By BY PETE STELLA
PSTELLA@NEWS-PRESS.COM
Published by news-press.com on June 5, 2005
Speed.
Toughness.
Finesse.
Mix these ingredients together and you’ve got yourself a lacrosse player.
And with the popularity of the sport exploding across the nation, size or even experience isn’t required to compete in the oldest team sport in North America.
“It’s popularity is at an all-time high right now,” said Bruce DeKoff, the Cypress Lake High boys coach. “I think the way it’s growing, it will move faster than any sport ever.”
Lacrosse, which is close to a religion in places like Long Island, N.Y., and Baltimore, is quickly spreading its wings to every city and town in the country.
According to US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse, founded in 1989, youth lacrosse participation in the southeast United States has grown 337 percent during the past four years.
Since lacrosse combines athletic elements from several sports including hockey, soccer and basketball, anyone can suit up — not just the bigger players.
Coaches scout out potential players who demonstrate solid athletic ability even if they have never previously picked up a lacrosse stick.
“I had guys on the team that were 5-foot-7, 140 pounds,” said Stephen Larson, former men’s club coach at the University of Florida. “If you are quick, you can survive. But there are places where big guys are needed.
“I had guys from Florida with six years of high school experience and then I had some who had never played a second of lacrosse. But it is easy to pick up and a very addictive sport.”
DeKoff, who has been involved with lacrosse in Southwest Florida since 1989, said the number of boys lacrosse teams in Florida at the high school level has grown from nine in 1989 to 72 as of 2004-05.
For the girls, 50 teams are across the state as opposed to two in 1989.
Gary Bostic, the center manager for the Stars Complex, feels the newness of the sport will attract plenty of interest.
"One of the main things about a sport that is not prevalent in this type of community is that it is something different," said Bostic, a Rochester, N.Y., native who competed at the high school level in Detroit. "When the kids hear a new name, their hands just shoot up and they say 'I wanna try, I wanna try.'
"I think lacrosse will be very well received in the community as a whole."
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