Lacrosse fever catching on

Adam Candee

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 10:15 a.m.

Baseball, softball, soccer, basketball -- whatever sport fits one's fancy can usually be found at Summerlin's Oxford Park.

As he drove by on business about three years ago, it was a rare West Coast sighting of the sport that combines all of the above that excited Mike Scarpantonio.

"I drove by and said, 'Oh my, that's a lacrosse stick,' " he said.

A former high school lacrosse goalie in Leavittown, N.Y., Scarpantonio is now the volunteer head coach of the Palo Verde club lacrosse team, one of six teams in the Valley's fledgling league.

"Eighty percent of my kids have never seen the game before," Scarpantonio said of his 20-man roster.

The league began with just Palo Verde and Centennial in 2001, and has expanded to include teams at Durango, Bonanza, Coronado and Meadows, plus a four-team middle school league and a two-team girls' league.

League co-founder Rick Minoski, a Palo Verde parent who moved his family from Connecticut to Las Vegas, could not be more pleased with the rapid progress of the league despite its non-varsity letter status and pay-for-play issues.

"I think it's going to just take right off," Minoski said.

In relative terms, it already has. Teams play close to 25 games per year, and the combination of an increased talent pool as novice players learn the game means improved quality of play.

Even the newest players are finding success. Palo Verde sophomore Bryan Reil is enjoying his first year of lacrosse, as Scarpantonio already calls Reil one of his better attackers.

"It just has a lot more action than the other sports I've played, and just a lot more contact," Reil said. "It's just a lot more fun."

Panthers senior defenseman Torrey Clark, a three-year player, said the appeal of the ancient game created by Native Americans in the 17th century is an elusive quality.

"It's hard to put your finger on it," Clark said. "It's different than everything else. It's a bunch of sports combined in one. It's not like football, just all about hitting, and it's not like soccer, just all about finesse. It's a mixture of both."

The mixture in the Las Vegas league is that of school-sanctioned club teams and those operating as independents. Bonanza, Centennial and Meadows have club status, meaning that there is some financial support from the school to cover per-player costs of about $400-$500 per season.

That includes insurance, officials fees, equipment and some travel. Club teams are also allowed to use the school's fields for practice and games. On the flip side, the independent clubs are not restricted by school regulations.

Those costs are a main limiting factor in local participation. Parents must put up money for lacrosse when their kids can play essentially for free in other sports. Varsity letter sports also have a physical education credit at school, which appeals to students.

"The cost is what prohibits some kids from playing," Minoski said. "If they didn't have to pay, we'd have 100 kids (at Palo Verde) easy."

Without school backing or sanctioning, recruiting and retaining players is also a challenge.

"The first year, it was actually pretty easy to get people to come out, but to stay with it was kind of difficult," Panthers senior attacker Tully Minoski said. "People really wanted it to be a letter sport."

Given the financial situation in the Clark County School District, lacrosse will not become a letter sport anytime soon, as no new sports will be added with the district looking to slash costs.

The momentum to carry lacrosse from its traditional East Coast base across the country to the West is certainly building, however. U.S. Lacrosse, the sport's governing body, reports that more than 74,000 high school students played lacrosse in 2001 -- an increase of more than 100 percent since 1995.

Minoski feels that getting Las Vegas to join the boom is only a matter of exposure.

"You try it once, you're hooked."