Lacrosse healthy and growing in Rochester

The story of Rochester, MN and how their lacrosse community developed provides a glimpse of where many of our Northern Minnesota lacrosse programs will likely be in a few years.

Lacrosse healthy and growing in Rochester

By Jason Feldman
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

	At a glance A brief timeline of lacrosse in Rochester: • 2002: Rochester Area Club Lacrosse is formed; 40 boys play club lacrosse at the JV level. • 2003: The RACL boys team begins club play at the varsity and JV levels. • 2006: The Rochester Girls Lacrosse Association is formed and 32 girls begin club play at the varsity level. • 2008: Rochester Youth Lacrosse Association is formed. • 2009: Rochester's high school teams begin MSHSL-sanctioned play. The three associations merge into one — Rochester Area Lacrosse. • For more information on youth and high school lacrosse in Rochester, see the Rochester Area Lacrosse club's website at www.rochesteryouthlacrosse.com

Three years ago, the Rochester Area Lacrosse club was faced with two choices.

• One, continue to play at the club level, rather than becoming a full-fledged varsity sport, sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League.

• Two, continue to fully fund their own programs with the added costs of competing in MSHSL-sanctioned play. Because of a severe budget crunch, the teams would receive no financial help from the Rochester School District.

While Rochester's boys and girls teams had a good amount of success at the club level, many schools throughout the state — specifically the most talented teams — were joining the MSHSL in 2008-09. So, option No. 2 became the choice and a small, but dedicated group of individuals worked to raise enough funds to make varsity lacrosse a reality in Rochester.

"From the beginning, our goal was to get into the Minnesota State High School League," said Rochester Century boys coach Andy Roth, who was a volunteer coach when Rochester Area Lacrosse was formed about 10 years ago with fewer than 20 players. "I don't know that we envisioned having three high school teams for boys and three for girls as quickly as we did, but lacrosse is growing really fast. Once kids play, they're hooked."

Roth credited Wes Emmert of the Rochester Athletic Club with really helping the sport grow in town. When the fledgling club had just 18 players at the start, Emmert helped it find not only a place to play, but new players, as well.

"Once Wes got involved, we went from 18 to 40 in a week," Roth said.

Though the activities directors at the city's high schools took some big tasks off the coaches' plates — particularly scheduling — as the program continued to grow and approach varsity status, more money was needed for uniforms, equipment, travel and coaches' salaries.

That's why RAL players (youth and varsity), coaches and board members spend as much — if not more — time fundraising as they do at the field. RAL president Steve Hagedorn said the club recently wrapped up its biggest fundraising push of the year, selling coupon cards that include discounts to multiple local businesses.

Hagedorn said 90 percent of the funding for the varsity and JV programs comes from student fees, which haven't been increased since the club's first season. The other 10 percent comes from the various fundraisers the club holds. For now, that money is enough to sustain programs for boys from grade 3 and up, and girls from grade 5 and up.

"Our long-range hope is to be able to put money away and arrange for our own practice facilities," said Hagedorn, who is nearing the end of a two-year term as RAL's president. "It's hard to arrange space for all of our teams."

In addition to six varsity and junior varsity teams with 40-45 players each — Lourdes co-ops with John Marshall in both boys and girls lacrosse — Hagedorn estimates there are about 160-170 players in the RAL youth program.

"We're expecting (those numbers) to keep growing," said Hagedorn, whose son Joe played at Mayo and now plays for Swarthmore (Pa.) College. "It's really exciting seeing more and more kids playing every year. The high school programs are attracting more kids each year. Our youth program has grown considerably the past three years and our fundraising has really grown."

The city's high school coaches are excited, too, about the continued growth of the youth program. That means they can spend more time working on game strategy — offensive and defensive sets and plays — and less on fundamentals.

"The first couple of years, everybody who came out for lacrosse was new to the sport," Roth said. "Now we're getting eighth- and ninth-graders coming up who are pretty skilled players. Most of the kids we've had come out will stick with it. Once they catch on, they hang on."