By Brian Davidson
From the desk of Senior Head Recruiting Coach Amanda Rawson
This marks the first month that lacrosse has been an official state high school sport in the Florida Athletic Association. Most of the schools already fielded club teams and money to fund teams isn’t readily available, but still it is a start.
Pine Crest senior Glynis McGowan said when she started playing lacrosse four years ago, hardly anyone had heard of the sport.
"We used to have to travel really far to play good teams, now there's more local competition," said McGowan, who hopes to play in college. "I think in 10 years it will be as big as any other sport."
Park Vista first-year boys' coach Travis Klabon said there have been some struggles getting organized.
"The main reason for the struggles being that while the state did sanction boys' lacrosse, [Palm Beach County] did not pick it up for all of the schools," Klabon said. "Right now we are still a club, and while we do have the support of the athletic director [Pam Romero], it has been difficult being on the bottom of the totem pole."
Still, there is little problem for teams to find willing players. Cardinal Gibbons girls' coach Libby Schmehling is extremely bullish. She said now that the sport is sanctioned she says she has more to offer potential players.
"Not only can players join an exciting new sport," Schmehling said, "they can see a distinct and bright future.
"I love that anyone with heart, desire and dedication can play," she said. "I love that you can get out your stick on a Saturday morning and have a relaxing catch, but the next day be diving for groundballs, sprinting to make interceptions or taking power shots during the intensity of a game."
With all its ups and downs, uslacrosse.org says no sport has grown faster at the high school level over the last 10 years, with an estimated 169,000 players.
St. Andrew's boys coach Jeff Goldberg, who has been at the school for 18 years, said they've been playing lacrosse at the Boca Raton school since the mid-1980s. And while the state's sanctioning won't make that much of a difference at St. Andrew's, Goldberg said it might influence other schools that are thinking about adding the sport.
"The up tempo and how fast the game is played — it's very exciting to watch," he said. "The speed and toughness — the skill of hockey — everything that goes along with this sport is awesome to watch."
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/baseball/broward/sfl-flsplax13sbmar13,0,1573204.story
