Tulsa World: Carry a big stick

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Carry a big stick
A young man's wish spawns a league

The ball is knocked out of possession as Tulsa Bulldogs lacrosse team members practice at Memorial High School last week. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World

By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/11/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 3/11/2009 5:13 AM

A middle school boy saw a game on television and thought it looked like fun, so he asked his dad if he could play.

The answer was no.

Tulsa had a men's lacrosse club, but the boy was too young to play on that team.

That would've been the end of it, if somebody hadn't mentioned the boy's desire to Dustin Booth, who was coaching a club team in Stillwater at the time.

Booth was barely out of middle school himself 17 years ago when his brother's best friend gave him a lacrosse stick.

"I've been hooked ever since," Booth says. "It's a sport that deserves to be more popular than it is."

Unsure of how much interest they would find, Booth and another coach, Josh Grove, rounded up a few more middle school boys and launched the Tulsa Youth Lacrosse Association.

Four years later, on a chilly weeknight at a midtown soccer field, Grove is watching the Tulsa Bulldogs practice for an upcoming tournament.

The original players are now high school age, and the league has grown from a handful of players to more than 150.

"It's come a long way," Grove says, "in a very short period of time."

National lacrosse groups claim that it's the fastest-growing sport in the country, percentagewise. But that's partly because it's such a small sport to begin with.

The number of people playing lacrosse has surged nearly 90 percent since 2001, but that still amounts to only half a million players — compared with more than 15 million for

soccer, according to various surveys.

"It's known as the fastest sport on earth," Grove says.

But he's not talking about the growth in popularity. He's talking about the ball.

Professionals can shoot it more than 125 mph.

"Some of these high school guys can hit 90, at least," Grove says.

"And it's not just the ball. It's running, passing, shooting. Everything happens fast."

At first glance, lacrosse resembles soccer, with nets for goals and nonstop action up and down the field.

But players wear shoulder pads and helmets similar to football, with full-body contact and the occasional dogpile.

After a while, however, it starts to look the most like basketball, with the same pass-and-shoot rhythm to the game.

"It's pretty much a combination of all the best sports," explains Brooks Wilson, a ninth-grader from Jenks. "It's got everything you would want."

The league now supports three teams for middle school players, and the Bulldogs recruit high school players from across Tulsa and the suburbs, even from as far away as Muskogee.

"The roster is pretty much bursting at the seams," says Booth, the head coach.

"It won't be long before we really need to start a second high school team."

They already have enough players. The problem, Booth says, is finding experienced coaches.

"This all pretty much started with one kid who wanted to play," he says. "And now we have all the kids we can handle."

For more For information about the Tulsa Youth Lacrosse Association, send an e-mail to dybooth@gmail.com

Michael Overall 581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com

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By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment shaw411, Scottsdale, AZ (3/11/2009 7:20:22 AM) Glad to see lacrosse growing in Tulsa. They have lots of youth teams here in Phoenix.
	Report Comment Loven Life*, Sh0NkA (3/11/2009 8:09:18 AM) I think this is so good for Tulsa. I have always heard people through out school wish we had a Lacrosse team.
	Report Comment kma, (3/11/2009 9:37:02 AM) Great article. Lacrosse is a fun sport to watch.
	Report Comment M_Conners, Tulsa (3/11/2009 11:17:50 AM) Very cool. Good to see some kids do something other than play video games.
	Report Comment .Missy..M, little town (3/12/2009 2:04:12 AM) How neat.And where did this idea for this game come from?I think from the American Indians.
	Report Comment kma, (3/12/2009 9:40:05 AM) True indeed Missy. One of the high school teams in the state is sponsored by the Pottawatomie tribe in Shawnee. They're providing a great opportunity.

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