Lacrosse, a school sport?
August 23, 2011
Interest in lacrosse continues to grow in Shakopee, leading some to wonder when will Shakopee High School make it an official sport.
Jennifer Clarke of Shakopee Lacrosse spoke to the board about the sport’s growing popularity during Monday’s open forum. In its three years, the club has seen participation numbers increase from 24 boys on one junior varsity team to 87 male and female players on five teams.
This past spring, the girls won the NorthCentral Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association state championship.
The club is seeking permission to use an additional field by the Shakopee Junior High, as well as take advantage of school athletic perks, such as using the activity bus to transport freshman to the high school for after-school practice, allowing students to store equipment in sports lockers and including the varsity lacrosse teams in the high school yearbook.
The Shakopee School Board has talked about adding lacrosse to its athletic offerings after students showed high interest in a 2008 survey.
“With more students, it does look like the next logical activity to add,” Board Member Kathy Busch said.
Board members, however, are hesitant to agree to any new activity with tight finances. Chuck Berg noted the district just increased its class size targets.
“If our goal here is to educate students, if we had some extra dollars, that would be the first thing to do, to draw those class sizes down,” he said.
The board asked Activities Director John Janke to sit down with the lacrosse club and create a formal proposal for consideration.
Jennifer Clarke of Shakopee Lacrosse spoke to the board about the sport’s growing popularity during Monday’s open forum. In its three years, the club has seen participation numbers increase from 24 boys on one junior varsity team to 87 male and female players on five teams.
This past spring, the girls won the NorthCentral Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association state championship.
The club is seeking permission to use an additional field by the Shakopee Junior High, as well as take advantage of school athletic perks, such as using the activity bus to transport freshman to the high school for after-school practice, allowing students to store equipment in sports lockers and including the varsity lacrosse teams in the high school yearbook.
The Shakopee School Board has talked about adding lacrosse to its athletic offerings after students showed high interest in a 2008 survey.
“With more students, it does look like the next logical activity to add,” Board Member Kathy Busch said.
Board members, however, are hesitant to agree to any new activity with tight finances. Chuck Berg noted the district just increased its class size targets.
“If our goal here is to educate students, if we had some extra dollars, that would be the first thing to do, to draw those class sizes down,” he said.
The board asked Activities Director John Janke to sit down with the lacrosse club and create a formal proposal for consideration.
Read more: Shakopee Valley News - Lacrosse a school sport
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