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http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2013-08-14/Opinions/

Letters

Lacrosse story left wrong impressions

After reading the Observer’s recent piece ‘U.S. Lacrosse attempts to be more inclusive’ [July 17 issue], I’m left wondering about the reasons for publishing such a story. Was the idea to give lacrosse a black eye? Some points mentioned in the piece were valid many years ago, but are not as relevant today. And as Chesterfield County wrestles with the decision to offer lacrosse in its high schools, the piece seems strangely timed.

You open with the implication that lacrosse’s image is one of exclusivity, and that it lacks a superstar who is nonwhite. That’s incorrect. Two of the game’s all-time greats are African-Americans: Jim Brown and Kyle Harrison. Brown played football and lacrosse at Syracuse in the 1950s and is a member of both the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and the NFL Hall of Fame. Harrison played at Johns Hopkins from 2002-05, and won the Tewaaraton Trophy, lacrosse’s equivalent to the Heisman, in 2005.

Next, it was stated that lacrosse’s roots are found in eastern elite prep schools and small private colleges. That’s also incorrect. The game’s real roots are in the northeast parts of the United States and Canada where it was played by Native Americans.

An examination of boys’ high school lacrosse in New England in the mid-1980s might lead one to conclude that the game was played only at elite prep schools, but that’s just New England. A few hundred miles away in New York, the story is quite different. Lacrosse has flourished in New York’s public schools since the mid-1930s. To single out a small handful of schools does injustice to the rest of a long list, but Garden City, Manhasset and Sewanhaka are among the most famous programs in high school lacrosse history, and all are public schools.

College lacrosse? The idea that smaller private schools have had teams longer than larger public universities is not a surprise, but it’s probably more an issue of economics than of exclusivity. Public university funding has been a challenge for as long as most of us can remember. It’s much easier for private schools to spend money as they want to than it is for public institutions.

Moving on. The mention of the incident at Duke University in 2006 is a strange way to bridge to the thoughts of professor Jay Coakley and his memory of the frigid reception he got at the U.S. Lacrosse convention in Philadelphia, but what’s that got to do with Duke? What happened in Durham in 2006 has nothing at all to do with the sport of lacrosse.

In conclusion, instead of looking at lacrosse under a microscope and trying to find reasons why we shouldn’t support it in our schools, maybe we need to focus our attention on providing opportunities for the young people of Chesterfield County to explore whatever sport or activity they choose.