Lacrosse Game Clock

by **laxfan25** on Sat Mar 12, 2005 12:22 pm

One of the biggest aggravations is showing up at a game site and not having a properly equipped scorers table. Over the years I can't count the number of times that the game and penalties were being kept with someone's wristwatch. Not cool.
I often thought is it would be nice if you had a setup with a game clock and penalty clocks that were all synched together. I went to a middle school jamboree last year in Detroit, and lo and behold - there it was!
A gentleman by the name of Joe Papu, an electrical engineer by trade and father of a couple players, had designed such a device. This year he has upgraded and improved on it.
It costs $120 and is well worth it! I have no connection with the company but just feel it is a very worthwhile addition to any team's equipment. I thought it was so good that I bought one myself and have it in my trunk. If I show up at a game and they have the typical poor clock situation I let them use it, and tell the teams to buy one. (Some of my fellow officials think I'm nuts to do that, but I'd rather have a well-run game than stand on some kind of high-minded principle).
You can use it to keep the game score also. It is very easy to use, pressing one button starts and stops all clocks, and you can use it in running time games as well and still track penalties. It also has a "horn" built in, although you may have people heading for the bomb shelter when it goes off! (Kind of loud). It also has a milder beep that lets you know when a penalty has expired.
You can find it on line at www.laxclock.com.

http://jpapu.home.att.net/laxclk_pic.htm

**Sponsor**

by **Timbalaned** on Sat Mar 12, 2005 3:49 pm

Is that a scoreboard also? or just a clock? nevermind, just read it in my hung over state and saw that it is also a scoreboard....

by **Aaron** on Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:10 pm

I believe theres an add in the new issue of inside lacrosse for it near the back. It looks like a good product.

I know its a rule in the UMLL that the home team is required to have an official scorebook and person doing time for the game besides the refs. If these arent present and the refs are made aware of this by the away team the initial posession to start the game is given to the visiting team.

by **laxfan25** on Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:19 pm

Yes, when I said keeping time with a wristwatch I was referring to the timer on the sideline, not refs doing it. They do advertise in Inside Lacrosse, I was just trying to spread the word further since you are right - it is a very good product.

by **Gregg Pathiakis** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:21 am

LaxClock actually had a table at the convention. Very cool tool.

by **laxfan25** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:16 am

Gregg Pathiakis wrote:LaxClock actually had a table at the convention. Very cool tool.

That's where I picked up mine. He had the whole family working the booth. Very nice guy, and I'd have to believe it is a labor of love since the market isn't that big. He really put a lot of effort into the design, and the new version is sweet. The only suggestion I had for him is that when the period clock runs out, it should stop the penalty clocks, which currently keep running. Since the programming is burned into the chips he won't be able to add that enhancement until the next production run. It's not a big issue since you can reset the penalty clocks to the remaining time when you start the next quarter.
It is a very handy item, even if you're using a scoreboard for the game clock it's still good or penalties, and you can then track three if needed.
I know for some of the teams in the USLIA they may need two clocks! :lol:

by **Dan Wishengrad** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:41 am

As a pleasant surprise before the 2004 season began, the IMA (Club Sports Dept.) informed us that they had purchased an electronic scoreboard for our use at home games. It cost $1,300

This thing is about five feet long (and heavy!). It sits atop our scorers table and can be seen by fans on the far sideline (well at least the ones with good vision). It shows the quarter, count-down time remaining, the score and alternate possession arrow. It has a rechargeable battery pack that powers the clock about six hours. It also has a built in horn.

I have not seen one of these in use at any other venue in the MDIA, but of course have only been to a fraction of the schools. The Huskies, our fans and visiting teams think this clock is pretty sweet. If I get a good photo of it I will post it here...

by **Gregg Pathiakis** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:46 am

Bridgewater State has a really nice clock on wheels.

by **Larsen** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:26 pm

I assume the clock runs on batteries? (since most fields are w/o easy plug-in space). We've got a full scoreboard on our main field but have to run 100+ feet of extension cords and cables. Got bumped to a different field for our game against Central Michigan and the batteries were dead in the stopwatches so we had to go to wrist-watches. I hate doing that.

by **laxfan25** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:40 pm

Larsen wrote:I assume the clock runs on batteries?

Yes, two 9V and three double AA's. A set of batteries will easily last the whole season. Central Michigan is one of the teams that used my clock and I believe they were going to be ordering one. Their scorekeeper loved it.

by **Sonny** on Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:12 pm

Georgia Tech has one of those electronic, portable scoreboards. Very nice. Sits below the scorers table.