(From SFGate.com article) Lacrosse coaches talk about the Bay Area the way you would expect a baseball scout to talk about Latin America or a hockey scout to talk about Scandinavia. It’s the newest frontier, and the only question is how fast camp can be pitched.Participation in youth and high school lacrosse in the Bay Area has skyrocketed during the past decade, and that expansion is reflected in the level and quantity of talent produced and, in turn, in increased interest from prominent collegiate programs.
On Saturday, two of the best programs in the country, North Carolina (No. 6 at the end of the 2009 season) and Brown (No. 11), will play an exhibition at Kezar Stadium at 3 p.m., preceded by free clinics in which the college coaches and players can talk with local youth coaches and players.
“It’s great for recruiting, because of the emergence of so many quality prospects,” Brown coach Lars Tiffany said. “But it’s also just a great adventure – exposing our players to something new.”
Tickets range from $25 to $35 and can be bought at sflacrosse.com or at Kezar the day of the game.
Tiffany, who coached at Robert Lewis Stevenson High in Monterey from 1990 to 1994, described the growth of California recruiting as “like being Daniel Boone, out on the frontier blazing a trail.”
“It’s not a gimmick anymore,” Tiffany said. “It used to be a neat idea. Now it’s a must. Everyone’s in on it. We’re fighting for recruits from the Bay Area with every team in the country.”
Participation
Since 2003, high school lacrosse participation in California has grown 229 percent among boys (2,240 to 7,365), according to the California Interscholastic Federation, and 170 percent among girls (1,834 to 4,956). The Northern California Junior Lacrosse League has expanded from 90 to 350 teams in that time.
Lacrosse remains outside the top 10 high school sports in participation, but its growth is the steepest of any sport. And since lacrosse became an official high school sport, participation has decreased slightly for baseball and softball – both spring sports that compete with lacrosse for participants.
“Baseball’s got a giant base, but spots are harder to get on baseball teams,” said University High boys lacrosse coach Braden Edwards. “Lacrosse is a compelling alternative – it’s fast-paced, with a lot of running, hitting and scoring, like football, but with kind of the same momentum that basketball has.”
“Over the past five, eight years, it’s been creeping in,” said Rick Steen, baseball coach at De La Salle-Concord, which now has three lacrosse teams. “It’s good for everyone – I cut a kid now, I know he can go play lacrosse.”
Opportunity
The chance to play in college also factors into the decision for athletes. Since 1981, the NCAA has gone from 138 men’s lacrosse teams to 239, and from 105 women’s teams to 301, including Stanford, Cal and St. Mary’s.
“Players – and really players’ parents, too – are starting to understand that lacrosse is a sport that can help you get into a good college,” Edwards said.
“If that’s one of the justifications to play, it’s a correct justification,” Tiffany said. “Every kid is picking up a basketball, or a bat, or kicking a soccer ball. So what’s your competition there for getting into the Ivy League or the ACC? With lacrosse, it’s a smaller pond; it’s easier to be a bigger fish.”
Perhaps the biggest fish to come from the Bay Area is St. Ignatius graduate Roy Lang, who played big minutes on defense and scored nine goals last season as a freshman for Cornell, the Division I runner-up.
Potentially even better is current St. Ignatius senior Rob Emery, regarded as one of the top five recruits in the country. He committed to Virginia as a junior.
“Five years ago, there were a few decent kids coming out of California, but now you’re seeing real quality in guys like Lang and Emery, and also a quantity,” said Tiffany, whose team includes University High graduate Parker Brown.
What’s next?
Two professional lacrosse teams have failed in the Bay Area over the past two years, but many coaches believe that a college such as Stanford could sustain a men’s lacrosse team.
“The sport is marching west – just look at Denver,” said Matt Field, president of the Marin Lacrosse Club, referring to longtime Princeton coach Bill Tierney’s move to the University of Denver this season. “I have no doubt Stanford and Denver could both be national contenders. We’ve got the talent around here now – it’s just about letting kids see the game.
“That’s what’s so great about this (exhibition). It gives kids the chance to see the game at its highest level.”
Lacrosse exhibition
Who: North Carolina vs. Brown
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kezar Stadium
Sponsor: Bay Area Youth Sports Foundation, a nonprofit, with proceeds benefiting local youth sports programs.
E-mail Jake Leonard at jleonard@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/07/SP4C1A0AUE.DTL
Lacrosse at the high school level has grown over 100% just since 2001. While it may still not challenge the top 10 sports in terms of sponsorship, it is continuing to expand rapidly while most other sports are not. In fact, lacrosse remains among the top three fastest growing sport among those that are in the top 15 in popularity. In addition, both boys’ and girls’ lacrosse rank 11th in terms of student-athlete participation, and girls’ lacrosse should reach the top 10 in a few years.
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