New sport on the block

By David Thackham

thackhamd@mytjnow.com

The differences between men’s and women’s positions in lacrosse vary greatly. Women’s lacrosse allows 12 players on the field compared to the men’s version with 10 and focuses more on widespread play with its usual formation that includes four wingers.Say goodbye to the World Cup. Give a quick au revoir to the BCS National Championship. Move over, Super Bowl. The trendy new fashion in sports these days is the dawn of mainstream lacrosse.

Winthrop University vowed to continue the growing popularity of the sport by announcing the founding of a women’s lacrosse team, to be unveiled in the spring of 2012. 

Winthrop’s athletic director Tom Hickman praised the development, saying he was “confident” of the sport’s future, citing that lacrosse is “the fastest growingsport in the country.”

The Big South is quickly becoming a testament to that sentiment. Virginia Military Institute (2004) Presbyterian College (2006) and High Point University (2009) and were the first to fall prey to lacrosse fever. Plans are being made to institute programs in Coastal Carolina, Radford and Gardner Webb University in the near future. 

The decision to include lacrosse as the university’s seventeenth sport came after nearly a year of preparation by Hickman and the athletics department. 

Hickman described that the process began in the spring of 2010 when “[I] discussed it with the faculty of the advisory committee and we let them know  it’s something we need to be looking at.”

 In the summer of last year, Hickman presented the idea to President DiGiorgio, and the motion to create a squad was approved in November. Before the inaugural team can be assembled, however, a coach must be chosen.

“We’re getting pretty close,” said Hickman on the developments since November. “The recent weather problems have hampered us a little, but we’re close to finishing up.”

Jack Frost, head of media relations, said in an email, “the interview process is expected to be conducted over the next week or two.”

Although it’s unclear which coaches have shown interest in the position, the eventual hire will have an uphill task ahead of them. Building a program from nonexistence to reality is rarely done with immediate success. The Presbyterian men’s team was 0-11 in its first season in 2008, conceding 182 goals while scoring only 57.

Attracting talent to Rock Hill will be the most effective way to start the program on the right note.

“It’s going to be the big task for our new coach,” said Hickman, “recruiting, to find those seniors who are maybe not committed or not sure about their commitment or have a change of mind.”

Fortunately, talent is becoming ever more prevalent as lacrosse’s popularity grows.

Hickman says he has received five applications from prospective players to compete in the 2012 season. 

Winthrop has also worked had with club programs throughout the South and Midwest while keeping a close eye on its own Lacrosse Club for possible talent.

“There may be some people on our club team here at Winthrop who are looking to continue their play [at a higher level],” said the athletic director.

Hickman is confident that the positions will be filled.

“We will start in the spring of 2012, we will probably start with a minimum schedule to play, but we will have enough to fill the roster.”

There will be less than five scholarship players on the team initially but that total will likely be adjusted when the quality of athletes recruited improve over time. 

The fledgling support for lacrosse in the South will provide the future women’s coach a variety of talent to pick from, including the league, Atlanta Youth Lacrosse as well as the many South Carolina high schools who have adopted lacrosse as a sport.

By the beginning of 2012, Winthrop fans can expect lacrosse to no longer be a fad, but a burgeoning power on and off campus.