Lacrosse gains popularity in Wisconsin city

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APPLETON, Wis. (AP) – It’s a fast, physical game of sticks, smacks and speed.

It’s a unique game with hockey, soccer, football and basketball elements.

It’s an addictive game that Matt Mischo quickly became hooked on when he decided to give lacrosse a shot two years ago as a sophomore with no experience in the sport.

“It’s a blast,” said Mischo, a senior and a third-year member of the Neenah High School lacrosse team. “It’s so unusual because it’s all these different sports rolled into one. Whether you like football, hockey or soccer, everyone can kind of find a place. And since most kids around here haven’t played it that long, you can just kind of jump in there and pick it up.”

Others are jumping in, too. Although it is a club sport and not affiliated with the WIAA, lacrosse is growing fast in popularity among Wisconsin high school students. There are 27 high school lacrosse club teams in Wisconsin, and some like Neenah have football-sized rosters and field both varsity and junior varsity teams.

“I don’t know if I want to say it’s growing too fast, because growth certainly isn’t a bad thing, but it’s almost outgrowing the amount of coaches and officials we have available,” said Eric Marsh, coach of the Appleton lacrosse team. “We’re seeing significant growth in the Fox Valley and Green Bay areas.”

Marsh has 32 players on his Appleton team – comprised primarily of Appleton North, Appleton East and Appleton West High School students – and his program also offers a JV squad. Menasha has the smallest numbers of the three Appleton area teams (17), but offers a stable program that is launching its 10th season.

“Lacrosse is just a lot of fun and it’s different than anything you’ve done before,” said Carl Mueller, a former Menasha lacrosse player who is starting his first season as the team’s coach. “Once you pick up a stick, it’s easy to figure out why it’s growing in popularity.”

Lacrosse is a game of Native American origin and may be one of the oldest sports in America, dating back to the 12th century. It is played with 10 players on each side, using a small rubber ball and long-handled netted racquets known as lacrosse sticks. The objective is to use the lacrosse stick to catch, carry and pass the ball in an effort to shoot the ball into an opponent’s goal. It is a rugged game played at a brisk pace with stick-checking and full-body contact.

“I played football for Neenah and some of the biggest hits I’ve taken have been in lacrosse,” said Mischo.

Garrison Kubis, a senior at Appleton North and captain of the Appleton team, has been playing lacrosse since the eighth grade and says it’s no sport for slackers.

“It’s the fastest game on two feet,” said Kubis. “If you like running and hitting, you’ll like it. I love it.”

All three area lacrosse teams are members of the Bay Valley Conference: a high school club league also consisting of Bay Port, Green Bay Southwest, Notre Dame, Oneida, Wausau, De Pere, Green Bay Metro and Green Bay Southwest.

Since lacrosse is not a WIAA-sanctioned sport, lacrosse club teams are self-funded organizations which foot the bill for expenses and usually require a player participation fee.

Neenah differs from the Appleton and Menasha lacrosse squads in that it is considered a varsity club sport at the school and participants can earn varsity letters. Neenah will also get an opportunity to play two games this season at Rockets Stadium. This is the eighth season for Neenah lacrosse team coached by Paul Zielski and assistant Chris Green.

“It’s a sport that really tests a kid’s agility, stamina, athleticism and hand-to-eye coordination,” said Zielski. “There’s not a lot of stopping in our sport. You really don’t have to be the greatest athlete in the world to participate. A lot of players who have never played an organized sport before come out for lacrosse and really find themselves in the sport because it’s a lot different than other sports.”

Wisconsin prep players and coaches hope the game will eventually become a WIAA sport. Lacrosse is sanctioned by the state of Minnesota’s high school sports governing body and is expected to a sanctioned high school sport in Illinois during the coming year.

“The sport is really catching on and the interest is certainly there for it to go WIAA,” said Zielski. “Unfortunately, with the economy being the way it is, it might be hard to get another sport like ours through. I could see it eventually happening, but until school districts are able to become more financially stable, we might be hard-pressed to go WIAA.”

That doesn’t mean that Wisconsin lacrosse teams lack structure.

“In the Bay Valley, we’ve drawn up bylaws the last couple years where we’ve basically adopted a lot of WIAA guidelines and followed them to a T,” said Zielski. “My players are held to the same standards as any other WIAA sport, with the same academic requirements and same code of conduct.”

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Information from: The Post-Crescent, http://www.postcrescent.com