LEWISBURG -- As the clouds finally cleared on Saturday and some semblance of summer appeared, 16 different boys lacrosse teams from around Central Pennsylvania converged on Lewisburg and the Pawling Athletic Complex next to the Donald H. Eichhorn Middle School for the River Sticks Tournament, sponsored by the Central Susquehanna Valley Lacrosse Club.
With parents, fans and players packing the area with tents, travelling as far from York County and the Harrisburg area, the tournament is a testament to the growth of the sport of lacrosse in the Central Susquehanna Valley. A lacrosse tournament of this size was unimaginable 10 years ago, when Charles Knisey started the CSVLC.
Though many schools are from out of the area, teams from Danville, Lewisburg and Selinsgrove played in the tournament, while Midd-West, Milton and Mifflinburg have all started club programs. This is also the first year the PIAA recognized lacrosse as a sport, and crowned state champions in both boys and girls on Saturday.
Not only is the growth evident in just the sheer number of teams involved and the ability to field an eight-team middle school tournament as well as a high school tournament, it's also the types of kids who are coming out for lacrosse.
Danville junior Jeff Ross is a perfect example of a player in the area. Ross comes from a family of baseball players. His brothers, Justin and Pat, played at Danville, while his father David and mother Cathy have been heavily involved in Danville Little League.
This spring, Danville started a club team under the direction of Doug Bastian, and Ross wanted to play lacrosse.
"Its parts of different sports all together," Jeff Ross said. "It's got the physicalness of football, the hand-eye coordination of baseball and some strategy like basketball. I had watched it before, but I was excited when we got a team."
Ross spent the spring learning the game of lacrosse and playing baseball at Danville. He spent after-school hours practicing with the baseball team, and afterwards went to lacrosse practice until 8 p.m.
Being a first-year program, Danville has taken its lumps, including being shut out by Derrstown, the Lewisburg entry in the tournament, in the quarterfinals, but it's all been worth the effort.
"You don't see it when we play teams like Lewisburg, who have been playing for a while," Ross said. "But I can see the improvement in myself after two months, and you can really see it in the team. We kind of know what we're doing now."
The new sport has been a bit of an adjustment for Ross's parents, who attended Saturday's game, but they've become fans, according to Jeff.
"They wanted me to try something new," he said. "They are learning right along with the rest of us."
High School Sports
Lacrosse: Sport is taking off across Central Susquehanna Valley
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High school roundup: Tigers break school win record
