Lacrosse Gains Popularity in Tucson

They call it "the fastest sport on two feet." It's a grueling test of stamina as players run up and down a soccer-sized field to get a solid-rubber ball into their opponent's net. As a novice fan, you're not sure if you're watching a football game or a hockey match. Actually, it's a combination of both. The players carry lacrosse sticks  (or crosses) and have goals with nets on opposite sides. There are 10 positions on a team: one goalie, three attackmen, three midfielders, and three defensemen. The object: put a 5 oz. solid-rubber ball into your opponent's net with a long-handled stick with a triangular pocket at the end, while keeping your opponent from doing the same to you. Lacrosse players can roam behind the net, as hockey players do; the offensive players run patterned offenses and fast breaks, while the defenses are man-to-man or zone, just like basketball. It's an aggressive sport; if a player has the ball in his stick, an opponent can hit the player's arm, hand or stick with his own stick. It's also legal to run head-on into another player if the ball is within five yards of that player. There is so much clashing, thrashing and hitting that it's not a sport for the weak player or weak spectator.   

Carolyn Carter has two sons playing lacrosse. "I had no idea how lacrosse was played. My kids described it as 'hockey on grass.' They played hockey for years so they like the body contact," she said. Mac Evans, 14, has always liked playing football, but he decided to try lacrosse during the off-season. "It's fun. It's not as rough as football. In football, I'm used to hitting people twenty-four-seven." Evans is a member of the newest team in town, the Tucson Scorpions. While most of the players had played football, none had held a lacrosse stick until last January. Coach Mike Storie said, "Football and lacrosse complement each other. It takes years to develop ball-handling skills in lacrosse, but the players are doing well so far."

Lacrosse came to Tucson in the late '70s when a few East Coast transplants started a lacrosse club on the UA campus. Today, there are three middle school teams and three high school teams. Last December, Desert View High School became the first school to receive $20,000 in donations to start a school-sponsored team. Dean Greenberg is one of the middle school club coaches trying to expand the number of teams in the Tucson area. "The goal is to expand to 20 teams in five years so we can have our own league and not have to travel to Phoenix almost every weekend to play." Phoenix has more than 50 lacrosse teams, while Tucson has only six. Not only does Tucson need more teams, it also needs more referees and playing fields. A soccer field can easily be transformed into a lacrosse field, but with the huge number of soccer teams vying for those fields, lacrosse teams are often left out. The season runs from January through April. Most teams practice three days a week and play a game once a week, oftentimes in the Phoenix area.

Many people are unaware that lacrosse is gaining popularity in the Tucson desert. As word travels about the need for more players and teams, Tucson could be on the verge of having another sport just as popular as year-round soccer.