- April 25, 2024
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SARASOTA — Lauren Peacock grew up playing sports, but the Lakewood Ranch sophomore had yet to find one she enjoyed enough to call her own.
That is, until she picked up a lacrosse stick for the time last year.
“I walked onto the field not knowing anything,” Peacock said.
A year later, Peacock is one of a handful of girls who has developed a passion for the sport. But with only 10 girls on the high school team, the players are hoping to generate enough interest among their peers about one of the nation’s fastest growing sports to finally be able to compete against the other 13 teams in the Gulf Coast League.
“It’s more aggressive,” Peacock said of lacrosse. “It’s a really good stress-reliever. You can get all of your anger out in a matter of minutes. And in lacrosse, it’s good to play like a girl. It (defies) the stereotype.”
Teammate Gabby Morford agreed.
“It’s an up-and-coming sport,” said Morford, a sophomore at Lakewood. “I tried it, and I liked it so much. It’s relatively easy to learn. The concepts are hard because there are so many rules — it just takes practice like any other sport.”
The Manasota Lacrosse Club formed last year as a way to give high school girls a place to play lacrosse. Before then, Lakewood had a small community-based girls program for a few years, and there were no girls lacrosse teams in Sarasota County for girls once they reached ninth grade, making it near impossible to play at the collegiate level.
“Once the youth league ends, these girls have nowhere to play,” coach Sal Coppolino said. “The game of lacrosse is a place for everybody. No matter what your skill level is, you’ll have a place to play.
“The problem is you’re sort of limited,” Coppolino said. “If your opportunity to play ends in middle school, then (unfortunately) your career ends. Lacrosse isn’t like any other sport. You’ll find a place to play (in college) if you want.”
Sarasota resident Paige Dean, whose girls played lacrosse on a boys team as 8-year-olds and wanted to keep playing, decided to create an opportunity for her girls and others in the community.
“I grew up playing sports and know what it’s like to be a part of a team,” Dean said. “It’s an exciting thing.”
Dean was certified in New Jersey and, with the help of volunteer parents, established teams for girls in kindergarten through eighth grade; 36 girls signing up to take part. At the time, Lakewood wasn’t able to generate a full team, so the two teams decided to join forces.
After noticing the girls’ enthusiasm, Dean realized the league was desperately in need of a high schools girls team, especially because lacrosse isn’t offered in any of the local public schools.
Since then, 10 girls have committed to the team; however, the club would like to get at least 10 more girls to be able to fill out the team. Once the team reaches 12, it will be able to schedule games and compete against the other teams in the league. The season runs through April 28.
“Lacrosse is so new down here,” Dean said. “Parents come up to me and say, ‘My kid has never played before.’ Now is the perfect time to start — even if you’re new or relatively new to the sport. Everyone is so friendly.
“It’s all about the friendships,” Dean said. “These girls are all from different schools; but because they’re all relatively new and kind of alone, they’re really tight. They’re so glad to have people come and join. They’re so welcoming.”
The girls practice from 5-6:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at Twin Lakes Park. In addition, many of the girls practice throwing and catching on their own off the racquetball wall at Lakewood.
“I hope to continue to grow this program and eventually have varsity and JV teams,” Dean said. “My long-term vision is that this would grow quickly enough that we’ll have so many teams locally that we don’t have to travel two hours to Naples to have a team to play.”
For more information on the Manasota Lacrosse Club and its high schools girls lacrosse team, visit www.manasotalacrosseclub.com.
Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].
