Are you ready for some Footb… Lacrosse? Dracut starts Lacrosse Program
Dracut Lacrosse program becomes a reality. The dream of a school-managed lacrosse program is barely a week from becoming a reality.
Tim Woods, the high school’s athletic director, told the School Committee this week that he hopes both the boys and girls teams will have their first games on April 11, weather permitting.
On Aug. 9, the committee unanimously approved the one-year, privately funded pilot program, which will be administered by the school district.
Calling it “strictly a pared-down version of a program,” Woods said each junior-varsity team currently has 20 or 21 students. Few, if any of these students would have participated in any of the school’s other teams, Woods noted.
“Nothing is ideal, but we will get our foot in the door for this year,” Woods said.
Woods said he expects the boys will have approximately 18 games in their schedule, while the girls will have 15 games. More than half of these games are expected to be home games, which should reduce costs.
Gavin Evans, a special-education teacher at the high school, will be the boys coach. Woods called him one of the best lacrosse coaches he knows in Merrimack Valley.
Jessica Salgueiro, who is studying exercise physiology at UMass Lowell, will coach the girls.
Lacrosse, the fastest-growing interscholastic sport in Massachusetts and within the Merrimack Valley, has generated a high level of student interest in Dracut for several years, including at least three petitions for a school-sponsored program since 2001.
Given their budgetary constraints, committee members had been reluctant to fully fund an extracurricular program within the regular athletic budget, but were receptive to a privately funded one-year pilot program.
Each student had to raise $200, in addition to the cost of uniforms and equipment, to be able to participate. Per-student costs would have been higher were it not for the support of Dracut Lacrosse, which donated about 20 helmets, and the School Committee, which will provide two vans for transportation.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
If a lacrocrosse team is made for Dracut will there be one for girls for grades 4,5,6, and 7? Due to the fact of you mentioning I won’t ask about the Sr. High School.