Has U.S. Lacrosse Dropped the Ball?

Today any official ruling on the U.S. game, outside of the college ranks, is made by US Lacrosse. The recent formation of US Lacrosse merged 10 formerly separate organizations into one national governing body, the first the sport has ever had. The hope is that this organization will direct the formation of national standards, creating a unified game throughout the country and pushing the growth of the sport nationwide.

Some fans are unhappy with the progress the institution has made thus far in nurturing the game's growth. Lacrosse is still seen as a regional sport, limited mostly to the Northeast and the Baltimore/Washington area. In response to our E-Lacrosse survey, many complained that US Lacrosse is not making enough effort to promote the game to people around the nation. One fan writes, "The United States International Lacrosse Foundation representatives, who also purportedly want the game to grow, need to end their love affair with the status quo in the US. [They need to] start treating the legions of children, non-college-bound youth, and young adults in this nation as a developing nation, making access to the sport as viable for the kid from Main Street, USA as it is for the prep school youngster."

Other fans attacked US Lacrosse director Steve Stenerson personally, placing on him the blame for the slow growth of acrosse as a national pastime. One High School coach pleaded, "New leadership is essential, and that leadership needs more going for it than having once been a star lacrosse player.

A true vision for the future would be helpful, and some grasp of organizational management, currently lacking, would help. A sense of the importance of good public relations, appropriate and effective marketing and friendly media relations, merely nebulous concepts to the current leadership, would help to bring the game forward as well."

Stenerson was a star face-off midfielder at the growth catalyst school of the 80's, the University of North Carolina, and long-time editor of Lacrosse Magazine before taking the helm at the Lacrosse Foundation - now US Lacrosse.

He believes more time is needed. "We're very involved right now in just completing the work of consolidating 10 different organizations into one," he said. "You have to work with different boards and now our focus is mainly on forming one unified regional plan for the United States. You have to remember that US Lacrosse was only formed in January 1998."

Many of those directly involved with the sport on the college level realize that lacrosse is stuck in its own Catch-22s. Title IX, of course, stands in the way of many non-compliant or barely compliant universities and colleges adding the men's sport to their varsity line-up. But, as we watch the retirement of Wayne Gretzky, a living metaphor for the rapid growth of Hockey, it is obvious that more media coverage is needed to encourage the growth of the sport.

Networks like ESPN, and Fox have vested interests in the success of other sports and ignore lacrosse almost entirely. Media coverage breeds interest and investment and they in turn attract more media. So how does the game break out of this vicious cycle? Roy Simmons, the former head coach at Syracuse, thinks time holds the answer.

"We have to get over the illusion that we're the premiere sport," he said. "It's not football, it's not baseball, it's lacrosse. I don't see it ever growing by leaps and bounds. There are some new companies emerging and I think they will help make the sport more accessible. I also have been frustrated with its growth. I think it's too early to give final judgement [on US Lacrosse]. I think you have to give Mr. Stenerson his due."

Tony Seaman, head coach of the Towson Tigers and president of the Coaches Council for US Lacrosse, feels that fans should be responsible for demanding coverage. "You need readership demand," he said. "You get 20,000 people in an area that write to the editor and complain that they're not covering high school lacrosse or college lacrosse, then maybe you're going to get some better coverage." Some areas in the northeast have had local lacrosse on TV for years and Baltimore lacrosse is in a "T.V. lacrosse renaissance" as one Lax Talk caller termed it recently, with Home Team Sports and WMAR featuring many games between local colleges and even some away games and National Lacrosse League action. But most of the viewers that those broadcasts touch, are likely to be familiar with the game, and while they enjoy watching and the advertisers are happy, lacrosse cannot achieve "hockey growth" without exposure nation-wide.

The issue of inadequate media coverage of the sport was forced into the spotlight this past summer, just over six months after the founding of US Lacrosse, when the organization took on the monumental task of running the World Lacrosse Games in Baltimore, Maryland. Bryan Harmsen, a lacrosse fan in Colorado, wrote, "It was very disappointing not to be able to see any of the games on TV (live or taped) out West. In Colorado we could not get the games because a negotiation with Fox Sports Rocky Mountain could not be reached."

There were other complaints associated with the Games as well, mostly involving game scheduling and ticket sales. It seems many fans were annoyed that tickets were only available for the entire event; they would have preferred to pay separately for each game they were able to attend. Jerry Scott, the buyer for LaxWorld, explained what the institution's reasoning may have been: "The attendance might have been greater if they had broken up the tickets, but the way they did it increased attendance at some of the less desirable games." Roy Simmons seemed to think they were run well overall, saying, "The World Games were a difficult package to sell. It had a small venue. You've got to have a way of doing it. It assured them that the World Games would be profitable."

Stenerson remarked that, "Financially, the games were a success. We raised $260,000 during the games. Forty percent of that -- $100,000 -- is going to go to new start grants. There were some problems, like there will be at any major event. We would have liked to have the stands full for every game, but the fact is you're not going to get a capacity crowd when you have the Czech Republic playing Japan at 10:00am on a Wednesday."

On the growth of the sport as a whole, Stenerson believes time is needed, but he argues that the biggest issue facing the growth of lacrosse is a lack of dedicated personnel. He said, "It is our belief that the most significant concern right now for the growth of the game is in terms of human resources. People like coaches, officials. The game is growing over the last five years, faster in terms of player participation than in the growth of coaches and officials, especially at the high school level. If you don't have a coach, you can't play. If your coach is inadequate then there's a safety concern. It's the same with officials. It's our responsibility as a national governing body to make sure that the coaches and officials are adequate."

Others take this view as well. Jim Darcangelo, three time Team USA midfielder and owner of LaxWorld, gets impatient with those who complain. "I'm sure they need more help in the different regions. If some people would step up and not be one of the people on the perimeter complaining, maybe things would go smoother. It's always easy to complain and point out what's wrong. The tough part is coming up with an answer," he said.

Six months was not enough time to fully evaluate US Lacrosse's functioning. Although the World Games, the first major project of US Lacrosse, had its glitches, the organization has now passed its first full year of operation. Much can and should be expected of this institution in the future, as it moves full speed ahead in its plans to spread this great game to potential players across the United States. US Lacrosse could be very good for this sport, given the chance.

At E-Lacrosse, we are sure that you will keep us posted on their progress.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Peter Anderson is a Senior at Johns Hopkins University, a member of the Blue Jays football team and an E-Lacrosse 1999 intern. Jennifer Carroll is a Senior at the University of Maryland and a Contributing Editor to E-Lacrosse.