LAX Packs Punch at Pine Crest Boca Raton Campus
Second Season Brings Support and Success
 

July 5, 2006

Baltimore crab. Canadian egg roll. Dehuntshigwa’es. No, these are not culinary delights you would find on a menu at the latest Asian fusion eatery. They are actual terms deriving from America’s oldest sport, but that sport is not baseball, nor is it boxing, wrestling, fishing, or logrolling.

It’s lacrosse.

Pre-dating baseball by at least two hundred years, the sport of lacrosse was traditionally played by Native American tribes such as the Iroquois, Cherokee, Choctaw, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi to name a few. Coined by early French settlers who witnessed the game being played on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, the name “lacrosse” comes from the phrase jeu de la crosse (literally, “game of the crooked stick”). Competing tribes often would square off in contests to resolve disputes or territorial claims, clashing violently against one another in a fashion not unlike the actual battles in which some of the tribes would participate. At the time, the object of the game was to injure or incapacitate one’s opponent, thereby making it easier to score. These matches would sometimes last for several hours or even days.

Four hundred years later, the game has evolved quite a bit and the modern version combines elements of basketball, soccer, and hockey, requiring its players to possess speed, agility, and deft coordination. Traditionally limited to the independent schools and suburban neighborhoods of Maryland and Long Island, the game is now the fastest growing team sport at every level in America—youth, high school, college, and professional. Despite its rich history, however, lacrosse is in its infancy at the Pine Crest Boca Raton campus. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams just completed their second full season in April, but the sport’s popularity among the students is undeniable. “It’s awesome,” exclaims seventh-grade student Will Coughlan, Pine Crest’s Middle School Varsity mid-fielder. “It’s fast and it’s physical, so you have to be in good shape and have good stick-handling skills. There’s a lot of running, and opponents are constantly trying to knock the ball out of your pocket.”

For those readers who aren’t familiar with lacrosse or other native sports of the Northeast (see: skiing, candlepin bowling, field hockey, and snow shoveling), the “pocket” that Will refers to is a small mesh net at the end of the stick that holds the game’s small rubber ball. Players must continuously move the stick back and forth (this is called “cradling”) to prevent the ball from falling out of the pocket when it is in their possession. Now imagine cradling the ball, running up the field and looking for a teammate to pass to, while a line of defensemen and midfielders barrel toward you at top speed, their intent being to jar the ball loose by smashing you to the ground.

That’s lacrosse (at least in the boys’ game—checking is not allowed in the girls’ game), and students at Pine Crest’s Boca Raton campus (and across the country) are falling in love with it. According to U.S. Lacrosse, the governing body of the sport, youth membership (ages 15 and under) has tripled since 1999 and boasts over 100,000 participants. The sport has also swelled at the high school level with over 130,000 high school players nationwide. Although lacrosse is not yet sanctioned by the state of Florida (meaning there is no official playoff system in place; teams are instead chosen to participate in an invitational tournament held each year), it is a recognized sport of the state and with more and more schools like Pine Crest starting their own lacrosse programs, many are hopeful that it will achieve official status within the next few years.

One primary factor played a part in the arrival of lacrosse to the Pine Crest Boca Raton campus: the unequivocal affinity and enthusiasm of the School’s parents. “We sent a letter home to families to gauge their interest in the sport,” recalls Co-Athletic Director Mrs. Jennie Falbey, “and there was an overwhelming desire to offer the sport to the Middle School.” This was not only great news for the Boca Raton campus, but for Pine Crest Fort Lauderdale as well. Unlike their Boca brethren, Fort Lauderdale has had a successful lacrosse ¬program for a number of years for both boys and girls, and this would create yet another talent pool from which the Mae McMillan campus could draw.

However, the ¬challenge facing the Boca campus was finding enough ¬people who were familiar with the game to coach the students. While Mrs. Falbey had played lacrosse in her youth and understood the sport, some of the coaches were not at all familiar with it. “I don’t think I had even watched a game of lacrosse in my life, never mind played it,” admits Girls’ Middle School Varsity Head Coach Mr. Brian Harvey. “So I did a lot of reading about the sport and started practicing with a stick. I also attended a local coaches’ clinic. I wanted to learn as much as I could before the program was implemented.”

Mr. Scott Weil, head coach of both the Boys’ Middle School Varsity and Sixth-Grade squads, had actually played at the club level in college, but he too needed to re-learn some of the aspects of the game. “The first year, we brought in some of the parents to help out, which was tremendous because they had played the game at the collegiate level and had a broad expanse of knowledge and experience they could provide,” he says. “People like Mr. Sollins, Mr. Zheutlin, and Mr. Robinson really stepped in to help out the coaches and instruct the players.”

For the athletes, the transition seemed to be a bit more difficult. “During the first year of the program,” continues Mr. Weil, “the ball was on the ground about 80% of the time because the players were just learning the basics of cradling and scooping the ball. So we were simply working on the fundamental skills because the students were learning the sport for the first time.”

Even though the athletes experienced the growing pains of learning these new skills, they were definitely enjoying their new sport. According to Coach Harvey, it was the fast-paced, action-packed nature of the game that excited the students: “Before lacrosse, the girls played softball which, in many instances, translated into them standing around waiting for a ball to be hit to them. With lacrosse, once you step onto the field, you’re running. There’s an immediate kinetic energy to the sport, and all the girls are able to get involved, which I think really appealed to them. With softball, we were lucky if twelve or thirteen girls tried out. During the first year of lacrosse, approximately thirty-five girls came out for the team.”

Unfortunately, enthusiasm doesn’t breed success, and while both the Middle School Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ teams finished their inaugural season with (2-6 and 4-7-1, records respectively), the coaches and parents were happy to see the students acquiring knowledge of the game and obtaining experience on the field—elements that ultimately paid dividends during the program’s second season. The boys’ varsity team performed a complete 180-degree turn during its second year and finished at 6-2. Seventh grade attacker Mike Bender believes the dramatic turnaround was due to the team’s chemistry. “A lot of the seventh graders knew each other, so we worked well together on the field. I also understood my role a little more—I played behind the net and tried to feed the other guys assists from back there.” Led by Mike, Will, Matt Robinson, and goalie Chad Ginsburg, the team was characterized by its toughness, perseverance, and an unflagging desire to improve with every game. The team hopes to be even better next year as it will see the return of all but four players from this year’s roster.

The girls’ team ended their second year with a mark of 2-4, but their record belies the unity and determination that was the team’s trademark, made even more impressive by the fact that there were only five returning players from the ¬previous year. That means seventeen girls were playing for the first time. “We all got along and had fun, and I think we definitely improved as the year went on,” says eighth-grade student Nicole DeVere. A second-year player, Nicole was selected to represent Pine Crest in the Middle School All-Star game held May 12 along with fellow eighth graders Paige Finkelstein and Erin Kaplan, a testament to how far the program has come in only two short years.

The accomplishments of the program haven’t gone unnoticed by the coaches at the Fort Lauderdale campus either. “Watching the talent that’s currently in Boca, I definitely think our program will be a lot stronger,” says Kevin Roszkowski, head coach of Pine Crest Fort Lauderdale’s ¬varsity, junior varsity, and Middle School boys’ teams. He led the PCFL varsity team to the South Regional Final this year in only his third season at Pine Crest, falling just short of the invitational’s State Final. “I am very pleased with the Boca campus,” he continues, “and I am going to try and hold clinics on Saturdays next year for Middle School and Lower School students on both campuses to continue encouraging interest in the game.” Adds PCFL’s Girls’ Varsity Coach Ms. Eileen Pliske, “I love that the Boca campus has a girls’ team.” Coach Pliske also enjoyed a successful season as she led her Lady Panthers to the postseason tournament as well. “I would like to integrate the Middle School programs on both campuses with our junior varsity and varsity programs by hosting coaches’ and players’ clinics for both schools. I think it would make the girls’ transition from Boca to Fort Lauderdale more seamless.”

As Coach Harvey points out, the girls’ lacrosse program at Pine Crest Boca Raton has already produced nine freshmen players for the teams at PCFL—seven junior varsity players and two who play for the varsity squad. Four other girls from the Boca campus were also on the varsity roster at another area school this past year. In all, thirteen out of eighteen eighth-grade students from last year's Middle School team are continuing to play lacrosse in high school.

What make those statistics more remarkable are players like the aforementioned Paige Finkelstein. An eighth-grade student who will be vying for a position on either the varsity or junior varsity team at Pine Crest Fort Lauderdale next year, Paige had not played a sport at Pine Crest until she decided to try out for the lacrosse team this past year. “I just saw how much fun the eighth graders had last year,” she admits, “and since I now had a lot more free time on my hands, I decided to try out. Plus, it was my last year on campus and I wanted to try something new.” Well it’s a good thing she did—the All-Star midfielder ended up leading the team in goals and assists. Not bad for a rookie.

With the sport now firmly entrenched on the William J. McMillan campus, the program’s future certainly seems bright, especially since the Physical Education department is already teaching lacrosse to its fourth and sixth-grade classes and hopes to expand instruction to include other Lower School grades as well. As a result, when the sport is eventually sanctioned and an official league is finally formed, Pine Crest will surely be poised to compete for its fair share of titles and championships. Canadian egg roll, anyone?