Havelock lacrosse league growing

Wade Kirwan didn't know anything about lacrosse two years ago. Now, the 15-year-old has a pretty good idea about what the sport is.

"It's intense," he said. "Everybody thinks it's brutal, but it's not. It's just intense."

Lacrosse has been described as the fastest sport on two feet. Players pass a small ball using sticks with nets in them and shoot the ball into guarded goals. Defenders use their bodies in an attempt to knock the ball away from the offense. Players run up and down a field that is 110 yards long and about 55 yards wide.

"It's a combination of hockey and soccer. It's really a combination of all sports," said Rachel Look, president of the Havelock Youth Lacrosse Association.

She said the league started five years ago, but has particularly grown in the last three years, with about 65 players participating this year.

"The first couple of years, we didn't play a full schedule," Look said. "In the last three years, it's really expanded."

This year, the league has four teams, including for the first time, one in the under 18 age division.

"Some of our players had aged out of U-15 and they wanted to keep playing," Look said of the reasons behind the addition of the team.

Kirwan said he was first introduced to lacrosse two years ago by a friend at school.

"It was something he did after football season," said Kirwan. "It was pretty fun, so I decided to do it. I just came out and started playing."

Kirwan said he needed about two days to understand the concept of the game, and it wasn't too hard to pick up the skills and strategy needed to play the game.

"You just need to practice, get out and do it," he said.

Look said anyone can take up the sport, and children can get a lot of good exercise from playing.

"It is excellent exercise," Look said. "And, you don't have to be real big or real fast to play."

Look said the next step is to get the sport on the high school level. While popular in high schools in the Northeast, lacrosse is not recognized as a championship-level sport by the N.C. High School Athletic Association.

The Havelock Youth Lacrosse Association has three boys and one girls team and is continuing to accept players.

Havelock plays games against teams from New Bern, Greenville, Jacksonville and Morehead City mostly on Saturdays. Competition continues until Memorial Day.

For more information on the league, call Look at 622-0599 or Coach Fred McFarlin at 444-5790.