Lacrosse continues to spread in Ohio.
The sport got a boost last year when the state’s governing athletic body for high schools, the Ohio High School Athletic Association, announced it would sponsor lacrosse in the 2016-17 school year.
The OHSAA has classified it as an “emerging” sport since it does not yet have the 150 schools to make it a “recognized” sport.
And nowhere is lacrosse emerging more than at Chardon thanks to some committed parents and a supportive administration.
Since Michael Hanlon became superintendent in 2013, the district has added both boys and girls lacrosse. The boys completed their first season in 2015, and the girls will play their first season this spring.
“Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing youth sports in North America, and provides an exciting combination of the best elements of a variety of sports,” Hanlon said. “It is a fun and fast-paced game that provides opportunities for the development of individual and team skills for youngsters.”
Hanlon coached lacrosse in Mentor for five years and was instrumental in forming the Mentor Middle School lacrosse program.
Both Chardon lacrosse teams will continue to work toward varsity status, said Gary Wascovich, the parent who spearheaded the boys team and endlessly promotes the sport in the Chardon community.
His son Tyler, a sophomore this season, started playing in fourth grade, and his family has been heavily involved with the sport ever since, in club teams like the Lake County Lightning and the Mentor youth programs.
Dakota Romine coached the boys team last season. As an all-state player in high school, Romine grew up with the sport in Marysville.
The girls have also chosen an experienced coach, Bernie Ferris, who grew up in upstate New York, the birthplace and cradle of American lacrosse.
“It’s been there forever because of the local thriving Native American community,” he said.
Ferris grew up playing lacrosse; was all-city player his senior year in Syracuse, New York; and played collegiately. As an adult, at Norwin High School in Pennsylvania, he started a program for his son, Dan, and then another one for daughter, Alanna.
“I was never that familiar with girls lacrosse, but I had a real epiphany there,” Ferris said of the program he started for Alanna in 2013. “It’s so much different than the boys game. The girls game is more finesse, there’s no contact allowed. It’s a really beautiful sport.”
Ferris spent last spring as an assistant coach at Hiram College. And he has been impressed with Chardon’s beginnings.
After the girls club program was approved by the school board in August of 2015, about 24 girls showed up to an exploratory meeting.
Wascovich said there are 21 girls committed to playing the sport at this time.
There is still time for interested players to sign up. Registration will go right up to March 25, the first day that games can be played. Both teams will practice beginning the end of February, and play on the field turf at Chardon’s Memorial Field.
“I’m very impressed with what’s going on there,” Ferris said of Chardon. “People just don’t understand it. It’s an athletic game, and it’s great for young athletes.”