Lacrosse in NKY is picking up steam, with a number of the larger schools having added it in the last 5 years. Assuming this growth continues, what affect will it have on football turnout?  Has this been documented or observed at schools with established lacrosse programs?

I think it would effect baseball more than football. Pretty much everyone I played with did both when I was in High school. 

The only impact lacrosse will have on football will be injuries in lacrosse carrying over to the fall as many football players play lacrosse.  With it being a spring sport, it will impact baseball somewhat, but for those schools with lacrosse teams, it really hasn't impacted their baseball programs (see Dixie and CovCath).

Turnout - depends? If your school has 450+ boys/girls AND a high participation value number, it shouldn't effect other spring sports too much. I think some of the better athletes might gravitate towards the sport if it benefits their football. I've noticed a little dropoff in Track & Field because of LAX.

@Purple88 and @Tigerpride94 might have some good insight 

This fella has strong opinions on the benefits of playing both. Seems to have worked out for him.

laxfarmer.com/jim-brown-lacrosse

cuse.com/sports/brownlaxbio 

 

Cov Cath has had a lacrosse team since 2005 or 2006 with little-to-no impact on other sports.

For the schools that have lacrosse, I think it may actually benefit their football team by drawing players to their school. Some athletes may choose to go to schools that have both sports so they can play both.

If they have it in the fall it will have an effect on football, but it's a spring sport. OHS is the only school in Owensboro that has Lacrosse. 

Lacrosse? In a football forum? Since you ask though I believe it could induce physicality, causing lingering injuries and/or building toughness, but I don’t see many negatives or positives nor a correlation between the two. It’s a spring sport, and it may be brewing in NKY but throughout the state and up north I don’t see it ever gaining the traction to affect football negatively.

Great topic!  Lacrosse was big part of my daughter's positive high school experience at Manual.

Since the time I arrived on the Kentucky lacrosse scene in about 2013-2014, I have heard the same statement over and over.  Lacrosse is close to getting sanctioned by KHSAA and time and again it doesn't.  As @1959said, lacrosse continues to grow around the state, but especially in the more populated areas (NKY, Louisville, Lexington, BG, Etown, etc.).  However, lacrosse really took a punch in the mouth from Covid which eliminated 2 consecutive years of middle school sports state wide.  We are starting to finally get through that with more kids coming out now, but the past 2 years have been really tough numbers wise for many schools lacrosse programs.

Reason I bring that up is credibility.  When you are sanctioned by KHSAA, that gives your sport credibility and I think Lacrosse needs that.  I think it also probably needs 2 classes in order to grow the sport to less populated areas.  Class 1 - Established Teams; Class 2 - Non-established teams.  Not sure how many kids from a County School that will sign up for long to get crushed by St X, who has 2 JV teams and mandates kids play year round.  Or as least they did; their legendary coach was just let go (but that another story!).

Concerning football, I think more and more football coaches see it as a great way for their kids to stay in shape.  Could they get injured; sure, but they can get in a car wreck just as easily IMO.

To me there are 2 big issues for lacrosse growth across the state (and I'm speaking of only boys' lacrosse now - girls lax is a separate/different game):

1.  Schools that don't already have a team.  I don't expect many ADs at these schools to get behind adding a new team for a number of reasons: a. The budget is already tight; b. Your going to have to share the field with other groups (if you train in the offseason especially); c. You need more coaches for this at a time when it seems less and less want to do that; d.  If you have a boys teams, its only a matter of time before a girls team is in your basket to deal with too.

2.  Trinity and St X - Sorry @Tigerpride94 but no one wants to play T and X in lacrosse.  Former St X coach Howe went to 20 of the last 21 state championship games winning 13 I believe.  Most of the other teams, especially outside Jefferson County are fine playing in their league and their own championship.

But it's a great sport that I love and hope it grows across the state!

 

21 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

Great topic!  Lacrosse was big part of my daughter's positive high school experience at Manual.

Since the time I arrived on the Kentucky lacrosse scene in about 2013-2014, I have heard the same statement over and over.  Lacrosse is close to getting sanctioned by KHSAA and time and again it doesn't.  As @1959said, lacrosse continues to grow around the state, but especially in the more populated areas (NKY, Louisville, Lexington, BG, Etown, etc.).  However, lacrosse really took a punch in the mouth from Covid which eliminated 2 consecutive years of middle school sports state wide.  We are starting to finally get through that with more kids coming out now, but the past 2 years have been really tough numbers wise for many schools lacrosse programs.

Reason I bring that up is credibility.  When you are sanctioned by KHSAA, that gives your sport credibility and I think Lacrosse needs that.  I think it also probably needs 2 classes in order to grow the sport to less populated areas.  Class 1 - Established Teams; Class 2 - Non-established teams.  Not sure how many kids from a County School that will sign up for long to get crushed by St X, who has 2 JV teams and mandates kids play year round.  Or as least they did; their legendary coach was just let go (but that another story!).

Concerning football, I think more and more football coaches see it as a great way for their kids to stay in shape.  Could they get injured; sure, but they can get in a car wreck just as easily IMO.

To me there are 2 big issues for lacrosse growth across the state (and I'm speaking of only boys' lacrosse now - girls lax is a separate/different game):

1.  Schools that don't already have a team.  I don't expect many ADs at these schools to get behind adding a new team for a number of reasons: a. The budget is already tight; b. Your going to have to share the field with other groups (if you train in the offseason especially); c. You need more coaches for this at a time when it seems less and less want to do that; d.  If you have a boys teams, its only a matter of time before a girls team is in your basket to deal with too.

2.  Trinity and St X - Sorry @Tigerpride94 but no one wants to play T and X in lacrosse.  Former St X coach Howe went to 20 of the last 21 state championship games winning 13 I believe.  Most of the other teams, especially outside Jefferson County are fine playing in their league and their own championship.

But it's a great sport that I love and hope it grows across the state!

 

If you're going to class it, you'll have to class it like other sports, by student population. Established vs unestablished is way too subjective. I also don't believe people not wanting to play X or T  will prevent kids from signing up or schools starting programs. Boys swimming is doing just fine even though X has won just about every state title. And nobody quit playing football when teams like Highlands or Trinity were winning all the state titles. 

Lacrosse will continue to grow in the large population areas of the state, but I'm not sure you'll ever see it take off in the rural areas. But if there is a demand, schools will certainly add it. I don't think any of the issues you mentioned will stop AD's from adding the sport if there is a demand for it. 

10 minutes ago, rjs4470 said:

If you're going to class it, you'll have to class it like other sports, by student population. Established vs unestablished is way too subjective. I also don't believe people not wanting to play X or T  will prevent kids from signing up or schools starting programs. Boys swimming is doing just fine even though X has won just about every state title. And nobody quit playing football when teams like Highlands or Trinity were winning all the state titles. 

Lacrosse will continue to grow in the large population areas of the state, but I'm not sure you'll ever see it take off in the rural areas. But if there is a demand, schools will certainly add it. I don't think any of the issues you mentioned will stop AD's from adding the sport if there is a demand for it. 

I wasn't pitching it to Julian Tacket, KHSAA Commissioner.  That was off the cuff.

All I'm saying is there would be a benefit to newer school programs being matched with other new school programs.

I don't think lacrosse affects football. St. X QB Trevor Havill is lacrosse player and I think some other football players are too. I coach track and if lacrosse didn't exist we would probably get a few kids that would do track but I don't think it's a big impact. We've won state championship in track 4 years straight without lacrosse kids. I think KHSAA is sanctioning lacrosse in a couple of years.

15 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

I don't think lacrosse affects football. St. X QB Trevor Havill is lacrosse player and I think some other football players are too. I coach track and if lacrosse didn't exist we would probably get a few kids that would do track but I don't think it's a big impact. We've won state championship in track 4 years straight without lacrosse kids. I think KHSAA is sanctioning lacrosse in a couple of years.

I heard they were going to sanction it but couldn’t find anything about when. 

https://www.pmg-ky1.com/oldham_era/godfather-of-kentucky-lacrosse-reflects-on-journey-growing-sport-as-khsaa-sanctioning-looms/article_48bd6101-da5d-50af-aa13-311e071b792b.html

 

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association voted to sanction lacrosse pending a participation report entering the 2024-25 at its Board of Control meeting on May 10.

Our high school HOF lacrosse coach likes to put sticks in the hands of linebackers, defensive backs and offensive skill players.