California’s only NCAA lacrosse team is shuttering. Here’s why
Just the image of a lacrosse player, stick held high, charging helmet-first across the field evokes “East Coast boy’s prep school.”
And that mid-Atlantic bias has existed for almost as long as lacrosse — dubbed the oldest organized sport in North America — has existed.
Since Native Americans from Iroquois tribes in Upstate New York began playing the game in the 12th century, lacrosse has been popular in the East and Midwest, but not so widespread in the West.
Lacrosse’s popularity in western states has accelerated in more modern times, but now, with the shuttering of the only men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association team in California, that slow march is at a standstill.
The Whittier College Poets put down their sticks for good on Saturday, April 22.
The loss of Whittier College men’s lacrosse, an NCAA team since 1980, means there are no NCAA men’s teams left in California, according to Matt Holmes, NCAA’s assistant director of media coordination and statistics. In the West, there are two teams in Utah and six in Colorado, he added.
And sure, the Poets play UCLA for its final match, but that California team is a club team, not an NCAA team.
The loss of lacrosse — coupled with Whittier College’s decision to end its football program — is poignant and pervasive for those close to the program.
“It’s kind of hard to get your head around,” said Rock Carter, executive director of Whittier College athletics.
Carter is making Saturday special for the Poets and their fans. In addition to the Purple and Gold tailgate, there will be an alumni gathering before the 1 p.m. game at Memorial Stadium, and there will be a special dedication for the seniors. And, no doubt, there will be tears.
“Lacrosse has a very strong following here,” Carter said by phone the day before the final game. “They’ve been the face of the athletic department.”
And, that’s because, unlike for other Whittier College sports, there are no NCAA men’s teams to play that don’t require rounding up some 40 players onto an airplane.
Four Whittier College lacrosse players enjoy their freshman year on campus in 1993. Joe McCarthy (from left), Geoff Ianiri, Brad Downey (an All-American in 1996 and 1997) and Reid Rokitta. (Photo courtesy Joe McCarthy)
The financial situation at Whittier College has been in the spotlight ever since the school announced the end of its 115-year football program last fall.
That decision launched an alumni campaign to oust President Linda Oubré, claiming its her mismanagement that is behind the college’s troubles. Oubré strongly denies the allegations and said she has Board of Trustee approval and that she’s doing the tough job many at small private institutions are charged with during tough economic times.
The decision to discontinue football and men’s lacrosse, in addition to men’s and women’s golf programs, said Oubré at the time, was a difficult one. The college’s Board of Trustees came to it after a three-year review period.
In a statement on the Whittier College website, Oubré and Miguel Santana, board chair at the time responded to concerned alumni about the closures:
“The Poet programs sunsetting at this time are disproportionately more expensive to sustain than other sports that have thrived and remained competitive within our SCIAC conference. ”
The college’s goal, continued the statement, is to focus on the 18 other NCAA teams that can be supported on campus and via conference play.
Still, the rationale for letting go of the program doesn’t take the sting out of the situation.
For former Whittier lacrosse player Joe McCarthy (1997), first hearing of the program’s demise was rough.
“Heartbroken is the easy word,” McCarthy said by phone.
McCarthy, who played lacrosse for three years under Coach Doug Locker, said he understands the challenges and budget constraints going on in higher education today, but he’s still skeptical the school made the right decision.
Those 40-some lacrosse players who have to travel for games? Well, that’s 40 more students to boost enrollment, too.
“That traveling (for games) is one of the best advertisements for Whittier College that the school has,” McCarthy said. “If you are an East Coast kid, would you rather play lacrosse in upstate New York or in Southern California?”
The dismantling of the program does leave Whittier men’s lacrosse freshman, sophomore and juniors without a home, Carter said. The college is sure to lose athletes, he said, but he didn’t know how many would transfer.
Carter said he was sad, sure, to see the program come to an end. But, he was trying to stay positive, he added.
“It was a decision that the institution made that they think will better our college,” Carter said.
To those 40-some athletes, Carter was grateful, saying they’ve given value to the department and have created a wonderful culture on campus.
“They’re great ambassadors to Whittier College,” Carter said. “There’s a lot we’re gonna miss about that.”
NCAA: College Lacrosse Continues Its Exponential Growth
Posted on by newwavelax
It’s no big news that lacrosse is the fastest-growing sport in the nation, but according to the annual NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report released last week, it’s also the fastest-growing college sport by a long shot.
Growth across men’s and women’s lacrosse across all NCAA divisions markedly exceeded all other sports from 2000-2014. Participation in women’s lacrosse increased by 109% (going from 225 teams to 470), followed by indoor track (59%), ice hockey (58%), outdoor track (52%) and golf (48%). At the Division I women’s level, sport sponsorship is up 49% since 2000, increasing from 71 to 106 teams. Thirty one women’s lacrosse teams (+26 net growth) were added across all divisions in the 2014-15 year, tied with outdoor track and field for most teams added in the NCAA.
On the men’s side, total lacrosse participation is up 95% (going from 203 teams to 350) over the same 14 year time period, followed by volleyball (54%), indoor track (40%), outdoor track (35%) and soccer (32%). Division I sponsorship has grown by 24%, moving from 55 to 68 teams, and experiencing a net growth of +11 in sport sponsorship this year alone. In Division III, the number of men’s lacrosse athletes is almost equal to the number of men’s basketball participants, falling short by just 28 individuals.
New NCAA participation report out. Fastest growing NCAA sport? #ncaaLAX https://t.co/X8ngkLZI8A pic.twitter.com/FHe5sqigv1
— NCAA Research (@NCAAResearch) October 29, 2015
A total of 57 teams have already announced new men’s and women’s lacrosse programs slated to begin in the 2016, 2017, or 2018 seasons. Notable debuts of 2016 are Hampton (Va.), the first Division I historically black college to sponsor men’s lacrosse since 1981, along with Radford, Army, and Central Michigan women’s teams. Cleveland State men’s and Butler women’s teams headline the 2017 additions.
Earlier this month, Arizona State announced its new women’s program and a new Pac-12 women’s conference was announced for 2018, bringing the total to three of the Power Five conferences now sponsoring women’s lacrosse. With the addition of Arizona State women’s lacrosse, the new Pac-12 conference will have six teams, which is the minimum number to qualify for a conference championship and NCAA tournament automatic qualifying bid. The Pac-12 also announced that it is the first major conference to incorporate student-athletes into its voting governance structure. The addition of this Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) follows a 2014 decision by the Pac-12 CEO Group to design a groundbreaking reform package that better supports student-athletes and provides a model for college athletics.
NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Participation
Division | Teams | Athletes | Avg. Squad | % of Total Members |
---|---|---|---|---|
Division I | 106 | 3,172 | 29.9 | 30.7 |
Division II | 94 | 2,157 | 22.9 | 29.1 |
Division III | 270 | 5,665 | 21.0 | 59.9 |
Total | 470 | 10,994 | 23.4 | 42.0 |
NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Participation
Division | Teams | Athletes | Avg.![]() | % of Total Members |
---|---|---|---|---|
Division I | 68 | 3,109 | 45.7 | 19.7 |
Division II | 59 | 2,346 | 39.8 | 18.3 |
Division III | 223 | 7,710 | 34.6 | 49.4 |
Total | 350 | 13,165 | 37.6 | 31.3 |
So where is lacrosse going from here? The growth of lacrosse has been steady since 2000 and shows no signs of slowing. Lacrosse Magazine recently wrote about 25 more Division I men’s and women’s teams that could possibly be next. It certainly is an exciting time for both men’s and women’s lacrosse & we can’t wait to see where it goes.
For a comprehensive look at the NCAA Sports Sponsorship & Participation Rates Report, visit NCAA.org.
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Tags: college, girls lacrosse, grow the game, NCAA, recruitingCategories: college, girls lacrosse, grow the game, NCAA, recruiting
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US college sports
US college sports
The United States of America is a sports nation.
Sports, both professional and amateur, play a huge role in the life of American society.
The main base of amateur sports in the USA are educational institutions – schools and colleges. College sports in the US are incredibly popular.
The beginning of such an incredibly popular college sport in the USA was laid in 1843, when a boat club was organized at Yale University. In 1844, the same club was created at Harvard University.
The history of college sports in the USA dates back to 1852, when the first rowing competition between the teams of Harvard and Yale universities took place. It was as a sports organization that the “Ivy League” (“The Ivy league”), which has become the popular name of the eight most prestigious universities in the United States today, appeared.
The US collegiate sports system consists of three associations officially approved by the Governing Body: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NAIA), and the National College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a national collegiate athletic association founded on February 3, 1906 as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Since 1910 – NCAA. The NCAA is made up of 1,281 different college and university sports organizations in the United States and Canada. The association is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana headquarters.
The NCAA comprises 23 sports and is divided into Divisions 1, 2, and 3. The first division significantly surpasses the second and third in terms of the number of sports, the level of sports results, funding and the seriousness of the attitude of athletes to training.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association “administers championships in common US team and individual sports such as American football, boxing, golf, track and field, baseball, softball, and basketball. College basketball teams in the United States (since 1891) are most often in the NCAA.
In addition, the NCAA hosts competitions in the “original” sports that are popular in the United States and relatively uncommon in other parts of the world. Among them are lacrosse (a team game invented by American Indians, which is played with a small ball and racquet clubs), bowling.
Since the 50s of the 19th century, baseball has been very popular in US universities – a team sports game with a baseball ball and a bat (lapta in Russia) – a North American development of the older English lapta, popular in Great Britain and Ireland.
Later athletics, rugby, American football became popular. American football is by far the most popular college sport, a transformation of British rugby, football that developed from early forms of rugby and soccer.
On average, US universities participate in 20 sports. This is approximately 400,000 students. They are assigned to university teams officially registered with the student sports association. About two million more American students play sports, being members of unaffiliated clubs.
University sport in the USA is a real school of “team spirit”.
American college sports are very organized. Studying at the university and collegiate sports in the USA are inextricably linked concepts. With unsatisfactory academic performance, a student may not be allowed to train, to play. American student athletes have no special privileges.
The level of varsity sports in the United States cannot be compared with the level of college sports in any country in the world. Being a student-athlete in the USA is comparable to playing professional sports, only instead of wages, the student receives payment for his studies at the university. Outstanding student players have earned themselves not only sports fame, but also the right to a “sports” scholarship of several thousand dollars.
Sports in US universities is one of the main marketing tools to attract students. In order to attract the strongest athletes, sports programs are financed. More than a thousand educational institutions in the United States are looking for boys and girls in their sports teams to glorify the university. The basis of amateur sports of the highest achievements in the United States is precisely collegiate sports.
Collegiate sports in the US have given rise to professional sports for athletes such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, John Isner, Rine Lochte, Rebeca Soni and many more.
The scale of university sports in the USA is colossal. Popularity and achievements in some sports are comparable to the popularity and level of achievements in professional sports, and national student championships are comparable to the Olympic Games. The strongest student sports teams perform at the highest level.
University sporting events are of great interest to the US population. The best college teams in popular sports in the United States are packed to capacity in excess of 100,000 spectators. Special stadiums designed for games between university teams are built on each campus. Millions of fans across America queue for hours to buy tickets. Often there is not enough space for everyone at the stadiums – then bivouacs are set up nearby.