Growth on the High School Level
The growth of lacrosse on this high school level has seen very rapid expansion. “Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143, 946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-2008 school year.” During the 2000-01 school year there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players. In addition, high school lacrosse has recently been sanctioned in non-traditional lacrosse states as an official high sport in California, Florida, Texas, and Georgia amongst others. This means that high teams in these states can now officially compete to earn a state championship at the conclusion of their seasons. In addition to the growth of lacrosse on the high school level, there has also been an explosion of youth programs. Every year there are new travel teams for kids as young as 6 years old. These teams will play in local tournaments as well as travel to different states in order to compete against tougher competition. As these young kids get older, the opportunity for each of them to play lacrosse at the high school level will also grow as more and more high schools are adding lacrosse to their list of athletic programs. Growth on the College Level While the growth of high school lacrosse is growing exponentially, the college level has experienced a much more moderate experience. While the growth of high school lacrosse is growing exponentially, the college level has experienced a much more moderate experience. From 1988 to 2008 there has been only seven men’s lacrosse teams added to Division 1 and fourteen added to Division 2. The biggest growth has been in Division 3 which has added ninety extra teams, which is a substantial amount. “According to statistics compiled by the College Sports Council, the ratio of male high school lacrosse players matched to the NCAA Division I level is 1277:1.” What this means is a couple of things. In order for the game to keep up with its current pace, the number of college teams needs to increase. The number of 1277 for every one college player is an extraordinary number. This also means that the competition for spots on a team’s roster has also increased from the past. While this is great for colleges that have teams, since they now can have their choice of a larger pool, it is not so great for the prospective athlete. There are many more athletes competing for a single roster spot than in the past. To show how the landscape has changed, in 2009, on Division 1 rosters, “118 players came from five key Western states: California (55); Colorado (37); Washington (13); (Arizona (9) and Oregon (4.)” Traditionally, this is not a number that has been seen before. Most colleges recruit student-athletes from Eastern states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maryland. Limitations As fast as lacrosse is growing on the high school and college level there are limitations that hinder the sport from booming as fast as it could be. One of these limitations is Title IX. What is Title IX? Title XI is “a law enacted in 1972 and designed to ensure equal opportunities in college athletics for both men and women.”While this law effects almost every federally funded institution, it was not made with athletics as its main focus. It goal was to increase the opportunities for women to enroll in colleges, employment opportunity, and anything else that was considered an injustice. In 1974, an amendment was made to this law to ensure that athletics would also be included under the umbrella of Title IX. In regard to the intercollegiate section of Title IX, there are 3 main focus points. These focus points are: “Participation: Title IX requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. Title IX does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to play; Scholarships: Title IX requires that female and male student-athletes receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their participation; Other benefits: Title IX requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes in the provisions of: (a) equipment and supplies; (b) scheduling of games and practice times; (c) travel and daily allowance/per diem; (d) access to tutoring; (e) coaching, (f) locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities; (g) medical and training facilities and services; (h) housing and dining facilities and services; (i) publicity and promotions; (j) support services and (k) recruitment of student-athletes” While Title IX is great because it does ensure equal opportunity for everyone regardless of sex, it also has its negatives as well. When this law was amended to include athletics, its intentions were to increase female participation, which it has, however some institutions have taken a different spin on it. Rather than increase female participation, they have decreased male participation. Many universities have cut programs such as wrestling, swimming, and gymnastics in order to provide the necessary equal opportunity. One of the biggest ongoing arguments is the sport of football. Football is a very expensive sport and requires an overwhelming amount of resources. A Division 1 football team can have 65 full athletic scholarships. How does this affect the growth of lacrosse? For every Division 1 football team there needs to be an equal amount of opportunity for women. What this does is really limit how much money is left over to add additional men’s sports such as lacrosse. As you can see by looking at the charts provided, this is probably one of the main reasons as to why women’s lacrosse is growing at a faster rate on the college level when compared to men’s lacrosse. Until this law is amended in some way to modify how much the sport of football will count towards institutions spending on male sports, I do not see Division 1 and 2 men’s lacrosse expanding as much as it could. Division 3 lacrosse is a different story. Any division 3 athletic program cannot give out athletic scholarships. What this means is that these schools do not have to match any football scholarships given out to their players. This allows for schools to add additional male and female sports to their programs because there is more money to contribute to both. |
The Path of Field Lacrosse