Lacrosse gaining support across nation

By TODD DEWEY

VIEW STAFF WRITER

It's a cross between basketball, hockey, football and soccer. It's lacrosse, and it's coming soon to a high school near you.

Eric Scholer, a former lacrosse player at Brigham Young University, which has won two of the last three national titles, recently formed the Las Vegas Lacrosse League and established boys and girls club teams at Centennial High School.

Scholer, who has three children who attend Centennial, also expects to start teams in Summerlin and Henderson soon, with the long-range goal to have squads in place at every high school in Southern Nevada.

"We're looking to get three high schools going this year and it looks like we'll accomplish that goal," Scholer said. "In five years, our goal is for every high school to have a lacrosse team and that's going to happen."

Scholer, who started a lacrosse program in Ohio before moving to Nevada three months ago, said he started the Las Vegas Lacrosse League to feed his passion for the sport.

"We expected lacrosse to already be here," he said. "I love lacrosse and (starting the league is) the only way I can enjoy it.

"It's great for the kids. It keeps them out of trouble and it keeps them disciplined. Their grades go up when they play lacrosse and they become better kids."

Scholer said lacrosse has replaced soccer as the fastest-growing sport in the country.

"It's the most exciting sport going on and the fastest-growing sport in America today," he said. "It used to be soccer, but now it's lacrosse. We're the next wave."

Scholer said the response he has received so far has exceeded his expectations.

"We've had more support here than what we experienced in Ohio," he said.

Scholer said 187 boys -- at Centennial alone -- signed up to play lacrosse. Scholer, who only expected 30 boys to sign up, expects a similar response from the girls.

"I expect the girls program to be a huge success. I expect it to be at least as strong as the boys," he said. "If lacrosse isn't the fastest-growing women's sport on the college level, it's got to be right up there."

Scholer said there is plenty of room available for lacrosse on the high school sports scene.

"There's a big void. The schools are overcrowded and the kids need something exciting to do," he said. "The administration is looking for other activities to keep them busy and in a positive environment."

Scholer said the sport is fun and easy to learn.

"If a kid is good at another sport, they can be trained at lacrosse very quickly," he said. "It's very easy to introduce the sport to students at the high school level because it's fun, exciting, physical and fast.

"The thing I've seen that kids like the most is everybody gets to be the quarterback and wide receiver. Everybody gets to handle the ball. Everybody gets to pass it, catch it and shoot it. Everybody can be the star. It's a true team sport."

Lacrosse is played on a 110-yard long field. Players wear a helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads and gloves and handle the hard, rubber ball -- which is the size of a tennis ball -- with a lacrosse stick. There is a net on the end of the stick.

There are 10 players on each team, including the goalie, and the object of the game is to hit the ball into a 6-foot by 6-foot goal. The game is split into four 12-minute quarters.

Scholer said teams from Arizona, Utah, Colorado and California have already expressed interest in competing against teams from Las Vegas.

Scholer, who will coach one of the high school teams and is president of the league, said official practice will start in January, with the season to run from February to May.

"We're doing conditioning and teaching and training now for people who haven't played the sport before, which is 99 percent of the kids," he said. "We're looking for experienced players and coaches. We've got plenty of kids. We just need adults to come out and coach them. Our goal is to find experienced players who can coach or, if they're still in high school, who can play."

Those interested in the Las Vegas Lacrosse League can call Scholer at 604-3422 or visit www.lvlacrosse@aol.com.