 132.5 lb plus or minus 17.5 lb at 25 percent displacement and a coefficient of restitution of 0.60 to 0.70 at 60 mph. It defined "smooth" as not systematically dimpled and without raised ridges (moulding marks excepted) and "solid" as uniform with no intentional air space, and it required a replica of the NOCSAE seal on the outside of the packaging. Later editions changed the document; their values could not be confirmed and are not given.

Marks on a ball are not proof

On 5 June 2019 NOCSAE issued a consumer alert about "KSONE" lacrosse balls sold with NOCSAE and/or SEI marks that did not meet the NOCSAE standard and had not been certified by the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI). In that alert NOCSAE said US Lacrosse, the NCAA and the NFHS require game balls to meet the NOCSAE standard and encourage compliant balls in practice. Its advice was that markings alone do not show compliance, and that the maker and model should be checked against SEI's certified-product list. Later alerts on other balls are on recalls and decertification.

The move to fluorescent balls (US men's and boys')

NCAA men's college

The NCAA announced on 28 July 2026 that, in all three divisions, standard game balls are recommended to be fluorescent green or yellow for 2026-27 and required to be for 2027-28, for visibility to players, officials, spectators and television viewers. USA Lacrosse Magazine reported the same change that day, adding that the Division I Men's Lacrosse Oversight Committee approved it after the Division II and III Playing Rules Oversight Panel.

A document titled "2027 and 2028 Men's Lacrosse Rules Changes", hosted on the NAIA's website, gives Rule 1-16 as: a standard ball of fluorescent green or yellow close to the colour code #ccff00, allowable for 2027 and required by 2028; white, yellow, orange, lime green or pink allowed if both coaches agree; and a smooth or slightly textured solid rubber ball that meets the current NOCSAE lacrosse ball standard. It also says that for 2027, if the home team chooses the fluorescent ball, that ball is used. Who issued the document is not clear from its text, so it is cited here as the NAIA-hosted copy, not as an NCAA document.

NFHS boys' high school

The NFHS's 2027 boys' summary of changes (Rule 1-5) says that from 2029 the ball must be fluorescent green or yellow, ending the use of white and orange balls; fluorescent green and yellow are already legal alongside them. The NFHS's story of 13 August 2026 gives the start as 1 January 2029 and the reason as visibility for players, officials and spectators.

The NFHS's 2027 boys' and girls' points of emphasis each include identifying the NFHS authenticating mark, on game balls in the boys' list. What that mark rule requires for lacrosse balls, and from when, was not found in an NFHS document.

Women's and girls' balls in the United States

The NFHS girls' and NCAA women's ball colour rules were not read for this site. USA Lacrosse Magazine says women's lacrosse has used yellow balls since the modern college game began.