Many people may not realize it, but Wadsworth High School has a boys Lacrosse team.
The season started off on the right foot back on Tuesday April 7th when the Grizzlies defeated Stow-Munroe Falls 10-7. The Junior Varsity team won 5-0. Wadsworth will play 16 games during the regular season. All home games are played at Art Wright Stadium. Following Saturday’s game against Shaker Heights at 12 noon, the next home game will be on Thursday April 23rd against CVCA.
The Lacrosse team at Wadsworth is a ‘club’ sport. What does that mean? The Ohio High School Athletic Association does not recognize lacrosse as a sport because there are not enough schools in the state that offer the sport. Lacrosse needs to be offered by at least 151 schools for the OHSAA for it to be considered as a state sport. Currently, about 130 high schools across the state of Ohio offer lacrosse as a sport.
Wadsworth Lacrosse Head Coach Jim Blind says “The OHSAA will eventually recognize lacrosse as a sport because its popularity is growing”.
Add Wadsworth to the list of communities where Lacrosse is growing in popularity. “There are 120 kids in Wadsworth that are playing the sport, from 3rd and 4th graders all the way to High School”. Blind estimated that their lacrosse teams will play ‘upwards of 150 games this season”.
“We are prepared too. Our womens lacrosse team is getting better each and every week. We’ve heavily invested in our womens too – from buying the best womens lacrosse sticks to buying the best protection gear.”
Two players from this year’s team, juniors Graham Blind and Nick Hassinger recently visited the Wadsworth Community Radio morning show to talk about the team.
Graham called Lacrosse “a unique sport because it involves so many different skills including football and soccer”. Graham played baseball in the past but took to lacrosse “because of the speed its played at”.
Nick liked Lacrosse immediately because his friends were involved and “it looked cool”.
So, if you’re looking to get on the ground floor of a new high school sport at Wadsworth, Lacrosse is your ticket.
