Lacrosse Is On the Move

[Redtwin]

Nice to get some good pub. Some of the growth statistics are amazing:

 

Lacrosse Is On The Move - Tennessean Article

[knoxlax]

Lax needs to become a tssaa sport to really grow. the growth in tennessee is dwarfed by the growth in neighboring states like georgia and north carolina. state sanction is the only reason that growth has catapulted past that of tennessee. when public schools can recruit history or math teachers (from lax backrounds) who can double as lax coaches, only then will the sport really grow. right now publics rely on volunteer (in essence) coaches and that is reflective of the overall level of play. the privates hire teachers or administrators who can coach full time. when publics have the same opportunity, the level of play will even up. look at both nc and georgia and you will see that public schools have caught and in some cases passed the privates.

[LXFAN]

I can't believe Harvey's last quote in that article!!! TSSAA would be the best thing for the sport and the worst thing for MBA apparently. We all know where his priorites are now I guess.

[Redtwin]

QUOTE(LXFAN @ May 9 2007 - 12:14 PM) 826455467[/snapback]I can't believe Harvey's last quote in that article!!! TSSAA would be the best thing for the sport and the worst thing for MBA apparently. We all know where his priorites are now I guess.

 

 

The majority of the coaches in the TSLA would probably agree with John on that one. What benefit would the TSSAA bring other than more compications and red tape. Lacrosse has been a much more established sport in NC for 25 years. There are also several Division 1,2 & 3 colleges that play there that help promote the sport. GA has seen aboslutely very little growth after being sanctioned. Most of the schools playing in Atlanta were already playing before it was sanctioned. There are still very few public schools playing in GA and no one plays outside of the Atlanta area. The TSLA has done a great job of growing the sport in TN.

[LXFAN]

QUOTE(Redtwin @ May 9 2007 - 01:24 PM) 826455519[/snapback]The majority of the coaches in the TSLA would probably agree with John on that one. What benefit would the TSSAA bring other than more compications and red tape. Lacrosse has been a much more established sport in NC for 25 years. There are also several Division 1,2 & 3 colleges that play there that help promote the sport. GA has seen aboslutely very little growth after being sanctioned. Most of the schools playing in Atlanta were already playing before it was sanctioned. There are still very few public schools playing in GA and no one plays outside of the Atlanta area. The TSLA has done a great job of growing the sport in TN.

 

 

I bet your right that most of the PRIVATE school coaches are against it. If TSSAA got involved it would provide equal opportunity for ALL schools to have a fully operational lacrosse Team and Staff. This would give funding to the schools who are not as fortunate as some of the private schools. With this happening it would create more competition for these powerhouse lacrosse programs we have now, and possibly take away their elite status. That is why these coaches are against it. I am totally for it, and I believe you would see a HUGE growth in Tennessee, if lacrosse was sanctioned.

[BankofDad]

Pros and Cons for both

 

Sanctioning with TSSAA, would make public schools have to provide coaches and fields, maybe equipment. So cheaper for a lot of kids (their parents). More kids get to play. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

What you may give up is the ability to hire a lacrosse coach that knows lacrosse. Many schools want teachers to coach, so teams may struggle with football coaches trying to learn lacrosse.

 

It would be unlikely that a public school could take spring break trips to play in other states. Ravenwood playing Boys Latin probably does not happen. Seasons could be limited and off season opportunities with your coach prohibited.

 

And just like in Soccer, you would end up having travel teams that formed their own leagues anyway.

It helped our team to go to camps as a team and to play in a fall league.

 

Long term, I think it will become a sanctioned sport, selfishly I think our "public school" (club) lacrosse team and the players benefited by not being under the TSSAA.

 

But, my handle is not "BankofDad" for nothing. It is easy to spend a lot of $$$.

[10lax]

QUOTE(LXFAN @ May 9 2007 - 01:40 PM) 826455527[/snapback]I bet your right that most of the PRIVATE school coaches are against it. If TSSAA got involved it would provide equal opportunity for ALL schools to have a fully operational lacrosse Team and Staff. This would give funding to the schools who are not as fortunate as some of the private schools. With this happening it would create more competition for these powerhouse lacrosse programs we have now, and possibly take away their elite status. That is why these coaches are against it. I am totally for it, and I believe you would see a HUGE growth in Tennessee, if lacrosse was sanctioned.

 

Where is the TSSAA going to get the money to fund a fully operational lacrosse program? Most public schools would not to divert funds from their limited budgets to finance a lacrosse program. The players and the parents would have to bear the burden of the cost of equipment, travel, etc.

[knoxlax]

the financial stability of public schools isn't much different in nc and georgia than it is in tennessee, yet they were able to sanction the sport. I believe neither state fully funds lax, each requires the programs to foot a large portion of the bill. what sanctioning does is mandate school fields for lax. friday night games on the football field charging $5 is how many of these schools supplement their budgets.

 

georgia was sanctioned 5 years ago. lassiter, chattahoochie, harrison, and milton didn't even sniff lovett or westminster till the last 5 years. 5 years ago durham academy and charlotte country day didn't lose a game in state except to each other. today 4 of the top 5 teams in nc are publics. even the better riverside teams couldn't sniff da and ccd.

 

privates don't want tssaa because they already do everything that tssaa would require them to do. they see tssaa as unnecessary red tape. tssaa won't drag down the privates. lovett is still just as good as they were 10 years ago. what tssaa will do is improve the publics. nc and georgia are indisputable proof of that.

 

if we stay where we are, the states around us will pass us by. tssaa is no bowl of cherries, a lot of drawbacks for sure, but it is the only way publics in this state will rise to the level of the privates on a consistent basis (ravenwood anomaly notwithstanding).

[Redtwin]

QUOTE(knoxlax @ May 9 2007 - 03:45 PM) 826455627[/snapback]the financial stability of public schools isn't much different in nc and georgia than it is in tennessee, yet they were able to sanction the sport. I believe neither state fully funds lax, each requires the programs to foot a large portion of the bill. what sanctioning does is mandate school fields for lax. friday night games on the football field charging $5 is how many of these schools supplement their budgets.

 

georgia was sanctioned 5 years ago. lassiter, chattahoochie, harrison, and milton didn't even sniff lovett or westminster till the last 5 years. 5 years ago durham academy and charlotte country day didn't lose a game in state except to each other. today 4 of the top 5 teams in nc are publics. even the better riverside teams couldn't sniff da and ccd.

 

privates don't want tssaa because they already do everything that tssaa would require them to do. they see tssaa as unnecessary red tape. tssaa won't drag down the privates. lovett is still just as good as they were 10 years ago. what tssaa will do is improve the publics. nc and georgia are indisputable proof of that.

 

if we stay where we are, the states around us will pass us by. tssaa is no bowl of cherries, a lot of drawbacks for sure, but it is the only way publics in this state will rise to the level of the privates on a consistent basis (ravenwood anomaly notwithstanding).

 

 

NC public schools have been competitive with privates for several years, particularly some of the publics in the Riverside and Chapel Hill areas. Public schools in TN are not going to shell out money for lacrosse regardless of wether lacrosse is a sanctioned sport. The public schools that are competitive in Atlanta are some of the most affluent public schools in the country and some of the largest in ATL. GA did not fully sanction lacrosse until 2005, and the majority of those programs are funded by the parents of the players and some fund raising. There is almost no lacrosse outside of Atlanta in GA so you can't really say lacrosse is a big priority in the state. The same is true in TN. Outside of your larger metropolitan areas, you are not likely to see a growth in lacrosse. Ravenwood, BHS, Centennial, Franklin, Houston, etc have all done a great job of growing programs without help from the TSSAA. Atlanta and Charlotte are also unique situations do to the large number of transplants they receive from the northeast, primarily due to their job climates. TN receives a lot of its transplants from the west, where lacrosse is still growing as well.

 

BankofDad is also correct about the coaching situation. Who do you think would coach lacrosse at Henry County Hich School? Probably some assistant football coach who watched a video on lacrosse. Not really the type of coach that's concerned with growing the game.

 

Finally, to say that the private schools the play lacrosse don't want to sanction the sport because of a fear of competition is laughable. MBA, MUS, McCallie and CBHS regularly schedule games with high caliber teams outside of TN, so they are obviously not scared to mix it up with teams that may be better. I'm sure those teams would love to be able to find more competitive games in their own backyards so that they don't have to fork out the time, energy, and money associated with road trips just to play good teams. Ravenwood has done exactly what Lassiter did. They generated a lot of interest and used parental support and fundraising along with some support from the school to build a strong team. Farragut has had some competitive teams in the past, as have Brentwood and Franklin. It can be done, but it doesn't happen over night.

[rappy]

Athletic Club at Ravenwood supports all the club and non-club sports. The school and parents don’t look at Lacrosse any different than other sports. All sports at Ravenwood require extra fundraising activity from the parents as well as the overall Athletic Club umbrella.

 

I like the current situation without the interference from the mandated TSSAA rules. The rules going into effect in 2008 will put a limit on time spent practicing with one sport. Why let the TSSAA get into the business of mandating Lacrosse? It does, it could affect playing teams outside the state by the current Division 1 teams. If Lacrosse in Tennessee wants to be know as a first class sport and admired by other states, leave it as is. It will continue to flourish and grow in popularity without the aid of the TSSAA.

 

If the TSSAA gets wise and decides money can be made off this sport for the TSSAA, the TSSAA will come a calling.

[knoxlax]

who said anything about henry hic high? no mention of getting state wide sanction. georgia and north carolina were offered as comparisons. neither has state wide sanction, so why would you bring that up? both use a county by county system, which could be easily employed to localize the lacrosse in tennessee to the metropolitan areas.

 

georgia was sanctioned in 2002. look it up.

 

i certainly didn't say that the privates were afraid of competition. please reread my posts. i offered that tssaa will not lower the privates, but it would elevate the publics. privates don't want tssaa because it will place restrictions on them (off season practice limitations, possible travel limitations, restriction on length of season, etc) while providing virtually nothing in terms of benefit, other than hanging a "real" state title banner in the gym. tssaa is needed to make schools support the lax teams, and the privates already do this. and by support, i mostly mean that they will allow them to exist (which is a current problem in knox county), use a weight room, and get at least some games on school property.

 

programs fund themselves already. we don't need tssaa money. who is asking for money?

 

i disagree with your assertion that public schools have been on par with privates in nc and georgia. they most certainly have not. only in the last few years have they become consistently competitive, which coincides with sanctioning. 5 years ago, guilford county did not sanction lax. now they do. western guilford is now ranked in the top 5 in nc. count how many guilford schools there are now, after the sanctioning. guilford county has no more transplants than any tennessee county.

 

in tennessee there have been no competitve public schools. 1 germantown team was good 12 years ago. how long did germantown last? as long as their volunteer coach stayed. after germantown faded, farragut took over as top public school. they never won a single playoff game, yet went 4 years without losing to another public. cordova had 1 good team.now ravenwood has the title of best public. they are a great team no doubt. perhaps the public school that breaks into small club of state champs (which are all private). but only time will tell if this is a program that will stay where it is or will it fall back once all those seniors graduate. bhs and franklin have been around for close to fifteen years. same with hillboro. with a few small anomalies (franklins current team), none of these programs have risen within a whisker of the top privates and ZERO have maintained that loft for any amount of time. to suggest that public school programs are rising is ludicrous.

 

to my knowledge. mba, mus and mccallie have lost ZERO games to publics (outside of this recent ravenwood team) in the last FIFTEEN years.

 

 

maybe ravenwood is lassiter. but who are the harrisons, miltons, chattahoochies, etc in tennessee?

 

if you doubt the effect of sanctioning on level of play, just watch mecklenberg county. charlotte providence is the only public with any history of success. now that they were elevated from club to varsity, we will see if any of the meck schools become decent. i'm betting the farm that they do.

[lax4life32]

QUOTE(BankofDad @ May 9 2007 - 02:36 PM) 826455575[/snapback]Pros and Cons for both

 

Sanctioning with TSSAA, would make public schools have to provide coaches and fields, maybe equipment. So cheaper for a lot of kids (their parents). More kids get to play. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

What you may give up is the ability to hire a lacrosse coach that knows lacrosse. Many schools want teachers to coach, so teams may struggle with football coaches trying to learn lacrosse.

 

It would be unlikely that a public school could take spring break trips to play in other states. Ravenwood playing Boys Latin probably does not happen. Seasons could be limited and off season opportunities with your coach prohibited.

 

And just like in Soccer, you would end up having travel teams that formed their own leagues anyway.

It helped our team to go to camps as a team and to play in a fall league.

 

Long term, I think it will become a sanctioned sport, selfishly I think our "public school" (club) lacrosse team and the players benefited by not being under the TSSAA.

 

But, my handle is not "BankofDad" for nothing. It is easy to spend a lot of $$$.

 

 

I completely agree with you and the ravenwood guy that was talkin about the T$$AA. I personaly do not like the T$$AA because of all of the rules and regulations and all of the other junk they try to pull to even out the playing field. I mean yes if lacrosse was sanctioned it would give some more money to the teams and get some teams some better facilites for the teams that currently have to do with what they can scrap up for fields. The good effects of the sanctioning of lacrosse would be greatly outweighted by the bad things that come along with it. Like bankofdad said there wouldnt be as much of a free schedule type season where you can pick to go out of state or to play out of division games. You also would not be able to choose your coaches like many teams do, and just from my knowledge of Williamson Co. alot of football coaches look down or have looked down on their players playing (I am mainly referring to Franklin's and Centennial's football coaches). In the end the T$$AA will eventually get thinkin about their money and will probably try to get a piece of lacrosse. Also about what 10lax said most lacrosse organizations do pay for field stuff and refs and travel and all of that good stuff and havent had any big problems that i know of. I think from a public school view Ravenwood has it under controll pretty good they have gone out of state for games and even for a camp last year. One more thing i would like to add about something that hasnt been mentioned is the refs would probably not be the same refs that are around now becasue new ones would be hired most likely so everyone's "favorite" refs would not be there anymore. Untill the T$$AA gets it under control and will quit tryin to restrict sports to the point that you have to play to their rules only then i think its TSLA all the way. I mean we as players get to just have fun and play and we can play anytime of the year with as many ppl from our team or any team and there isnt anything stopping us, we just get to play our game and thats how it needs to stay for lacrosse and every other sport also. If it is true about the GA and NC santions and we could get some county sancations then theat might be better but right now with the ppl in charge of the T$$AA they are hard headed and do not care about the sports and just want money. If they would be willing to give something like a partial sanction and let us govern oursleves and just aide us with it with things like supoort from the schools then that might be cool but i dont see it happening anytime soon.