With lacrosse quickly becoming a popular sport, the numbers have grown massively. Since 2001, the number of lacrosse players has grown by 204 percent, according to U.S. Lacrosse, and from 2009 to 2014, NCAA women’s lacrosse grew at a rate of 38.9 percent. This growth has impacted all levels of lacrosse, and this year, Grady girls lacrosse is splitting into JV and varsity teams.
“There’s been a lot of growth for the Grady girls lacrosse team which is great, and it’s the best way to grow a program,” community coach Sam Bresnahan said. “There’s two great reasons [for making a JV team]: one is girls are going to get a lot more playing experience, and two, there will be a lot more one-on-one coaching.”
There is a record 35 players on the team this year, 17 of which are on JV. The varsity and JV teams still practice together, but are split up into separate stations when practicing positioning and setting plays. The players will also travel together to each other’s games. JV will only play eight games this season, while varsity will play 15 and host a tournament. JV players may also have the opportunity to play up on the varsity team for some games.
“By splitting up, the varsity team won’t be brought down by the JV team’s lack of knowledge,” head coach Martha Jones said. “It’s going to be a growing season. We’re going to get out there and push it to the limit.”
Senior Grace Dines is a captain for both JV and varsity, although separate JV captains may be selected later. Dines is impressed with many of the incoming freshmen and has high expectations.
“So far, we’re really happy with the incoming freshmen; they are looking good,” Dines said. “The freshman talent is great. We have girls with really solid stick skills. The only thing that they need to improve on is just field position and knowing where to be.”
Despite this lack of experience, Dines is confident that JV will be successful, especially since some of last year’s varsity members were placed on JV this year. These experienced players are expected to help the incoming members transition to high school level play. It will help with the transition from middle school to high school lacrosse, where the difference in the level and intensity of play is noticeable, and the new rules make a big difference.
Volunteer Julianne Green has agreed to help with the JV lacrosse team this year. Green has lots of experience with women’s lacrosse, and played for Western New England College. Green agrees that the talent is there for JV, but thinks that there is much more work to do.
“I think the more games they play, the more they practice together, start to gel together, the better they will be,” Green said.
In the 2012-2013 school year, before a varsity team was created, Grady only had a JV girls lacrosse team. Since the team went undefeated that year, Bresnahan has high expectations for this JV team, and believes they can achieve a similar, if not the same, record this year.
The addition of a JV program will help train the next generation of varsity players. With nine seniors — including all three captains — leaving next year, young and experienced players will be crucial to keeping the varsity team successful and improving Grady’s lacrosse program as a whole.
