Lacrosse Heats Up For Area Youth

By: Christine Manning

The football rivalry is in the fall, a winter basketball rivalry really doesn't exist and springtime is usually filled with back-and-forth winning by the baseball and tennis teams. Now Louisville's two private-school athletic powerhouses can square off in a new sport - lacrosse. One of the most popular high school sports in the eastern part of the United States has found a place in several area high schools.

The St. Xavier Tigers and the Trinity Shamrocks have battled each other the past two seasons for the State Lacrosse Championship. This is the third season that lacrosse has been a varsity/club sport at the two schools and is now a varsity sport at Louisville Collegiate, Eastern, Male, Ballard, Manual, Oldham County, Kentucky Country Day and St. Francis high schools also.

Lacrosse is still in the club sport status at these schools. Three of the other more recognized high school club sports are volleyball, ice hockey and crew. The real difference between being a club sport and a recognized high school sport is merely an administrational one because club sports aren't members of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association as their varsity counterparts such as football, soccer, golf, etc. are.

Scott Howe, a Maryland native and lifelong lacrosse player is the Tigers' head coach. He was instrumental in bringing the sport to Kentuckiana seven years ago and helped form the Kentucky Lacrosse Association (KLA), which now has more than 3,000 members. The high school programs basically got started through leagues Howe started at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park as he began grouping the players from the same schools onto the same recreational teams. His two sons, Scott and Stewart, played for him and helped him start the program at St. X when they were students there.

Although the lacrosse program at St. X receives funding from the athletic department, Howe coaches as a volunteer. The St. X Tigers' program consists of varsity and junior varsity teams with approximately 55 total players.

"This is a serious lacrosse program. We will play the hardest teams we can find," Howe stressed. "I want these kids to get recognition ... to possibly be a Top 100 team in the nation and compete for Division I scholarships." He also said the program will continue to grow, not only at St. X, but at all area high schools as younger students currently playing in middle school programs enter high school.

Howe is a 1975 graduate of the University of Virginia and played on the university's 1972 National Champion lacrosse team. His helmet and stick from those days hang proudly in a Middletown sporting goods store he co-owns, Stickhead. His store is the only sporting goods store in the state that carries lacrosse equipment and is owned and managed by people with lacrosse backgrounds. Co-owner Shawn Hamill, who played lacrosse at Washington College in Maryland, said many of the larger sports stores in the area, such as Dick's and Galyans, send customers to Stickhead for more individualized attention to lacrosse detail.

Michael Imburgia, 15, a St. X freshman, plays on Howe's varsity squad. He had originally planned to play football for the Tigers, but changed his mind so he could condition during the fall and winter to get ready to make the varsity lacrosse team this spring.

Imburgia is one of about 25 Tigers who will spend their spring break on a mandatory team trip to Virginia. While there, the team will play some of the best lacrosse teams in the nation, do a little bit of sightseeing and spend the rest of the time practicing in some traditional venues for the sport, including those in Virginia Beach and on the campus of Virginia Weslayan University. The team will also get to see a rematch of the 2003 NCAA Championship game when they watch the Virginia Cavaliers play Johns Hopkins University.

Imburgia's introduction to lacrosse is similar to the stories of several other boys on his team. After playing and excelling at several other sports, including grade school football, travel baseball and ice hockey, Imburgia joined a league at Tom Sawyer Park and merged his talents from the other sports onto the lacrosse field.

His older sister Ashley, 16, is on the varsity team at Collegiate and his younger sister Melissa, 11, has played the sport recreationally for three years. She is too young to play for Collegiate, but held her own as she played on her sister's high school varsity indoor squad this past winter as a fifth grader.

Lacrosse is also a girls' varsity sport at all of the previously mentioned high schools as well as at Assumption, Mercy and Sacred Heart Catholic high schools. There are also programs in local public, Catholic and independent private middle schools for girls as young as fifth grade. Summer leagues and camps for females are also available through KLA and Stickhead.

Hamill said there is also a men's league that plays games in the area. More information on practices and games is available by calling his store at 502-245-7849.

Each March Stickhead sponsors The Icebreaker, a large lacrosse tournament at Tom Sawyer Park that hosts more than 1,500 middle- and high-school age players from several states.

While the high school lacrosse season ends in late May, for many young players the training continues into the summer with leagues and camps held throughout the area.

Christine Manning is a contributing writer for Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine. She is a graduate of Texas A & M with a degree in journalism and also has a master's degree in English.