The Difference between the Northern Rhode Island Youth Lacrosse Association (NRILAX) and the Cumberland Youth Lacrosse Association (CYLAX):

The vision of the Northern Rhode Island Youth Lacrosse Association founding fathers was to provide every town in the Northern Rhode Island region with its own youth lacrosse organization, similar to what currently exists in most towns with other youth sports.  We are pleased that Cumberland is the first town in the Northern Rhode Island Region to establish its own town based organization.  CYLAX is not a subsidiary of NRILAX. CYLAX is a separate association and corporation. Both CYLAX and NRILAX are individual non-profit corporations and have separate state and federal tax ID numbers, 501(c)3 registrations, financials, checking accounts, reserve capital accounts, boards of directors and bylaws. 

Basically, if you reside in Cumberland (the 02864 zip code) then you will be a member of CYLAX. If you reside within any other town within the Northern Rhode Island region (which extends into MA) then you will be a member of NRILAX.

NRILAX and CYLAX will share one website. This reduces administration tasks and costs. Since we operate 100% on volunteers and no one receives any salary or compensation, we must utilize our volunteer base wisely and efficiently.

As for players, the change from one NRI organization to two groups (NRILAX and CYLAX) will be seamless.  We still need to work out some details however team rosters will be assembled the same as in the past.  For starters, everyone will visit this website to register.  Those with the 02864 Cumberland zip code will be registered as members of the CYLAX.  Players from all other towns will be NRILAX members.  When assembling the rosters we will start, as we always have, by establishing a team in each age group for both boys and girls from Cumberland utilizing the CYLAX players.  If needed, we will then fill in any extra slots on those CYLAX teams with a few NRILAX kids.  This is exactly as we have done in the past.  All “White” and “Red” teams over the past few years have been basically Cumberland kids with the remaining few slots filled by kids from surrounding towns.  The Cumberland kid component of each White and red team has always been well over 85%.  The CYLAX teams have different jerseys than the NRILAX teams.  

BOTTOM LINE: ALL KIDS IN NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND WILL STILL PLAY LACROSSE, AND MOST ON THE SAME TEAMS AND WITH THE SAME FELLOW PLAYERS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN PLAYING WITH IN THE PAST!  No worries.  However, if you have suggestions or want to be a part of the decision making process, we encourage you to attend the meetings.