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Rapid growth is key to lacrosse’s survival
Photo
Canfield’s Jacob Duda, 17, catches the ball during a recent lacrosse practice at Canfield High School.
Cardinal Mooney lacrosse was in its first few years of existence when the team traveled to Hawken High School for a game.
While the result was not so favorable for the Cardinals, everyone who made the trip to the Cleveland suburb of Gates Mills came away with a surprising revelation.
“All the [Mooney] parents were fascinated by 6- and 7-year-old kids tossing a ball around at the game,” Cardinal Mooney coach Ray Marks recalled. “I told them that’s how it is in most other places.”
What he probably wanted to tell them is that’s how it needs to be in Youngstown if local teams are to compete in Ohio.
The almost non-existent youth lacrosse programs across the Mahoning Valley is just one of the obstacles surrounding the sport’s growth in the area.
However something like that isn’t built overnight. Just ask hockey. Or even swimming.
Growth Spurt
Canfield athletic director Greg Cooper seems to be at the forefront of offering his student athletes as many different options as possible. The two most recent sports that have gained varsity status at Canfield Local Schools are bowling and hockey. And lacrosse isn’t far off, according to Cooper.
“I think the idea is that if you go back years and years ago in high school athletics, sports were gradually added because there was an initial interest by the students themselves,” Cooper said. “Slowly over the years that grew into what we have now.
“I mean if you think back 30 or 40 years ago, relatively few schools had swim teams or soccer teams in the area,” Cooper said. “Over the years, there became a developed interest and that’s when youth teams sprung up.”
The proper way for any sport to develop an interest is working from the ground up. At this point, lacrosse doesn’t have that luxury.
So while the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association tries to shift its focus backward, while also keeping a close eye on its ultimate goal of joining the OHSAA, youth programs have slowly begun to pop up around the state.
OHSLA commissioner Paul Balcerzak said he feels they have made significant progress at building a stronger foundation as explained by the 100 or so middle school programs that have been established in the recent years.
However, he also fears the Youngstown area lacks the necessary coaches and officials with enough knowledge for the sport to grow rapidly.
But that won’t change overnight, either.
Building a Foundation
When lacrosse’s Mr. Johnny Appleseed of the Valley, Tom Trefethern, realized the issue, he decided to create Steel Valley Lacrosse.
It was designed to be a youth lacrosse program with the purpose of teaching kids how to play the game before they reach the varsity level.
“It’s really difficult to teach a high school kid how to play lacrosse at a competitive level,” Trefethern said. “But if you get them in middle school, or even younger, by the time they get to high school they already have the fundamentals down.
“Well then that’s where this area’s teams will be competitive state-wide.”
The organization holds practices every Monday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Boardman High School. According to Trefethern, participation has been good, but could be a lot better.
But what would a youth lacrosse program be if the kids playing in it didn’t have something to look forward to at the next level.
That led to the latest high school to add the sport: Boardman.
Dave Merry was contacted by one of his friends, whose son was interested in the game. Merry has a lacrosse background, growing up playing the sport in upstate New York, and decided he’d help Boardman, which was still in the early stages of forming a team.
“And as those sort of things usually go, it went from helping out to becoming the head coach,” Merry said with a laugh.
Although when he arrived last fall, he was pleasantly surprised that there was already a booster group in place to help the program.
“Boardman really did it very well, and they did it with a lot of help from Tom [Trefethern],” Merry said. “We’ve gone through our growing pains, if you will, but we have a very good board, a good group of boosters to help out, and so far everybody seems to be pitching in.
“And the kids are enthusiastic about it.”
He said the toughest part thus far has been introducing the sport to the kids that aren’t all that familiar with it or have never seen it. Merry said it’s like teaching a kid to play football, who’s never even watched football.
That’s where he hopes Steel Valley Lacrosse will pay off in the future.
“It’s huge to have more people in this community take up the sport,” Merry said. “We’re hoping to grow it at the community level and have Steel Valley be a feeder program to the community schools, regardless of affiliation, just to get the kids involved with the sport and give them an opportunity to play something different.”
Who’s got next?
As Cardinal Mooney continues year six of its lacrosse program, Canfield thrives in its second year, and Boardman continues to grow as a first-year program, the question remains of who’s next?
Will it be Austintown Fitch, where Trefethern has been in talks with athletic director Robert Conklin?
Or will it be Poland? Or Howland?
One thing’s for sure: If more schools don’t begin to pick up the sport, it’s going to struggle.
Trefethern’s not worried about that though. He feels he has a pretty good sales pitch.
“This is new, we’re not afraid of it, there’s kids and parental support for it, and it’s a great thing for our kids to be involved in,” he said. “Plus, there’s plenty of opportunities to play it at the next level.”