Members of the UCLA club lacrosse team stand near the sideline of the Intramural Field during practice. The team starts its regular season in the winter quarter, but uses the fall to get a head start on practicing.
Talking about garbanzo beans, the UCLA men’s lacrosse team erupted into laughter as they joked around with one another. Although the humor of this joke is not clear to outsiders, it is something that the members of the team laugh about and something that brings them all together.
From walking onto the field as one to being in sync with one another while running drills, it is clear that there exists a strong level of camaraderie between the players despite being from different coasts and having different interests and majors.
With a coach from Philadelphia and two members of the team from New York, it’s clear that the East Coast has a strong influence on the UCLA men’s team. Contrary to popular belief though, lacrosse is quickly becoming a popular sport on both sides of the U.S.
“Lacrosse is booming out here. California is one of the hottest states for lacrosse,” said coach Jacques Bagley, a Philadelphia native who has been involved with the sport for more than 10 years.
“Other states like Oregon and Washington also have great lacrosse programs.”
Teams at schools like UCLA still lack NCAA status, but that is not keeping the team from growing and expanding its pool of players. Bagley is a part of a national recruiting organization that was put into place as a way for club coaches to reach out to prospective athletes.
“Having this program, we are able to see kids from all over, ranging from Massachusetts to Chicago to Washington and all over the East Coast,” Bagley said.
Establishing ties with current players and spreading the success of West Coast lacrosse teams is just another step that is being taken in the growth of this sport.
First-year anthropology student Colton Purvin is a great example of this growth in California. Born and raised in New York, Purvin grew up playing lacrosse on club teams, but when he moved out to California there was less chance for him to play because of the smaller pool of athletes in the region. This situation proved to be an opportunity for Purvin to help his beloved sport progress on the West Coast.
“When I moved out to California, I wanted to continue playing. My teammate and I started to recruit guys from our grade, and within two months we had a varsity team at my high school,” Purvin said.
With just a little faith, dedication and a few bake sales to raise money for a team, Purvin was not only able to continue doing something that he loved but also contributed to the growth of lacrosse. It’s because of moments like these that lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in America.
Purvin is not the only member of the team that can be attributed to the success and growth of lacrosse in California. The men’s team as a whole is also involved in helping the sport grow. As part of their volunteer services, the team is partnered up with a UCLA alumnus who started a youth lacrosse team. Within only six years, the program has had great success with its growing numbers.
“When this league started, it started off with only 20 youths that had never played lacrosse before. Now, six years later they have over 300 athletes,” captain and fourth-year marine biology student Tim White said.
Through the efforts of club teams at universities like UCLA and individuals like Colton, the love for lacrosse is being spread not only throughout California but to other West Coast states as well.
The club level may be the highest level of collegiate lacrosse on the West Coast now, but that level is slowly moving up to the NCAA level.
Some schools have already implemented NCAA teams for women, and schools like Dominican University of California have Division II NCAA men’s lacrosse teams.
The seeds are being planted, and a flourishing harvest of lacrosse is slowly being cultivated.
“It’s just a matter of getting a couple people interested and committed to getting it to grow,” White said. “People love the sport, and it’s only a matter of time before it starts to take off!”