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McIntosh gets OK to field lacrosse teams

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Competitive lacrosse for both boys and girls is coming to McIntosh High School this spring.

At a Monday meeting, school board members heard an update on efforts to establish lacrosse teams at the Peachtree City school as a “test market” of sorts before expanding it to the county’s other high schools.

The Chiefs and Lady Chiefs lacrosse teams will compete in a spring season governed by the Georgia High School Association, just like football, basketball and other sports.

McIntosh student athletes and a Lacrosse Booster Club have unofficially fielded “club” lacrosse teams in recent years that weren’t actually under the authority of the school. Teams have sprung up at the county’s other high schools as well, playing under the banner of the Fayette County Lacrosse Association.

But this is the first year the GHSA has sanctioned lacrosse, a sport adopted from Native Americans and much more common to northern states. It has grown quickly in popularity around metro Atlanta as more and more transplants from north of the Mason-Dixon line have moved south.

Still, there are hardly enough high school teams in Georgia to field competitive regions like the GHSA does for football, said Assistant Superintendent for Operations Wayne Robinson.

Instead, McIntosh will compete in an “area” of schools mainly south of I-20 including teams from Coweta and Fulton counties and private schools like Woodward Academy.

Robinson said none of the opposition will be so far away as to hinder travel, which was one of the start-up concerns.

“It’s a contact sport, very aggressive and very exciting to watch,” said Robinson, who along with McIntosh boosters and school principal Tracie Fleming had been researching the possibilities of adding lacrosse teams to the county’s regular competitive sports roster.

Fleming joked at Monday’s board meeting that she was ready to grab a stick and take the field herself until she found out the only piece of protective equipment worn by either boys or girls is a mouthpiece.

“We’re still working out a few minor kinks, but we’re trying to get up and running for spring,” Fleming said.

Superintendent John DeCotis pointed out that adding another competitive sport wasn’t a light matter. Schools are required by federal law to provide balanced sports programs for both boys and girls, thus teams for both sexes will be formed. Also of concern was financing and whether the sport would take away from other athletic offerings at the school. Coaches must be paid supplements for their work, and there are logistical matters to deal with.

With parent support, McIntosh’s booster program has managed to meet the financial demands, said Robinson.

“We’ve got the funds and we’ve got the interest,” he said. “We’d like to try this as a pilot program at McIntosh and see how it goes.”

Interest is already high at Starr’s Mill as well, said Robinson, adding that the growth of lacrosse reminded him of the interest in soccer across Georgia 20 years ago.

“So this could be something that really catches on across the state,” he said.

Like soccer, lacrosse games are played on a modified football field. In fact, Robinson described the sport as “football with a stick.” At McIntosh, head football coach Butch Prosser will be the boys coach. The search is still on for a girls’ coach.

Lacrosse also affords the possibility of financial aid or college scholarships to stellar athletes, Robinson pointed out.

Robinson said the McIntosh boys team is reportedly pretty good already.

“This will be a good opportunity for those seniors on the team to go out and play for a true state championship this year,” he said.