The 6-year-old gleefully accepted the old lacrosse stick, thrilled by the whipping action as he shot at the net. Three years later, he upgraded and passed his stick to a 7-year-old.
When Bill Hall grew up in Montclair, N.J., it was the way of lacrosse. Hall, assistant general manager of the Colorado Mammoth, sees the tradition carried on 30 years later in Colorado, which is among the fastest growing lacrosse markets in the country, along with California and Texas.
“The Mammoth players give sticks away, DU players give sticks away and players in Jon Barocas’ program at Denver East High give sticks away,” Hall said. “You play, and you’re responsible to give a stick away.”
Stick by stick, interest in lacrosse is spreading across Colorado, from youth leagues to high schools to colleges and the pros, among participants and spectators alike, eager to learn and excited by the nonstop action.
“The people you encounter in the game, from youth coaches to professional players, are ambassadors for the game,” Mammoth general manager Steve Govett said. “They all want to see it grow so they will go out of their way to extend a helping hand in introducing the game.”
And grow it has, from the kids to the pros. Consider:
Participation rates for under-15 youth have tripled since 1999 to 204,384 in a 2005 national survey by U.S. Lacrosse, the governing body of the sport.
Locally, the showcase youth event, the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Jamboree, has expanded from 30 teams when it started in 1994 to more than 200 teams, the largest lacrosse competition in the West.
Since being sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association in 1999, there are 44 boys varsity teams and 37 girls teams.
And the growth is not just participatory. An emerging fan base has been cultivated, courtesy of the 4-year-old Mammoth, which regularly packs the Pepsi Center. A second pro team debuted this weekend, the expansion Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse, and a third pro team is on the horizon for next summer, the Mammoth entry in the proposed NLL Outdoor.
“The success of the Mammoth has opened up a lot of eyes to the sport in Colorado,” NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said. “Kids see it, and they want to be a part. … We’ve done surveys, and (fans) tell us that 80 percent of our fans have no prior experience playing or watching lacrosse prior to seeing their first NLL game. Our game has the ability to capture the mainstream sports fan. We’ve also found that those who played lacrosse in their youth remain intensely loyal to the sport and like to do whatever they can to promote the game at all levels.”
At the lower levels, the game’s growth is boosted by lacrosse neophytes, former soccer players or former baseball players who want a faster sport.
Parents love one-hour games. Kids prefer the physical, fast-paced action to waiting through lengthy at-bats while novice pitchers struggle to find the strike zone.
“This is a game for kids of all shapes and sizes,” said Hall of Famer Gary Gait, who coaches the Mammoth, and two youth teams, those of his daughter and son. “Kids who get a stick in their hand don’t want to let it go.”
Sean Burke tightened his grip when his older brother, Danny, let him use his stick three years ago. Leaving soccer behind, Sean joined the Centennial-based Panthers youth team.
“I liked it and I kept on playing,” the 9-year-old said. “I get the ball a lot because it is always on the ground and you can just scoop it up. I like scoring a lot of goals. I like defense. In soccer you can’t push and hit people, and in lacrosse you can. It is more fun.”
Curiosity draws fans
On Jan. 3, 2003, the Mammoth’s debut was delayed 30 minutes to accommodate thousands of walk-up fans. Many among the crowd of 16,125 never had seen lacrosse. As the biggest name in the sport, Gait gave the franchise instant credibility.
After the curiosity wore off, the fans kept coming, attracted by low ticket prices, new traditions, humble players and the game, a mix of hockey and basketball: fast play, high scores, hitting and fighting.
Sustained fan support four years later has those within the game believing lacrosse can advance in this country beyond a sport such as soccer, which has not transformed its millions of youth players into lifelong fans.
“People enjoy the combatant nature of the game,” Govett said. “Deep down inside, I think every fan enjoys watching the battles.”
The converts are coming. Spiky haired, face-painted Brian Dibonas of Denver is the “Barrel Man” of the Mammoth. Cindy and Tom Adair hang every Mammoth game program in their Highlands Ranch home.
Fans reveled in starting traditions at Mammoth games, from clanging cowbells to bopping to the “Peanut Butter Jelly” song to chanting in unison “Get in the box” when an opposing player commits a penalty.
Westminster’s Troy Hulstrom never had seen a lacrosse game before the Mammoth arrived. He and his wife, Suzi, now own 22 season tickets, which they share with family, friends and business associates.
Hulstrom relates to players who work regular jobs, such as teachers and firefighters, and play lacrosse on weekends for an average salary of $14,000 a season.
“We like the hitting and it is very affordable, but a lot of it has to do with the players,” Hulstrom said. “The first year we met a few at the Blue Sky Grill and had a nice talk with them. They are down-to-earth guys.”
After every regular-season game, fans are allowed onto the arena floor for autograph signings from every player on the roster.
The team’s impact is felt well beyond attendance figures. It filters down to the young, creating new followers. The franchise sponsors a Junior Mammoth team that competes against other junior NLL teams. Mammoth players run clinics and camps and demonstrate the sport at schools, hoping it gets added to the physical education curriculum.
Nurturing the neophytes
The future of lacrosse in this market rests with the youth who play, and the adults they convert, to help spread the word.
Ambassadors such as Mammoth players Josh Sims, who oversees the Boulder Valley Lacrosse Association; Brian Langtry, who coaches Arapahoe High School; and DU assistant coach Andrew “Wally” Huelskoetter are among those who see their mission as helping popularize the game. Such influences prompted Mammoth fan Liam Shea, 12, to give up baseball and pick up a lacrosse stick in 2003.
“It’s really fun because you’re always doing something,” Shea said. “In attack, you’re shooting. In midfield, you’re running up and down the field, cradling the ball. And on defense, you get to check, get the ball and pass ahead.”
Liam’s mother, Nanette, was a skeptic.
“His first game, I was late,” she said. “I wasn’t into it; I didn’t think he’d get into it. I didn’t know the jersey color or the name of his team, but I knew where they were playing. So I’m walking up and they’re carrying off this kid who was pummeled, and it’s Liam! And I thought, ‘My baby!”‘
Ten years before Shea absorbed his first hit, Mike Law asked one of his Regis High classmates if he could try his stick. Law, a tennis and basketball player at the time, was hooked and eventually became the first All-America lacrosse player at Denver and the first homegrown player to score for the Mammoth.
“The big deal was the stick,” Law said. “You can customize it, you can take it to the beach or the park. You can take lacrosse anywhere.”
Unlike tennis, Law preferred the team element.
“I like getting fired up and working toward a common goal with a group of guys,” he said.
And, unlike basketball, he didn’t have to worry about competing when he stopped growing at 6 feet.
“In lacrosse, I could use my speed and I progressed quickly,” he said. “Initially when I started playing, people didn’t know what lacrosse was. And now every other backyard in Colorado has a lacrosse goal. It has been fun to see the growth from the youngest level to the pro level, to see the Pepsi Center filled.”
Still a niche sport nationally, lacrosse has long been popular in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario and a few pockets of the United States, including Philadelphia, Baltimore and Long Island, N.Y.
The game is not cheap. Outfitting a new player costs at least $150, but there are more public high schools than private schools playing the game. With 54 regional youth chapters, including one in Colorado, the sport is slowly spreading to lower socio-economic levels.
And there’s plenty of room for expansion.
Gait, the game’s Johnny Appleseed, travels nationwide to run tournaments and conduct clinics and camps for his company, NDP Lacrosse. Yet he is rooted in Colorado, having moved his family to the area last August.
Along with Govett, he started a youth association, Blue Sky Lacrosse, one more vehicle to plant seeds of growth.
Growing sport
Facts and figures on the growth of lacrosse:
YOUTH PARTICIPATION
Nationally
Players purchasing U.S. Lacrosse membership: 7,025 in 1990; 12,191 in 1995; 78,354 in 2000; 204,384 in 2005.
Colorado
2,330 in 2001; 8,605 in 2005.
HIGH SCHOOL
The Colorado High School Activities Association sanctioned lacrosse for girls in 1998 with 22 varsity teams. There are now 37. In 1999, the boys were sanctioned with 32 varsity teams. There are now 44. Counting lower-level teams, such as junior varsity and freshman, player growth has increased 60 percent during that span, according to CHSAA.
COLLEGE
Division I
The University of Denver men’s team made its first NCAA Tournament appearance this month. During the regular season, the Pioneers defeated Notre Dame before an overflow crowd of 2,376 at their state-of-the-art Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. A crowd of 44,920 watched the 2005 NCAA title game won by Johns Hopkins. Division I women’s teams have expanded from 34 in 1991 to 76 in 2006. The DU women posted a 15-5 record in 2006, their best season.
Division II
Regis added lacrosse in 2001 and Metro State is considering adding it.
Division III
Colorado College has played at the Division III level since 1995 and made its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance this year.
Club teams
There are about 400 club teams on college campuses that are not sanctioned by the NCAA. Colorado State and Colorado met for the Division A men’s title May 13 in Dallas, with CSU winning its fourth consecutive championship.
PROFESSIONAL
National Lacrosse League
In 2006, in its 20th season, the National Lacrosse League averaged a record 10,718 fans per game, led by Colorado’s 16,543. The NLL expanded to Portland and Edmonton in 2006, and Chicago in 2007, although attendance in San Jose and Arizona continues to lag.
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse expanded to Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco in 2006.
Sources: U.S. Lacrosse, Colorado Lacrosse Foundation, National Federation of State High Schools, CHSAA, NCAA, NLL, MLL
