Lacrosse on rise in Newport-Mesa

lacrosse storySport is taking off in Southern California, from the grass-roots level to to high school ranks, to a professional franchise.It’s well known that lacrosse has been popular on the East Coast since the early 20th century. While the best athletes on the West Coast generally show off their athleticism in football, basketball, baseball or in the pool, the top high school and collegiate athletes on the East Coast are just as likely to play lacrosse.

If an innocent bystander in Southern California went for a walk and came across a game of lacrosse, it might garner the same reaction as someone from Maine coming across a water polo match -- pure confusion.

But lately in Southern California -- specifically the Newport-Mesa area -- there has been a groundswell of support for lacrosse at all levels.

G.W. Mix, who directs the Newport Beach Youth Lacrosse program, says enrollment has increased every year. And high schools received the go-ahead for lacrosse to become a CIF Southern Section-sanctioned sport for the first time this spring.

In addition, Major League Lacrosse, a professional league which begins its sixth season this summer, has expanded to the West Coast. The Los Angeles Riptide start their inaugural season this summer and will play at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Newport Beach Youth Lacrosse program, in its third year, has seen participation rates steadily rise. Mix said the first year, there were 61 or 62 kids. Last year, the number grew to about 100. Now it’s up to 140.

“We’ve been turning kids away [for lack] of resources,” Mix said.

The biggest boon to the sport of lacrosse is that it was sanctioned as a CIF Southern Section sport. Some districts are having their schools start their first season of boys’ and girls’ lacrosse as a CIF-sanctioned sport in March. Other districts, like Newport-Mesa Unified, decided to wait.

“A lot of districts are waiting or keeping it as a club sport,” Newport Harbor High Boys’ Athletic Director Eric Tweit said. “Our school district decided to wait to make sure certain criteria are met.”

Corona del Mar High and Newport Harbor, who have had club lacrosse teams for several years, are currently taking the steps necessary to become CIF-sanctioned and expect to be approved in March for the 2007 season.

“We got the go-ahead from the school district, now we’re in the money-raising phase,” Newport Harbor High boys’ lacrosse coach Vern Briggs said.

Corona del Mar is in the same boat. It has been asked to pre-fund the program for this year’s club teams and next year’s CIF teams.

“It’s not an inexpensive sport to start,” Mix said. “But the parents are partnering with the school district to make it happen.”

Mix, who in addition to running the youth program in Newport Beach is the General Manager of the Los Angeles Riptide, says the CIF-sanctioning of the sport is essential to its growth on the West Coast.

“Absolutely. A number of kids are not playing because it’s not a sport they can pursue at the CIF level in high school,” Mix said. “Having CIF status, recognition on campus, being able to practice in sixth period, is very important.”

Newport Harbor plans to play on campus fields, including the football stadium, while Corona del Mar expects the Newport Harbor football stadiu and Peninsula Park to serve as its two home sites.

Costa Mesa High, Estancia High and Sage Hill School have yet to adopt the sport on the club level.

Both Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor are treating their last season of club lacrosse as if it was CIF-sanctioned, so once the money is in place for next year, there will be little else to do but play.

“This season we’re kind of taking it apart and putting it back together,” Briggs said. “We’re doing it as if we’re a CIF team, so next year, when we go CIF, we’ll be all set to go.”

Briggs’ Newport Harbor boys’ lacrosse team starts its last club season March 7. When that concludes, Briggs will suit it up himself and play for Major League Lacrosse’s L.A. Riptide.

Corona del Mar Coach Mark Todd said he had 60-plus kids sign up this year. The Sea Kings will be playing teams from Missouri, Texas and Canada. Todd already has the team CIF-ready in many ways.

“We’re ready to gear it up,” said Todd, who also coaches lacrosse at UC Irvine. “This year, kids get sixth-period credit and a varsity letter, and they’ll be graded and judged on their attendance.”

Corona del Mar will hold open tryouts in early February in order to sort players into varsity and junior varsity teams.

“We’re expecting 60-plus players, but we may get as many as 80-plus,” Todd said. “And that’s not an exaggeration.”

Todd, 38, is hoping to earn a roster spot with the Riptide.

“It would kind of be like the guy in that movie, ‘The Rookie [the story of a pitcher sidelined for years with an arm injury, who returns to baseball and becomes a major league reliever],’ ” said Todd, who lives in Costa Mesa. “I’d be a 38-year-old rookie.”

Todd says the reason for the growing local popularity of the sport is simple.

“The kids are finally getting exposed to it,” he said, “and they like it. It’s a fast and graceful sport. It takes great hand-eye coordination. It’s tougher than football because there are no huddles and no breaks. It’s similar to hockey but you can play above the waist. There’s a lot of cutting like in basketball and it has the running of soccer and requires the hand-eye coordination of baseball. It combines the best of all sports.”

“Very few kids start playing lacrosse and don’t continue to play,” Mix said.