Morgan Rice
Mrs. Varela
Honors American Literature and Composition
21 November 2012
Is Something Missing from Your School? Several schools in your area are missing out on something that is very important to the community – lacrosse. Lacrosse is a fairly new sport to our region of Pennsylvania, but it is always exhilarating for both fans and players. High schools around the Lehigh Valley should admit lacrosse as a sport because of the lack of variety in spring athletics, it benefits the community, and is a part of the history, present, and future of the United States. First, many schools lack variety in spring athletics. Without lacrosse, softball is the only female sport besides track and field. Adding it would give athletes of both genders more to choose from. Furthermore, girls’ soccer has officially moved to the fall (Housenick 1). That leaves unoccupied fields during the spring season. Lacrosse would be a perfect fit; the fields are approximately the same size and lacrosse goals are easily removed. It would be senseless to allow good quality grass or turf go to waste. Finally, many athletes use sports of other seasons to remain in topnotch shape. This fast-paced game is definitely going to prevent players from falling behind. Again, the shortage of spring sports is only one notable reason for admitting lacrosse as a high school sport. Next, the sport of lacrosse is an important part of America’s history, present, and future. According to Kevin Craft, it was invented by Native Americans and was the first sport in North America (1).Continuing; it is concentrated in several states, including Pennsylvania (Craft 1). The game is all around us; most of the northeast has high school teams, and it is rapidly moving out west. The time for the Lehigh Valley to modernize their athletics is now. Today¸ lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the nation. In 2010, 1.6 million Americans played the sport – a 37.3 increase from 2009 (Sandler 1). By tomorrow, lacrosse will hopefully be the most played sport in the country. Overall, the game has been kept alive throughout its many years and continues to prosper tremendously. Finally, the admission of lacrosse as a high school sport would benefit a large percent of the community. First, there are teams for both boys and girls, so each gender has a chance to play. Not only is it an exhilarating sport, but it also helps students stay active and become involved with a team. Lacrosse is known for the amount of communication it requires, so it also teaches vital skills which can be seen through school work. Also, colleges and universities offer scholarships to play the sport. For only having a varsity program of two years, two senior athletes from Easton went on to play college lacrosse (Groller 1). Just imagine the scholarship opportunities that could be given to players after becoming more experienced. Students who think high school is too late to start playing a sport will also be more encouraged to participate since it is rather new to the Lehigh Valley. This opens more teens up to physical education and responsibility. Last but not least, lacrosse will help keep students in our area out of trouble. “According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, Female high school athletes are 92% less likely to get involved with drugs, 80% less likely to get pregnant, and are three times more likely to graduate than non-athletes” (“Sweating it Out” 22). Lacrosse entails hard work and determination, leaving little time for players to misbehave. This is yet another reason it needs to be made a high school sport. On the contrary, many may disagree about admitting lacrosse as a sport into Lehigh Valley high schools. They worry about the cost to initiate and maintain both a boys’ and girls’ program, but many schools find that lacrosse deserves a chance despite their debt and low budget (Blair 1). They emphasize the need to admit both teams