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6/20/08 About 150 expected for lacrosse camp at Pavilionhttp://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/GGN/806200310/1069/YOURUPSTATE01J. Bennett Harris, Greater Greer News Some of the most prominent names in the lacrosse community will set up camp in Taylors next week. The seventh annual All South Hall of Fame lacrosse camp will be held at the Pavilion beginning Monday, and camp director Ron Cadorette expects this year's camp to be the largest ever. "We'll probably be pushing about 150 players this year," said Cadorette, who coaches at J.L. Mann. "Last year we had around 115 player in attendance, so we're definitely growing." An instructional day camp will run Monday through Friday, while the Southern Exposure recruitment camp for players hoping to play in college will be held Friday and Saturday. Duke University coach John Danowski, Clemson University coach Buff Grubb and Limestone College coach Mike Cerino are among the coaches participating, while former college All-Americans Frank Mezzanotte of Towson University and Marty Ward of Limestone College will also be on staff. Eastside High coach Lisette Dimitrew will direct the girls camp along with four high school and college coaches from the lacrosse hotbed of Maryland. "Ron has brought in some of the biggest names in coaching," Riverside coach Brent Boling said. "It's a good camp. There's no excuse for the camp not to be growing year to year." Judging by the interest in the Greer area, it's no surprise that the camp's popularity is expanding so quickly. During its first season on campus, the Riverside lacrosse program surpassed both soccer and baseball in gate receipts, finishing third behind football and basketball. Boling said he had 71 students attend the first day of boys conditioning. "We weren't sure what to expect when we first started, but (lacrosse) has been big from the start," Boling said. The Southern Exposure recruitment camp features a college recruitment seminar Saturday, along with an all-star game to help showcase the premier players. "South Carolina is new in the face of lacrosse," Cadorette said. "We need to get these boys exposed to the coaches and let college coaches know that South Carolina has boys who can play." EDITOR'S NOTE: Riverside HS baseball and soccer are among the state's best annually, so this definitely demonstrates that lacrosse is starting to take off in the Palmetto State. For one, I wish they would move the sport to the fall or winter away from the spring soccer season.
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I was with one of my reps in Rochester, NY this week. He is a college football official and has been involved with youth athletics for years. He was advising my other rep from Buffalo to get her daughter out of softball (where she is the starting shortstop on a high-level travel team) and into lacrosse. He said that the womens lacrosse coach at Nazareth College, a D3 school in upstate NY, just resigned and accepted the head coaching job at Fresno State where they will pay her $125K per year to build the program.
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Quote:
accepted the head coaching job at Fresno State where they will pay her $125K per year to build the program.
As opposed to coaching football, where they'll pay you $2 million a year to run the program into the ground... 
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I think she was making about $40K at nazareth.
Nice little increase. And where do you think she's going to get her players from? Not from Cali where the sport hasn't yet taken hold. She'll recruit back in Western NY and Long Island.
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Yep, very nice increase...plus there's a lot of satisfaction in building a program. No doubt, it's a growing sport.
I'd love to see it as a fall sport; there's already a lot of competition for female high school athletes in the spring, with soccer, softball and track vying for players; in the fall, it would pretty much just be lacrosse and volleyball for the girls. Plus, for those players who don't have the opportunity to play club soccer, it would be a pretty easy transition of skills to go from playing lacrosse in the fall to soccer in the spring.
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wow! that is pretty impressive salary; you don't see many soccer coaches make that much to start a program; Colorado is getting big into lacrosse, as they have a pro team too in denver. I don't know about girls and lacrosse in this area, but it seems that boys lacrosse is increasing in teams and numbers...it will be interesting to see what the league does in sanctioning the sport; they will probably only do boys to see how it works and then add girls later; just like in soccer
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Coach Chass
In New York boys and girls soccer is a Fall sport with Lacrosse as a spring sport. So you have soccer and football in the Fall with lacrosse and baseball in the spring. The lacrosse programs, especially youth are just booming.
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my wife's cousin's played at rutgers and one with the professional indoor league.(philly and baltimore)coaches some now.i had never even seen lacross or watched it on tv.then several years back the cousin came down to play charlotte the one year they had a team.i went not expecting much.when they blew the whistle to start the game one took off with the ball and another one started hitting him or beating him with the stick.i knew then i would like it.too bad charlotte didnt stick around.i know school lacross is not that rough but it is fun to watch.
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My vote is for lacrosse to be played in the Winter. There is no way football coaches and ADs are going to have it played head-to-head with football in the fall and I certainly don't want to see lacrosse compete for athletes in the spring with the already overcrowded spring season. The winter makes the most sense, with only basketball and wrestling being offered for boys during this time.
The other negative about lacrosse being added is the condition of the athletic fields. Adding lacrosse will only increase the wear and tear and use of the already overplayed pitches.
SCHSL Sanctioned Sports
Fall - Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, G-Golf, Swimming, G-Tennis, G-Volleyball
Winter - Basketball, Wrestling
Spring - Baseball, Bowling, B-Golf, Lacrosse*, Soccer, B-Tennis, G-Softball, Track
*Not sanctioned by SCHSL, but currently plays in the spring season
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even though we would love that it not compete against soccer, i don't see it as a winter sport. the weather will not allow this sport be in the winter, and the lacrosse people would not go for it. If you watch lacrosse, the unis are very cool and they shorts or skirts by the girls...i do agree with the issue of fields, as there would have to be additional lines on the field if they used the football field; i know players that have played on turf fields that have the additional lines for lacrosse or even football for that matter that get confused in what lines to play....i think lacrosse would be a good cross over sport for soccer though...i guess we will wait and see...
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On Long Island, a lacrosse hot spot, most high school soccer players play lacrosse. It's a great cross over sport. What's going on on LI know is lacrosse and spring club soccer compete for fields because lacrosse numbers have just grown leaps and bounds over the last few years. Field space is not like SC where there are open areas for development.
If lacrosse develops here in SC like it has on LI, soccer's numbers will defiantly be affected,in a big way.
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Fields are definitely a problem in South Carolina....but fields are a problem all over the country.
Logical solution......build soccer/lacrosse fields on campus.
Move boys and girls soccer to the fall, play boys and girls lacrosse in the spring.
Football can't have exclusive rights to the fall forever.....I think the time has come to share the season.
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Quote:
Fields are definitely a problem in South Carolina....but fields are a problem all over the country.
Logical solution......build soccer/lacrosse fields on campus.
Move boys and girls soccer to the fall, play boys and girls lacrosse in the spring.
Football can't have exclusive rights to the fall forever.....I think the time has come to share the season.
Well, this is not Long Island -- this is South Carolina and believe me, football rules the roost (always has and always will).
High School soccer in the Palmetto State started as a winter sport in the late 1960s and early 1970s through 1985 -- the sport moved to the spring in 1986. My suggestion is to let lacrosse be implemented the same way.
Also, the need for field turf will be at an all-time high when this sport gets sanctioned by the SCHSL. My suggestion at land-locked Brookland-Cayce HS is to build the new football/soccer stadium on Knox Abbott Drive with natural grass and to turn The Cage, which is supposed to feature a regulation size track around the playing field, into a field turf training facility for athletic practices, band practices, JV events, and P.E. classes.
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Kyle....agreed football rules the roost. That being said,change brings change. As the demographics of certain areas of SC change so will the mentality. As more families move from lacrosse hotbeds, Long Island, Balitmore and Virginia there will be more of a demand for lacrosse. City of Charleston has a new, well run lacrosse program with a lot of MPSC soccer players playing.
One of the large reasons for lacrosse explosion on LI is scholarships and opportunity. 15 years ago on LI it was all soccer fields. Now when I go back, it's all lacrosse goals.
And lacrosse does not cost as much, there is no DOC and all the other BS associated with US club soccer.
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Quote:
Fields are definitely a problem in South Carolina....but fields are a problem all over the country.
Logical solution......build soccer/lacrosse fields on campus.
Move boys and girls soccer to the fall, play boys and girls lacrosse in the spring.
Football can't have exclusive rights to the fall forever.....I think the time has come to share the season.
Wow...you make that sound so simple!
Just a couple of minor difficulties...the first being that the plan assumes that the school actually has space on campus to build a soccer/lacrosse field (I know my 4A school does not have another inch to build on), and the second is a matter of whether schools and districts will be willing and able to make the financial investment. The newer schools being built seem to be planning for a non-football playing field, but the majority of campuses are pretty well set in their boundaries and available facilities.
The other problem (again, not such a problem at a "soccer school," but you can't just use those for decision-making) is sharing athletes with football. Personally, it would help me to move girls and boys soccer to fall, but it would kill the boys' team; many of the athletes who come out for soccer in the spring are football players in the fall, and most of them wouldn't give that up in an area where football is valued above all other sports. When I was coaching in 1A, 80% of my boys' team was made up of out-of-season football players who just enjoyed the game and wanted to stay in shape. If we had to compete with football for players, though, there would have been no team.
I just don't think it's going to be practical for all but the most fortunate level of South Carolina schools to have successful, well-supported soccer programs while sharing a season with football. Sure, there are schools who have the facilites and the background for it, but there are many more who would be at a tremendous disadvantage...
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Chass,
1. Are there band fields or football practice fields that can be converted into lacrosse fields in the spring?
2. Can 1A boys soccer programs be sacraficed for the benefit of girls & boys lacrosse programs at the 2A, 3A and 4A level?
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Lacrosse requires very little skill, my neigbor was the captain at an Ivy League school(Brown University) and couldn't make his HS soccer team. Try picking up soccer as a 10th grader and starting at an ACC, or SEC school, can't happen.
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I think the Northwestern University womens lacrosse team won their first NCAA national title with a bunch of athletes that were very new to the sport.
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Good questions, Hurst. I can only speak definitely for my own school, and I'm sure there are a wide variety of conditions at schools across the state.
1. As for us, we are struggling just to find enough space in the spring for soccer as is. Band, in the fall, practices on and behind the softball field; those areas are in use for softball in the spring. Baseball is in swing (no pun intended) and occupies that space; the only other open areas are the football practice field and the stadium field. The football practice field is also the soccer practice field, and the football stadium is also the soccer stadium. With four soccer teams to practice (girls and boys, JV and varsity for both) we have to use both the practice field and the game field for practices just to give a half field to each team...and that includes sharing part of the game field with track for shot and discus practice as well. It makes for really tight and not-so-effective conditions already (I had to make a deal with the devil to get my AD's permission to use the game field for girls' practice...he suggested we split between afternoon and night practices on the practice field, forgetting, of course, that there were no lights), and the only place left to expand would be to find a field off campus and transport people. So, in our case, no, there's nothing left in the spring to convert.
2. Can 1A boys soccer programs be sacrificed? Sure, they CAN...but do you really want to tell them their (in some cases long-established) programs are screwed so people at other schools can start a new sport? When you start talking about sacrificing one group's benefits so another group can benefit...I think you're treading on dangerous ground there.
No, I think if schools can find a way to integrate a newer (to them) sport like lacrosse without taking away major resource from already-established sports, that's great, but I don't think it's fair to do away with or effectively sabotage one program in favor of a newer trend.
I don't see them bulldozing the softball fields to build hockey rinks, either.
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(Granted, now, because of the paths I've taken through life, I may be a little biased, both about protecting the sport of soccer and about protecting the rights of the "little guy.")
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I know in our area there are a few high school hockey teams. They share use of the Ice Palace for games and practices. They all play friday nights usually 3 games back to back. Its exciting and entertaining $5 watch three games.
For the lower level 1A lacrosse is very easy to play 6 or 8 aside. Of course this is up to the league you play in to agree. You can be fairly liberal with goal placement since there is no side to side goal line.
When I lived in CT the high schools all played day games at one location. As much as I didn't like living up north they sure had a lot of activities going on.
I remember arriving at Ft D a few years ago watching a team practice, it was fun to explin the different crosses and what they were doing out there. The looks on the collective faces was interesting. All I could think is how soccer was a odd ball sport when I was a kid. Now soccer kids can look and see another odd ball out there.
On skill level of the sport I think that is just arbitrary with all sport and levels of the play. Hulk Hogan may kick Bobby Fischer's butt in a ring but given a chessboard....
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Coach chass,
I'm a soccer guy and I would hate to see any soccer program abolished. We are a 4A school up here and we are just as tight on space. The lacrosse teams (boys & girls) practiced and played a couple of home matches on our girls soccer practice field, which is the band field in the fall.
Sooner or later school districts are going to have to build middle schools with top notch athletic fields that can be used by the high schools as well. We do have very nice stadium fields at our three middle schools in our district, but only one of the three middle schools has decent practice fields on their campus.
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I agree...and I think with the newer schools that trend is starting to show. It's just going to take some time for the older campuses to figure out a way to catch up. We're a 4A school too, albeit one of the smaller ones...we average around 1500 students. A few years ago our old school building was razed and a new, larger one built to accommodate the rising population; we also got a nice new gym built in addition to the old one that was retained for practices and wrestling. Of course, the new gym and the bigger school building took up even more of the grass on campus. An option for us, and probably some other schools as well, is to try to develop some land around our feeder schools; we could make a nice little field by the elementary school, for example. It really is a complicated proposition to try to allocate limited resources for the best benefit to everyone; pretty much anything you give to one group is going to have to come from another. I think if we get creative enough, though, we can find ways to expand what we offer without having to take too much away from what we already have. And for the record, Hurst, I know you weren't advocating taking away soccer from anyone. 
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6/27/08 Lacrosse spreading across S.C. like kudzu http://www.thestate.com/local/story/445143.htmlAkilah Imani Nelson, The State Ridge View (purple) vs. Hilton Head (white)  Northern transplants have helped ancient sport take root in high schools
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“One of the reasons USC is moving to Division I with its women’s lacrosse program ... is because we’ve got girls playing lacrosse in high school here now,” Ness said. It will be interesting to see what USC's womens lacrosse roster looks like in 2010. My guess is that it will consist primarily of girls from the Northeast, even though the coaches could get in-state players a lot cheaper. If USC is doing this because they want to capitalize on the local "feeder program", then I would encourage 90% of the girls who are athletic enough to play ODP, or R3PL, to put away their soccer balls and pick up a lax stick. History shows that fewer than 10% of our top level girls players even have a shot at stepping on the soccer field for USC, so....... Go Lacrosse!
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Fort Mill heading charge to add prep lacrosse The Rock Hill Herald, July 1, 2009 by Barry Byers http://www.heraldonline.com/news/sports/story/658064.html
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Per the USC Board of Trustees Meeting today ... "The addition of women’s lax is under review, and may not happen."
That's all I know at this time, but remembered the conversations from earlier this spring.
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Lacrosse approval arrives for 2009-2010 per SCHSLArticle from The State, Steve Wiseman - Lacrosse approval arrives for 2009-10The sport will be played from January to April, encompassing a four-week preseason, six-week regular season and two-week postseason. Lacrosse will start and end earlier than other spring sports, a move aimed at easing the burden on facilities and manpower.
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I read this article in the Rock Hill Herald earlier this morning. I had heard that the state was considering making high school lacrosse a winter sport, running the same time as basketball and wrestling.
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When is too much......too much? And where to draw the line?
In my travels in Mexico I only see soccer.....when you are within a couple of hours of the US border baseball is also popular.
In Germany....soccer fields and tennis courts.
In China....honestly, can't sayin my travels there that I've see much recreation of any kind.
Japan....crazy about multi-tiered golf driving ranges and batting cages.
Elswhere throughout the world its the same thing. ONly in America does it appear that we have a the desire to allow niches of people to do whatever they want with the expectation that the taxpayer support it. A lot of people would view soccer the same way....
Just seem weird. We won't pull more kids into sports....we'll simply dilute our athletic pool to the point where we suck at everything....and fight over fields to suck accordingly. The wonder why SC colleges/universites are recruiting "foreign" kids instead of local kids.
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Spring sports for boys: baseball, soccer, track, lacrosse.
Also AAU basketball and spring football.
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Is the problem that we have too many high school sports, or is the problem that everything seems to be backloaded into the spring season? Would we ever consider moving soccer to the fall? If the resistance there is because the smaller schools can't afford (don't have the numbers) to support both football and soccer teams, then maybe those schools need to choose one or the other? If they choose football, great. It means their school simply isn't big enough to support both sports. But for the rest of the 2A, 3A and 4A schools that can support both football and soccer in the fall, theoretically, we just freed up a bunch of boys to participate in track, baseball or lacrosse in the fall. 
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Not sure how it's going to "ease the burden on facilities and manpower" when the seasons still almost completely overlap...having a field and/or a coach available for a couple of weeks isn't going to make much of a difference.
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The biggest problem with having football and soccer in the same season isn't finding the numbers of players to participate; it's sharing the fields. There are plenty of schools who would have a solid group of athletes who would still choose soccer, but they would be denied the opportunity because there's no place to practice or play matches.
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Every school faces issues involving these resources.
High schools in about 40 states have figured out a way to overcome this. Many schools do not have the "luxury" of playing soccer in the football stadium, but they somehow find a fairly level cow pasture somewhere in the community and they find a way to get it done.
Last edited by Hurst66; 10/24/08 10:23 PM.
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Not to be argumentative, friend Hurst, but it seems like it's really easy for people all over who HAVE a way to get it done to say that everyone else can just "find a way to get it done" or get left out. I'm sure there are plenty of schools in 40 states (including, fortunately, a lot of the newer schools in SC) that are laid out with the idea of providing space for multiple simultaneous sports in mind. For a lot of older schools within established (and especially urban) neighborhoods, expansion isn't always an option. I might be able to find a patch of grass around Moncks Corner if it became necessary, but I wonder how many city school ADs would support bus transportation not only to away games, but home games at the nearest local cow pasture outside of town?
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Sounds a lot like my AD, as a matter of fact. A couple of years ago he told us we could only practice on the one football practice field, including girls and boys, JV and varsity squads. When I told him it wasn't practical for all four teams to share one field, his response was, "Well, the basketball teams have to share one gym, but they find a way to get it done; they just split the practice times. Girls can practice 3:30-6, boys can practice 6-8:30. Don't see why you can't do the same; if they want to play they can come late and practice."
It wasn't until I asked him whether he planned to pay for lights to be installed on the practice field, or for night vision goggles for all the boys' players that he realized the situations weren't quite the same.
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Sounds a lot like my AD, as a matter of fact.
Good ole' Jerry Brown!
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So putting lacrosse in the spring is going to help the field situation how?
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Quote:
Is the problem that we have too many high school sports, or is the problem that everything seems to be backloaded into the spring season?
Would we ever consider moving soccer to the fall? If the resistance there is because the smaller schools can't afford (don't have the numbers) to support both football and soccer teams, then maybe those schools need to choose one or the other? If they choose football, great. It means their school simply isn't big enough to support both sports. But for the rest of the 2A, 3A and 4A schools that can support both football and soccer in the fall, theoretically, we just freed up a bunch of boys to participate in track, baseball or lacrosse in the fall.
Too many school sports. Too many sports in general. How many team sports do our kids need?
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hat-trick
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hat-trick
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Would might have a few more kids come out for soccer or track if they were not both played in the spring..As far as too many sports comment..I guess that would be okay until they decided not to field soccer anymore..What do you think Big D? Everyone should have the opportunity to play the sport they enjoy..Football is played on Thursday and Friday nights..That leaves three weekdays and the weekend for soccer and lacrosse..
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Coach
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Coach
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Seems like, if anything, it would be more practical to move track to the fall than soccer. Reasons:
1. Practice for running events can be held on the track areas around the football field, not interfering with football activities during the week.
2. Many track events that don't require specialized training (exceptions would be pole vault, hurdles, shot and discus) can share athletes with other sports that require running, sprinting, etc. as part of their regular training.
3. Training/practice for specialized events would have minimal impact on shared facilities. Pole vault training takes place in a designated area to the side of the football fields. Hurdles take place on the track outside the fields. Shot and discus, while the events themselves occur on the field, would require much less alternative space than soccer to practice effectively.
4. Track meets traditionally take place on Wednesdays, which would not conflict with traditional Varsity, JV or B-team football game nights.
5. Moving track to the fall season would free up both male AND female athletes to participate in soccer, contributing to the pool of athletes on both sides of the sport.
Given a choice between sharing athletes AND facilities, and just sharing athletes, the latter would seem to be the more practical solution. Thoughts?
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world cup
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world cup
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Coach Chass,
Regarding track. Many of the top football players are also sprinters on their high school track team (especially in Florida). Can't have track and football during the same season.
Regarding fields. Nobody is more cramped for space than the state of New Jersey. John Harkes, Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna all grew up playing on crap fields.
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Coach
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Coach
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Hurst,
Seems a little discriminatory to use "can't" when describing a conflict with one sport and "pick one or the other" in regards to another sport.
As for the field space...sorry, but I just can't see the need to even create the conflict. What would be the advantage, in your eyes, of moving soccer into a conflicting position with football as opposed to leaving it where it is?
I've got good news and bad news...
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hat-trick
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My daughter does not run track because she's playing soccer so what's the difference
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Coach
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Coach
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I've got good news and bad news...
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throw in
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throw in
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When is too much......too much? And where to draw the line?
In my travels in Mexico I only see soccer.....when you are within a couple of hours of the US border baseball is also popular.
In Germany....soccer fields and tennis courts.
In China....honestly, can't sayin my travels there that I've see much recreation of any kind.
Japan....crazy about multi-tiered golf driving ranges and batting cages.
Elswhere throughout the world its the same thing. ONly in America does it appear that we have a the desire to allow niches of people to do whatever they want with the expectation that the taxpayer support it. A lot of people would view soccer the same way....
Just seem weird. We won't pull more kids into sports....we'll simply dilute our athletic pool to the point where we suck at everything....and fight over fields to suck accordingly. The wonder why SC colleges/universites are recruiting "foreign" kids instead of local kids.
We must be the BEST at everything because we are Americans is a concept I endorse but "Suck at everything" seems to be a concept I really can't get my head around--I know nothing about lacrosse but if it get more kids involved in sports (even a sport like lacrosse--sounds like people who don't know soccer--"even a sport like soccer") then it is a good thing even if "we suck at everything". If lacrosse takes kids/fields away from soccer--so be it! If that it what works for the kids, let's embrace the game of lacrosse and let the kids have at it. I have kids that love the game of soccer but if they discovered lacrosse and loved it, I would support them.
Big Daddy--please don't compare us to Germany, China etc. because we are nothing like them in sports or in any facet of our society.
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world cup
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world cup
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Coach Chass, You are correct. There's always conflicts and choices that have to be made. If we moved girls soccer to the fall, cht's daughter could run track........but she wouldn't be able to run x-country.
Kids play sports because they find it fun. Eliminate the fun and soon you eliminate the kid.
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Coach
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Coach
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Yeah, everything's a tradeoff...no easy answers! I'm still pushing for that perfect world where every school has multi-sport facilities and support!
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Coach
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(But in the meantime, I'll still fight tooth and nail to keep soccer from losing ground we've worked so hard to gain!)
I've got good news and bad news...
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Hurst,
No problem..I could not beat that girl into running cross country..Any distance running is done chasing a ball..
Coach,
The one problem that would exists with Fall soccer is club ball is played in the fall for most high schoolers..Games are played on the weekends but you have to work around the two or three day practices
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Coach
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Coach
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Aw, c'mon, CHT...you're not looking at all the options. It's really quite simple to find a way to "get it done."
1. Move high school soccer to the fall season. Alleviate the field availability problems by borrowing facilities from local club teams (who have traditionally had to find separate facilities from public school fields anyway due to SCHSL restrictions). This would not cause a conflict if you:
2. Move club soccer to the spring season. Club teams, as aforementioned, use separate facilities (and in the great majority, different coaches)from high school teams and would not interfere with any new sports additions like lacrosse. The younger club teams who traditionally play in the spring could use the high school facilities on the weekends and before or after lacrosse practice, since their players are too young to be affected by SCHSL eligibility restrictions. For those concerned about region play, I say if we can switch to match our high school season with 40 other states that we DON'T compete with, then the other states we DO compete against can darn well switch their club season to match ours.
Problem solved, lacrosse gets availability of fields and coaches, and soccer still gets to exist with minimal *ahem* disruption.
Or, alternately...we could let soccer keep what it has, put the NEW sport in the fall season alongside football, and tell those athletes to "pick one or the other;" if they don't have enough athletes and facilities to support both, then maybe they don't need to establish a new sport at that school.
Whichever makes the most sense to the most people...I'm fairly flexible.
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Sounds like you have all the answers coach..The only problem I see now is how do you change the minds and attitudes of everyone else that would be involved..
I would love to see soccer played in the fall..You got my vote
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Coach
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Coach
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*sigh* Always a catch, isn't there?
I've got good news and bad news...
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hat-trick
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Quote:
Quote:
When is too much......too much? And where to draw the line?
In my travels in Mexico I only see soccer.....when you are within a couple of hours of the US border baseball is also popular.
In Germany....soccer fields and tennis courts.
In China....honestly, can't sayin my travels there that I've see much recreation of any kind.
Japan....crazy about multi-tiered golf driving ranges and batting cages.
Elswhere throughout the world its the same thing. ONly in America does it appear that we have a the desire to allow niches of people to do whatever they want with the expectation that the taxpayer support it. A lot of people would view soccer the same way....
Just seem weird. We won't pull more kids into sports....we'll simply dilute our athletic pool to the point where we suck at everything....and fight over fields to suck accordingly. The wonder why SC colleges/universites are recruiting "foreign" kids instead of local kids.
We must be the BEST at everything because we are Americans is a concept I endorse but "Suck at everything" seems to be a concept I really can't get my head around--I know nothing about lacrosse but if it get more kids involved in sports (even a sport like lacrosse--sounds like people who don't know soccer--"even a sport like soccer") then it is a good thing even if "we suck at everything". If lacrosse takes kids/fields away from soccer--so be it! If that it what works for the kids, let's embrace the game of lacrosse and let the kids have at it. I have kids that love the game of soccer but if they discovered lacrosse and loved it, I would support them.
Big Daddy--please don't compare us to Germany, China etc. because we are nothing like them in sports or in any facet of our society.
I think you misunderstood my post. But thats ok.
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