GA_031518

glencoeanchor.com sports
the glencoe anchor | March 15, 2018 | 45
Lacrosse
Sport faces minor, unique
changes with IHSA sanction
Michal Dwojak
Contributing Sports Editor
The IHSA sanctioning of
boys and girls lacrosse had
been a decade in the making.
When the IHSA announced
in 2017 that lacrosse
would become an
official IHSA sport this
spring, many expected
sweeping changes coming
to area teams.
But that hasn’t been the
case, surprisingly.
Despite the few changes
coaches and players will
need to make this season,
nearly everything will remain
the same based on the
respect lacrosse has earned
from area athletic directors.
It has been a slow build
for the sport, and has taken
some time for the IHSA to
recognize it.
“I think the state has always
recognized the level
of play,” said New Trier
coach Pete Collins, who
was a key leader to helping
lacrosse become a
sanctioned sport. “When it
became an emerging sport,
they realized how much it’s
growing and we needed to
set a minimum number of
teams to have.”
Local interest has grown
over the last 20 years,
and by 2017 lacrosse had
achieved the appropriate
numbers to become sanctioned.
Those key numbers
were achieved, partly, by
the youth leagues that have
been established over the
last few years.
“It comes from a youth
level because the kids are
playing it and parents are
wondering why we don’t
have it,” Collins said.
For most area coaches,
the official sponsorship
of lacrosse by the IHSA
doesn’t change much, if
anything, in how they will
run their programs. Many
are ready to continue with
business as usual, but that
doesn’t mean they don’t
appreciate the significance
of the IHSA officially taking
lacrosse seriously.
Coaches have spent
nearly a decade working
with IHSA administrators
on fulfilling the requirements
for the sport to be
officially recognized. All
the teams in the state have
run things as if they already
were an IHSA sport including
scheduling that still
works the same, games are
played with the same rules
and the players follow the
same policies.
It just took time to get
the numbers of necessary
teams to become recognized.
“The IHSA has been
good to us,” Loyola coach
John Dwyer said. “Some of
the coaches and I have been
going down to Bloomington
as (long) as four years
ago and over the course of
time, as the transition was
unfolding, more teams
were coming into the fold.”
Seeding Issues
So, what will change for
area teams this season?
For many schools and
athletic directors, lacrosse
was functioning as a sanctioned
sport already. The
main difference will be
postseason seeding.
Both boys and girls lacrosse
ran the playoff ordering
by seeds instead of
the traditional regional and
sectional format the IHSA
runs based on proximity.
This means teams could
play each other much earlier
than they have in the
past instead of meeting in
the semifinals of a state
championship tournament.
Coaches know that if
they want to be the best,
they’ll have to beat the
best. The new format could
give other teams a better
run at a state title.
Financial Consistency
A major concern for a
sport being officially sanctioned
is the financing.
Some schools struggle
with adjusting budgets to
fit that new sport in, especially
with supplies and
equipment costs that can
accompany a new sport.
But, lacrosse is different.
Most players are required
to buy their own equipment,
such as sticks, shoulder
pads and gloves. The
only piece of equipment
that the school provides is
helmets for the boys teams.
The booster programs, run
by parents, will remain in
place for most schools.
It took almost a decade
for the IHSA and lacrosse to
come together, so it won’t
be easy for the sport to continue
to grow in the state.
Different area schools are
working to establish youth
programs so athletes aren’t
learning how to play the
sport for the first time when
they try out for a lacrosse
team. The youth level will
be critical for the growth of
a sport still seen as emerging
in the Midwest.
Area teams seem to be
on the right track.
For complete story, visit
GlencoeAnchor.com.
Additional reporting by Sports
Editors Brittany Kapa and
Michael Wojtychiw
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