Armed with sticks, helmets and protective gear, University of West Florida students meet on the multi-purpose field to face-off. Poking, slapping, direct body hits and stick-checking are all allowed in this venue.
Lacrosse is the game, and Ashley Brieger, a UWF junior, has a keen interest in the success of the new club sport. She has put significant effort in helping lacrosse find its way to UWF. The group received club status and began practice in January.
“Recruitment is going well for the guy’s team,” said Brieger. “It’s a full-contact sport and because we don’t have a football team. A lot of guys are craving the action. With girls we have a lot of sports that compete with lacrosse such as soccer and basketball.”
Lacrosse demands endurance, coordination, agility and speed. At a little over five-feet tall, Brieger is testimony that size doesn’t matter in lacrosse, and those with a more imposing stature do not necessarily have an advantage in this game, which combines elements seen in soccer, hockey and basketball.
Men’s collegiate rules include 10 players per team on a large grass field with net goals at either end. Women’s rules are similar, with 12 players and flexible boundaries. Play behind the goal is allowed.
Equipment includes a rubber ball and “crosse,” or stick, that is wood or synthetic, with a net at the end. As in soccer, lacrosse players are almost constantly running and only the goalie can touch the ball with his hands.
Men’s lacrosse regulations allow stick and body contact that requires significant protective gear. Mastery of stick-work is essential. Catching, tossing and scooping the ball are important elements. These skills originate from the earliest recorded games.
Lacrosse is North America’s oldest sport. It was first documented when missionaries found American Indians tribes playing. Lacrosse served the natives as not just a game, but as training for war. It increases skills needed to fight in battle, including endurance and coordination.
The ancient game was played with a ball made of stone or wood, and games could last days at a time with innumerable players. The fields were said to be miles in length. French Canadian dentist William George Beers eventually developed a standard protocol for play in the mid 1860s.
UWF’s Lacrosse Club will play host to a tournament in late October with six teams participating. Eventually, the Lacrosse Club would like to become part of the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference, whose 26-member teams are part of the United States Lacrosse Intercollegiate Association.
“I look forward to UWF someday having a team in the SELC,” said Jacob Boone, a UWF senior. Boone is a member of the club and first competed in high school. “The games are quite exciting and fans have a lot to enjoy.”
Meredith Miller, a second-year marine biology major said that she would go to the games if the were on campus. “I don’t think I would be any good at (playing) it though.”
Most schools that participate in the SELC are familiar names to the National Collegic Atheletic Association. However, typical lacrosse programs are not varsity, but club sports.
“We are associated with sport clubs division of recreation and sports,” said Brieger. “We are school-funded because we are a sport club, so we prepare a budget and present it. We get what we can and work for the rest.”
The Lacrosse Club hopes to recruit both men and women to play this sport. Traditionally, women’s uniforms have included kilts. Will kilts be coming to UWF?
“Depends,” said Brieger. “Some girls’ teams have been moving towards shorts.”
The sport has been popular for years with an alumni roster that includes Jim Thorpe and Jim Brown, both are known later for their induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Lacrosse Club meets for practice three times a week at the multi-purpose fields. For more information on lacrosse at UWF, visit the Web site at http://www.uwf.edu/recreation/sportclubs/lacrosse.html.

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