Lacrosse gains ground with Coloradans (Denver Post)

preps - lacrosse
Lacrosse gains ground with Coloradans
By Brady Delander
Special to The Denver Post

Lacrosse in Colorado is sprouting like a teenager - with only a touch of the rebelliousness.
Interest in the sport has grown steadily since the 1960s and 1970s on the youth fields, at the high school and college levels and most recently with the professional Colorado Mammoth. Last month, Sports Illustrated called Colorado "the center of the revolution in U.S. lacrosse."

And the revolution seems to be just getting started.

"To be honest, I think the real explosion in interest has yet to come," said Jamie Munro, men's lacrosse coach at the University of Denver, ranked No. 12 in Division I. The Pioneers just missed making the NCAA Tournament when they lost to Fairfield 9-8 on Saturday.

In terms of National Lacrosse League attendance, the Mammoth finished second twice and first once since moving here in 2002-03, with an average of 17,035 fans per game in 2005. That dwarfs the regular-season league average of 9,885.

Prep participation jumped from 2,141 male and female athletes when the Colorado High School Activities Association first sanctioned the sport in 1999 to 3,427 athletes last season, a 60 percent increase.
Aside from spirit-based cheerleading activities, that is easily the largest increase of any sport in the state in the past six seasons. Ice hockey numbers rose by about 45 percent during that time, but 1,600 more boys played lacrosse than hockey last year.

Nationally, the number of high school lacrosse participants increased by 12.4 percent from 2001 to 2004, according to a survey by the U.S. Lacrosse National Headquarters in Baltimore. Youth participation jumped by 24 percent.

The same survey noted Colorado and Utah have produced the biggest increase of players of all ages in the entire nation since 2001.

New alternative
Lacrosse was first played by Native Americans, but Colorado's recent organized history of the game can be traced to the 1960s, when schools such as Cherry Creek, Colorado Academy, East and Kent Denver started club programs.

The University of Denver is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its program, which places the Pioneers in the middle of an early boom triggered by transplanted Easterners.

"If you look back at the economy boom and the oil business in Colorado, a lot of guys from Baltimore and New York ended up living and working here," said Jon Barocas, boys lacrosse coach at East for 27 years. "They started clubs so they could continue to play, then they got married and had kids, and it just went from there."
The sport combines the physical play of ice hockey and the up-tempo pace of basketball, allowing for one-on-one action or team attacks. Great size and strength are not necessary.

"People realized they could play lacrosse no matter what size they are. As long as they have a stick and a ball, there is a team for them," Barocas said.

Longtime Kent Denver boys coach Tom Graesser said lacrosse offers an alternative to traditional, and more saturated, sports such as baseball, soccer and track.

"Kids love to practice lacrosse," Graesser said. "A lot of athletes who play other sports try it and love it and realize that they can get a lot better pretty quickly."

Though it is impossible to calculate exactnumbers, other sports are losing athletes to lacrosse. Kent Denver senior Michael Winter, 18, has made the switch, and he said three or four of his friends have done the same.
"I was a big baseball player, but lacrosse is almost like a religion in this area, so I decided to give up baseball," Winter said.

Golden freshman Michael Padilla, 15, never thought about playing lacrosse until coach Mike Thumim suggested he give it a try. Now Padilla is hooked.

"The first time I played, I realized it was a lot of fun," he said. "I like running, and I really like that you can hit people and cause some pain."

East senior Adam Swarsen, 18, used to play soccer and baseball, but now focuses solely on lacrosse.

"It's a really fast-paced game with a lot highs and lows," said Swarsen, who will play at Hofstra University. "My girlfriend's parents came to a game for the first time this year and had a great time. Lacrosse appeals to a lot of people."

Spreading like wildfire

At the high school level, interest is quickly spreading from the suburbs south of Denver into Douglas County and Colorado Springs. With the emergence of teams such as Golden, which went 9-6 in 2002 and 12-2 this season, Jefferson County is starting to compete, and other areas of the state are starting to join in as well.

"I get a lot of calls from places like Gunnison and Aspen and Vail asking how they can start programs," Graesser said.

The divide also seems to be closing between Colorado and the East Coast.

"The biggest difference now as lacrosse has expanded West is depth," Cherry Creek girls coach Cayel Dwyer said. "There might be 80 good teams in Baltimore and the Washington, D.C., area and only a handful out here. ... There is a direct correlation to how long the program has been around to how strong it is."

The buzz generated by the Mammoth cannot be denied, and one top professional is doing his part to help the growth continue.

Gary Gait, who ended his career with the Mammoth this season and is widely considered one of the best professionals in the history of the sport, will make Colorado his home this summer.

Gait is the president of the National Development Program for lacrosse, which is geared toward helping athletes play beyond high school.

"The growth of the game (in Colorado) has been exceptional," Gait said. "There were about 30 high school teams when the Mammoth started, and now that number is much higher."

This season, there are 41 boys teams and 32 girls teams officially sanctioned by the CHSAA, but more are on the way.