HS Lacrosse in Fargo/Moorhead or Grand Forks?

by **LaxRef** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:09 am

Is there any going on right now?

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by **oldmanlax** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:09 am

Pretty sure there is nothing going on as of now. I know a few high school kids have suited up for their box league games though. There has been community stuff going but nothing at the high school level. Cam or Corey, can you elaborate?

by **msum26** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:13 am

There has been some support at the younger levels, i.e a 7th/8th grade team

camps, clinics, indoor box league, etc.

however, at the high school level, im not sure there is much going on at least in the f/m area,

one problem you could for see happening, is if moorhead was to accept lacrosse at any level (club or varsity) who is the closest team for them to play, and if fargo takes on the task as well they obviously are in
north dakota so how do you gauge action between the two,

other then playing for playing sake with no actually benefit( from a MSHSL stand point) being gained

by **Cameron pederson** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:23 am

I just moved to the area but I have been keeping up with what is going on. Right now there is no HS lacrosse. There is a youth lacrosse association http://fargolacrosse.org/ that was started 2 years ago.
It was decided that the youth league was a good place to start and they figured when these kids grow up they will develop a HS league. Currently they do not have certified officials and the coaches are Moorhead and NDSU players. The league has grown every year and I am hoping to get more involved in it this summer.
I have also heard rumblings that Grand Forks is looking to start a youth league headed up by some of the UND players. It would be great for our state to have two cities with multiple teams playing each other.
I think the next step to bringing the FM league to a new level would be to certify referees in the area and train the coaches through the US Lacrosse program. It would also help the colleges to have referees in the area so we don't have to pay so much for them to come from the Twin Cities. PM me if you have any more questions or suggestions as I have a great interest in the youth lacrosse and its success in Fargo.
P.S. I am not currently associated or involved in the Fargo Lacrosse Association at this point so my information comes from what I have heard.

by **Cameron pederson** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:30 am

msum26 wrote:There has been some support at the younger levels, i.e a 7th/8th grade team

camps, clinics, indoor box league, etc.

however, at the high school level, im not sure there is much going on at least in the f/m area,

one problem you could for see happening, is if moorhead was to accept lacrosse at any level (club or varsity) who is the closest team for them to play, and if fargo takes on the task as well they obviously are in
north dakota so how do you gauge action between the two,

other then playing for playing sake with no actually benefit( from a MSHSL stand point) being gained

I don't think that the teams would actually be completely associated with their HS to start with. I think that the Fargo and Moorhead teams would be combined by region and split up into teams by the association not the HS. There would probably be games between the local teams with maybe a trip to the twin cities to play in a weekend of games if they are available. It would be very tough for the Moorhead schools to play in the MSHSL or the MBSLA.

by **msum26** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:04 pm

problem being this,

if MBSLA or MSHSL is not feisable for any teams in this region its hard to get things going at a higher level,

MBSLA might need to be an obtainable goal for either team,

gives the kid something to strive for, competeting with the cities teams, obviously growing pains always occur in starting any new team at any new level, lacrosse being no different,

However, i believe Cam might be on to something in spliting kids region wise in the f/m area.

Again im no expert on the High School level, or MBSLA but i wonder what the rules are regarding club teams and the members of them, do they need to be affilated with the school and only made up of students from that school. etc. etc...

hopefully with the growth of lacrosse through the midwest, the MSHSL offically have lacrosse as a varsity sport, the existance of the MBSLA and possible teams in Grand Forks region, all are beneficial factors in some sort of high school lacrosse in the fargo/moorhead area.

it will be interesting to see as i will leave the area in august but well wishes with however, takes the onus upon them to energize the community about this great sport and its benefits

by **LaxRef** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:28 pm

Multi-school exemptions are applied for and granted in the MBSLA, and certainly would be in a developing area.

Duluth/Superior is a HS JV/V program in the state; it's challenging for them to travel and get teams to go to them, but they make it work well. Wouldn't Fargo/Moorhead/Grand Forks only be about another hour of travel?

We have officials in Duluth now and are training more next weekend. We regularly send experienced officials there with the goal of helping them to become self-sufficient. I see no reason we couldn't do the same thing in that area.

They'll need coaches, too; hopefully some of the people here would be willing to share their expertise in developing coaches in that area as well.

by **oldmanlax** on Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:54 pm

I would hope having trained officials is not the top priority to starting programs in F/M. I would venture to say schools are apprehensive because their nearest competition is a minimum of two and a half hours away. There is enough knowledgable lacrosse people in the Fargo area to have a nice crew of trained officials. Three college teams within an hour of each other should be enough of a pool to draw from for officials. Not to mention it's a pretty nice part time job.

Give it time. A youth program won't take long to trickle up to the high school ranks. I can personally vouch that Moorhead high School hockey players like to throw the ball around. I'm sure if someone lead the charge, you could round up 20 kids from Fargo/Moorhead to start a club. The facilities are there between NDSU and Moorhead fields. It doesn't have to be a full-fledged team. Even 6 on 6 would get these kids amped. Roll that into Box league and now you've got interest.