Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:10:27 +0000
From: kevin furini
Subject: Lacrosse in Chatham Schools?
I wanted to comment on the posts regarding bringing Lacrosse to Chatham county. UNC Chapel Hill always has a very good college level program and seeing the games at Fetzer Field in CH is a treat. I played high school football and never saw Lacrosse until I met players in my Freshman dorm at the U of Delaware.
Seeing them play though made me realize what a beautiful game it is. There are no out of shape lacrosse players. You can be a small fast 150 pound offensive player or a bigger 220 pound defender and the skill set developed passing a superball around in a fist size stick net is magical.
The only thing that I never figured out about the game is what kind of guy can be the goalie in the game. 100mph superball hurled at you when you have essentially no pads other than a chest protector, small shoulder pads and helmet. No you can’t get hit in the face with the ball, there is a face mask on the helmet.
I took my son regularly to lacrosse games at UNC when he was in grade school and he loved it. We bought sticks and passed the ball around. He didnt play in Cary as there was no program. He was a hockey player instead. During his senior year at Cary High, a new teacher joined the staff. He had played college lacrosse and started the program there at the club level. My son joined and had a fantastic time of it for that one year.
He just spent his last senior semester at a sister university to UNC Charlotte in Delft Holland where he discovered that they had a club level lacrosse team. He played the season with a bunch of Dutch, Germans and Austrians and it was one of the highlights of his semester there. By the way, the game is played in English since it is the universal language. I still have to get the college NCAA championship games off of my TIVO onto VHS for him to send to his buddies in Holland. They crave this.
You cannot unilaterally dictate that the game has to be started up in all Chatham county schools. Just like Cary high, it took a teachers initiative to start it up there and he had the skill set and experience to teach the game. Otherwise it would be a Monte Python twit contest.
Start up costs is an issue as well. Think at least $250 for helmet, shoulder pads, arm pads, stick and cleats. The players tend to be responsible for owning their own cleats and stick. Just as Cary did a school can start out at the club level and play other clubs until ready to move up. From what I hear(now that I no longer live in Cary) during the past 5 years Cary is now playing at a high level as a full team sport.
With UNC Chapel Hill and Duke right up the road there is a wealth of clinics and excellent lacrosse to see. It’s a shame to see the roster handout at UNC games dominated by Maryland and NY guys. Football players would love this as a spring sport, but they would have to get in very good shape!
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